ASU wrestling's Blake Stauffer takes control early in his match against Roadrunner Sean Pollock on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2015, at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. The Sun Devils went on to win against the Roadrunners 28 – 6. (J. Bauer-Leffler/The State Press)
The Sun Devils have their first All-American wrestler since the 2011 in junior Blake Stauffer.
Stauffer finished the NCAA tournament in fourth place after losing in the third place match on Saturday morning. He became the first Sun Devil All-American wrestler since 2011 on Friday night after going 4-0 on the second day of action.
In 2011 ASU had three All-Americans, heavyweight Levi Cooper, 157-pounder Bubba Jenkins and 125-pounder Anthony Robles.
Stauffer, the No. 3 seed at 184 pounds going into the tournament, won his first match of the event on Thursday against unseeded John Rizqallah of Michigan State. In the next round, Stauffer dropped a match to No. 14 seed Matthew McCutcheon of Penn State in sudden victory to send him to the consolation bracket. That loss broke a winning streak for Stauffer that started all the way back in November and included 25 straight wins.
He started a new winning streak the next day winning four straight matches and clinching a spot as an All-American.
On the final day of action on Saturday, Stauffer matched up first with Ohio State’s Kenny Courts, who was the last person to beat Stauffer in November before he started his 25-match winning streak. If Stauffer wasn’t able to wrestle in the championship match, perhaps he took some consolation in beating Courts 6-2 and getting some revenge for that loss back in November.
Stauffer couldn’t hold on to a lead late against Edinboro’s Vic Avery in the third place match on Saturday morning and just couldn’t score a takedown late to steal it, putting him in fourth place and just off of the podium in St. Louis.
On Twitter after the match, assistant coach Chris Pendleton acknowledged that while only finishing as an All-American is not what Stauffer wanted for himself, he was blown away by the progress Stauffer made this season. Stauffer finished the year at a very impressive 37-3.
This was the second time in Stauffer's career competing in the national tournament. At the tournament last year Stauffer notched two upset wins on his way to the quarterfinals before losing to the No. 1 seeded wrestler at 184 pounds and losing to the No. 11 seed in the consolation bracket. He finished last year with a record of 22-10.
The remaining five Sun Devils, all first-time national qualifiers, struggled in the tournament. Junior Ares Carpio, junior Matt Kraus, No. 10 seeded redshirt freshman Christian Pagdilao, sophomore Oliver Pierce and redshirt junior Ray Waters all failed to win in the first round of the main bracket and all dropped their first matches of the consolation brackets.
The wrestling program made a large step forward in its first year under head coach Zeke Jones. They sent six wrestlers to the national tournament, a huge accomplishment for any team and are sending home their first All-American since 2011. The program is on the rebound under Jones with possibly the entire team returning next year (depending on if redshirt senior Chace Eskam is granted another year of eligibility) and the top recruiting class in the country coming in next season.
The program has also brought in wrestlers like Jordan Oliver and Ed Ruth from the U.S. National team to train in Tempe. Coach Jones has clearly made huge steps to bringing legitimate wrestling back to Tempe and this season was a testament to that.
Reach the reporter at wslane@asu.edu or follow @bill_slane on Twitter.
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