ASU is returning to the Edinboro Open on Saturday, and they are determined to get the same amount of success that they had a year ago.
The Sun Devils have two returning wrestlers from a year ago, redshirt senior Blake Stauffer and redshirt sophomore Oliver Pierce, who ended up winning the title in their weight classes. Pierce is trying his best to stay level headed, just like his coach told him, and he’s going about it like any other meet.
“Obviously I want to win again, and that’s how it is for every tournament,” Pierce said. “I know that I just gotta wrestle the way I’m capable of wrestling, win or lose.”
Stauffer is looking to repeat as well, but he has a something else on his mind going into the open this weekend.
“I’m hoping that I get to wrestle Victor Avery, who I lost to last year, so I’m looking forward to that matchup,” he said.
Stauffer and Avery met in the National Championships last year with third place on the line. Stauffer ended up losing and placed fourth.
Last time out against Oregon State, ASU got a resounding 24-10 victory over the then No. 20 ranked team in the nation. It was senior night, and seniors Stauffer, Josh DaSilveira and Matt Kraus all earned wins against a tough opponent.
Now, they will compete in the Edinboro Open at Edinboro University in Pennsylvania.
Wrestling is known as more of an individual sport, but after the win against OSU, momentum does play a factor for wrestlers.
“Oh absolutely, especially in a duel setting, obviously if the duel is going in the favor of the team then obviously it’s going to give you some momentum,” Stauffer said, on whether or not momentum is a factor in wrestling. “Sometimes there is a big pin before your match and I definitely think it gives a little added momentum.”
Head coach Zeke Jones had his own take on momentum, saying that momentum is a “key factor” and that it “lets you know what you’re practicing is right." Despite his team feeling good right now, he is a big advocate of keeping his team leveled, through good and bad.
"Coach mostly talks about that you don’t want to get too high and you don’t want to get too low,” Oliver Pierce said. “I know a lot of us have been wrestling pretty good lately, and a lot of us are wrestling consistently in the line-up.”
There are many challenges that a team faces, going from a regular meet and going straight to an open invitational meet. As Arizonans, the Sun Devils will have a new challenge in Pennsylvania.
“First off, we’re probably going into 10 feet of snow and … so going back into this weather and going back to this time change back to the east coast,” Jones said. “But in the tournament bracket you’re wrestling, right now and then 30 minutes later you’re wrestling again, so again, you don’t have time to plan because you don’t know who you’re going to wrestle.”
Reach the reporter at benjamin.a.flores@asu.edu or follow @benflores21 on Twitter.
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