For Jeremy Mendoza, the road hasn't always been this smooth.
The senior 125-pounder joined the Sun Devils wrestling team as a walk-on four years ago, and rocky freshmen and sophomore campaigns left him 26-31 midway through his collegiate career.
But his persistence paid off, as Mendoza is currently 26-2 on the year and the top-ranked Pac-10 wrestler in his weight class. He will face off against No. 2 Chad Mendes of Cal Poly today.
"Each year, I've gotten progressively better and it shows in my record," Mendoza said. "I come off the mat every match and ask that coach what I need to do."
In his final season, Mendoza wants to leave with no regrets.
"This year is my last year so everything I do now, I can't go back and say I can do it next season," he said.
ASU is currently on a 12-dual Pac-10 winning streak and faces Cal Poly, Cal State Bakersfield and Cal State Fullerton this weekend.
"Our goal is to be competitive because Cal Poly has a good team," ASU coach Thom Ortiz said. "Our last Pac-10 loss was at Bakersfield two years ago."
Not only is ASU playing for a higher seed in the conference, but Ortiz also said that there is a lot of pride on the line when Arizona and California schools compete.
Mendoza said he anticipates a tough match against the California wrestlers but knows what Ortiz expects for the team.
"We have the [reputation] of being number one in the Pac-10, so [Ortiz] is going to want us to make sure we go out there and wrestle the way we can," Mendoza said.
As for Mendoza, he is on a mission of his own.
"I know what I have to do ... mentally I'm telling myself that people are trying to hold me down," he said. "I need to prove that I've got the number one ranking for a reason."
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