Top-ranked senior Anthony Robles and junior Jake Meredith each captured a Pac-10 individual title in what was a big day for the ASU wrestling squad at the conference tournament in Corvallis, Ore., Sunday.
As a team, ASU finished third while four Sun Devils made the finals of their respective weight classes.
“You know, [ASU coach Shawn] Charles told me at the beginning of the year that I was going to be Pac-10 champ, and I didn’t really believe him at the beginning of the year,” junior Jake Meredith said. “I feel like everyone’s improving, and [our goals] are starting to become reality.”
The Sun Devil’s surprising performance at the end of the year tournament comes after a rocky, injury-laden dual season in which ASU posted a 5-13 record.
ASU remained confident heading into the tournament, however, as senior captain Bubba Jenkins and junior Eric Starks returned from knee injuries just in time to compete on Sunday.
“My conditioning’s feeling good, and the knee’s feeling 100 percent,” Jenkins said. “Conditioning-wise, I want to get to where I can go about another three minutes when I can go at a higher pace. Who knows, I might have to go into nine overtimes next time.”
Undefeated Robles (125-pound weight class) continued to impose his will on the opposition, winning 18-0, 14-1 and 15-4 en route to the title.
Meredith (184) was the second Sun Devil to win an individual title, defeating Oregon State’s Brice Arand, 5-2, in the final. Jenkins (157) and redshirt freshman Luke Macchiaroli (197) also wrestled their way to the finals, and both finished second.
“Honestly, if you wrestle seven minutes hard, there’s not too many people that can beat you,” Meredith said. “I feel like Robles is a great example of that. He wrestles and the whole time, and his matches never even go seven minutes.”
Jenkins’ match against Boise State’s Adam Hall went into overtime, where he ended up losing with less riding time.
However, there were some scares for the Sun Devils. No. 23 heavyweight Levi Cooper made it to the semi-finals by way of a bye but was upset in the second round in a 5-3 decision by Boise State’s J.T. Felix. But, not to be let down, Cooper went on to claim third place and a spot in the NCAA tournament.
“Obviously, I went there to try and win the tournament, but in the whole scheme of things, people make their noise at the national tournament,” Cooper said. “That’s where people remember what you do.”
Starks (174), who was wrestling for the first time in over a month, was bounced in the first round, but also came back to claim third place.
In all, six Sun Devils qualified for the NCAA tournament.
There were plenty more high points than low on the day for the Sun Devils, as the third place finish was high considering the team’s poor regular season mark. ASU was 1-4 in Pac-10 competition this year.
Boise State won the team title with 147 points and the tournament host, Oregon State, finished second with 137.5. ASU held off Stanford by three points for the third place finish.
Reach the reporter at kyle.j.newman@asu.edu
