The 46th annual National Wrestling Coaches Association All-Star Classic featured several hard-fought bouts at Wells Fargo Arena on Monday night, with the performances of Oklahoma State junior Jordan Oliver, Wyoming senior Joe LeBlanc and Edinboro junior Chris Honeycutt headlining a field made up of three National Champions and 19 All-Americans.
Oliver, the defending champion at 133 lbs., withstood a furious third period comeback by B.J. Furtrell of Illinois to earn an 8-7 victory in the most closely contested match of the night. At 184 lbs., three-time All-American LeBlanc scored a takedown inside the final ten seconds to defeat Central Michigan’s Ben Bennett. Additionally, Honeycutt recorded the only pin on the night just 32 seconds into his 197 lb. match against two-time defending D-III champion Bryon Tate of Wartburg.
“I think the state of Arizona represented very well today,” coach Shawn Charles said. “It was exciting, there were some great matches, and it was a great opportunity get a lot of our alums and boosters to show up and a lot of the wrestling community to come out.
The crowd also got to see ASU All-American redshirt junior heavyweight Levi Cooper defeat Grand Canyon University’s senior Jordan Johnson in an exhibition match shortly before the start of the All-Star Classic. Cooper, as well as the plethora of non-Sun Devil All-Americans in town for the event, served as an example of where Charles wants to take his own program.
“It was good for our fans to see where we’re striving to take our program to,” Charles explained, “by watching some of these guys wrestle from across the country.”
Kent St.’s Nic Bedelyon (125 lbs.), Cal Poly’s Boris Novachkov (141), Oklahoma St.’s Jamal Parks (149), Northwestern’s Jason Welch (157), Maryland’s Josh Asper (165), GCU’s Victor Carazo (175) and American’s Ryan Flores (285) also recorded wins in a competition that LeBlanc described as just another stepping stone toward a national title run in the spring.
“All season is a learning experience,” LeBlanc said. “It’s still November, and from having to face the top competition and a two-time All-American here, I can learn from this and I can identity some of my technical errors now.”
In addition to serving as an early season checkpoint, a win in the All-Star Classic can give a grappler the confidence that he has what it takes to get the job done against elite competition when it really counts.
“Anytime you have to wrestle someone that’s as tough, if not tougher than you, and you come out on top,” Carazo said, “that gives you that motivation and extra confidence at the end of the year because you know you can hang with the big guys.”
Carazo was originally set to compete in an exhibition match before the All-Star Classic began, but because of an injury he was thrust into a match-up against Illinois’ Jordan Blanton. Yet even after posting the upset win over his D-I foe, Carazo, like LeBlanc, kept things in perspective by focusing on the larger picture at hand.
“It feels good to say I can beat someone on this level,” Carazo said, “but it’s far from the goal. The goal every year is to go out and win a national title. Until you get that national title, it doesn’t really mean anything.”
And of course, for these All-Star grapplers, it’s fun to get together for a little vacation away the chaos of the semester.
“It’s always awesome to come and compete in this,” said LeBlanc, who wrestled in the event last year as well. “The wrestling community is so tight, and it’s good to hang out with some of the best guys in the country.”
The NCAA D-I Championships are scheduled for March 15-17, 2012, in St. Louis, Mo, where most of the All-Star Classic participants expect to compete.
Reach the reporter at kyle.j.newman@asu.edu
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