ASU wrestling (4-2) defeated a ranked foe for the first time since 2006 on Saturday in Troy, N.Y. to close out a 2-2 day in the Journeyman/Asics Northeast Duals.
All-American redshirt junior heavyweight Levi Cooper muscled his way to a 4-0 showing and the affair’s MVP honors to lead the Sun Devils, including an upset victory over returning NCAA heavyweight champion Zach Rey of Lehigh.
“We went 2-2, so it’s not a great day,” Cooper said. “But we lost to a pretty good team, and we had seven freshman starting.”
That “pretty good” team was No. 10 Lehigh, whom the Sun Devils faced after defeating Army 23-15 in the opening match. ASU lost 24-10 to the Mountain Hawks, yet ASU coach Shawn Charles was more pleased with the team’s first loss than it’s first win.
“Our first duel, we went out and we wrestled really, really well,” Charles said. “The second duel we actually wrestled better and we had a bunch of really close matches against a top ten program.”
Binghamton then defeated the Sun Devils 28-15 in the next duel. The Bearcats used a 22-6 advantage through six bouts to offset late wins by senior Eric Starks (174 lbs.) and Cooper in a failed ASU attempt to erase the gap.
“The third match, we didn’t perform up to our abilities,” Charles said. “I’m kind of disappointed about the third match because our guys just didn’t wrestle well.”
ASU bounced back big in the final duel against No. 20 Penn, however. Cooper recorded a pin with under a minute remaining in the last match of the dual to tie the score at 21 apiece. His opponent, the Quakers’ freshman Anthony DiLonardo, then gave the Sun Devils an unsportsmanlike conduct point — and a 22-21 win — because he threw his headgear following the pin.
“The level of desire is good, and it’s much more fun to be a part of (this team) than last year’s team,” Cooper said. “We’re able to compete in every weight class.”
ASU’s grueling early season competition — which includes tournaments in Las Vegas (this weekend), Reno (Dec. 18) and the Sun Devil Duals in Tempe (Dec. 29) — serves to toughen up the youthful Sun Devils.
“These guys all know that they’re in great shape, that they’ve been training hard, that they can wrestle anybody in the country at this point,” Charles said. “I’m hoping that a lot of them now have confidence in themselves and their ability to execute come January, February, March.”
Both Charles and Cooper also agreed that the team continues to improve, as the Sun Devils performed better this week than they did at the Eastern Michigan Open on Nov. 5.
“For the most part, we’ve been getting better every single week,” Cooper said. “We definitely have to get better on bottom, but besides that there’s really no glaring weaknesses. Each person individually just needs to focus on getting better to get to where we want to be at the end of the season.”
Even Cooper knows that if he wants to achieve his ultimate goal — a national championship — he can’t get complacent after a posting a flawless record over the weekend.
“I’m focusing mostly on riding people and just being better with my offense,” Cooper said. “My offense needs to improve every single week, because one takedown can decide a lot of the (heavyweight) matches. If I can get one or two takedowns, that’s huge.”
ASU’s next opportunity to hone their skills will be this Friday and Saturday at the 30th annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in Las Vegas.
“If we keep making progress,” Charles said, “we’re going to be a great team in the future.”
Reach the reporter at kjnewma2@asu.edu
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