Earlier in the season, Sunday’s dual meet against Stanford was a showdown the youthful Sun Devils probably would have lost.
But this weekend, ASU (7–10, 3–2 Pac-12) gave the Wells Fargo Arena crowd a glimpse into just how dangerous it can be when it wrestles to its full potential. The Sun Devils defeated the Cardinal (8–7, 3–2 Pac-12) 22–15 with three tough wins to open the meet.
Redshirt freshman Kevin Radford had a 5–3 victory before redshirt freshman Chace Eskam and redshirt junior Levi Cooper each outlasted their opponents in overtime wins to give the Sun Devils a 9–0 lead after three matches.
“We set the tempo good out of the gate, and guys behind us were able to come in and finish off the dual,” Cooper said. “We got a win, and that’s good momentum going into the Pac-12 tournament.”
The key difference in Sunday’s meet was ASU's ability to wrestle to the final whistle in every match. In addition to the three nail-biting wins to start the competition, the Sun Devils didn’t give up a pin for the entire match.
“This is one of the few times (this year) we’ve started off with three straight wins,” Radford said. “We all wrestled to the end, and there are different things we can work on, but we’re coming out with the victories.”
Several of the Sun Devils’ triumphs came as a result of their superior conditioning, as it didn’t appear Stanford could keep up with ASU during the final periods of close matches.
“We know now that we’re in as good of shape as anyone that we’re going to face the rest of the season,” Cooper said. “All we have to worry about now is wrestling as hard as we can.”
Eskam, who battled his way to his first collegiate victory in sudden death, echoed this sentiment.
“It’s a good sign when you go into overtime and come out with a win because it gives you some confidence that you’re in good shape going into your next match,” he said.
Even with this momentum-boosting team victory, ASU knows it still has work to do during the three off weeks before the Pac-12 championships on Feb. 26 in Boise, Idaho.
Continuing progress is especially important for the freshmen Sun Devils, who can’t afford to get complacent after a good showing against Stanford.
“We’re a young team, and this was actually my first home dual,” redshirt freshman Joel Smith said. “It’s time to figure out what we’ve got to do, and finishing matches is a big thing we need to work on.”
The Sun Devils’ win over Stanford helps them with individual seeding in the Pac-12 tournament, and they plan on continuing to work on pushing the tempo and closing out matches before heading to Boise.
“We’ll get after it for a couple weeks,” Cooper said. “Then (we’ll) tone it down a little bit at the end just so everyone’s feeling great.”
As for the mentality of the team at this point, ASU is out to make some unexpected waves in the conference tournament.
“All year, (everyone) has been counting us out everywhere we went,” Smith said. “But I think we’re going to go (to Boise) and do a lot of damage soon here to come.”
ASU’s highest-ranked grappler in Boise will be heavyweight All-American Cooper, who fully expects to use his No. 2 seed in the tournament as a springboard to a national title run.
“I came in as the No. 1 seed last year, got third and was disappointed,” Cooper said. “This year, I want to go and experience what it feels like to win the Pac-12 championship.”
As coach Shawn Charles emphasized, from here on out, previous wins and losses don’t mean a thing.
“I really think that going into the Pac-12 championship, it’s anybody’s race,” Charles said. “Whoever shows up and has their team mentally excited about winning a Pac-12 championship is going to win it.”
Reach the reporter at kjnewma2@asu.edu
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