Defending champion ASU will look to keep its title and redshirt senior Anthony Valencia looks to gain a fifth Pac-12 championship win in the wrestling Pac-12 championship set for Sunday, March 6, in Tempe.
"This was one of the reasons I came back, I want to get my fifth Pac-12 title and be the only one who has done that," Valencia said.
The Sun Devils finished the regular season with a 9-4 record as well as finishing 5-0 in Pac-12 play. ASU enters the tournament with six wrestlers placed as the No. 1 seeds in their respective weight classes.
"We are sharpening our skills, troubleshooting some areas and individually game-planning for some of the better wrestlers in our conference," coach Zeke Jones said.
Brandon Courtney (125), Michael McGee (133), Kyle Parco (149), Jacori Teemer (157), Kordell Norfleet (197) and Cohlton Schultz (285) are the six wrestlers who make up the top of their weight class.
While he is the No.1 seed in the 149-pound weight class, this will be redshirt freshman Parco's first Pac-12 tournament as he looks to enshrine his name in Sun Devil history.
"I'm excited to compete in a tournament, I feel like we haven't gotten the chance to compete in many tournaments this year," Parco said.
Parco finished the regular season with a 19-1 record as he looks to bring his best come tournament time.
"This weekend I'm looking to widen the gap between my competition, my main goal is to be more dominant and score lots of points," Parco said.
All eyes are on the 165-pound weight class, which includes a variety of high-profile names.
"The 165-pound weight class at the Pac-12 tournament has the returning national champion in Shane Griffith out of Stanford, and Valencia and Griffith both lost to Evan Wick out of Cal Poly," Jones said.
Redshirt senior Wick enters as the No.1 seed in his weight class. Wick was dominant during the regular season as he still has yet to lose a match this season, and he will put his flawless 16-0 record on the line come Sunday.
Griffith, a redshirt junior, enters the tournament as the No. 2 seed in the tournament, while finishing the regular season with a 14-3 record.
Valencia went 0-2 against the top two wrestlers in the 165-pound weight class during the regular season.
"I'm brushing up on my technique, working on what I need to fix and just making sure I'm physically and mentally ready to go," Valencia said.
"Anthony has to wrestle with huge intensity, with lots of fire, and he's got to get emotional and let it loose," Jones said.
The Sun Devils will be looking to show no mercy this weekend as they have a message set in place that they want to dominate their competition.
"The theme of the weekend is to go out and dominate and score points," Jones said.
Reach the reporter at nnath2@asu.edu and follow @NathNikash on Twitter.
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