ASU wrestling has a chance for unprecedented success at the individual and team levels in its final competition of the season, the NCAA Wrestling Championships, which will be held from Thursday, March 21 to Saturday, March 23.
Despite a myriad of eye-popping names that include eight individual competing wrestlers, one name stands out— Cohlton Schultz.
On a team full of all-world wrestlers, Schultz is undoubtedly ASU's best. The heavyweight has come close to taking home an NCAA title before, most notably as a runner-up in 2022, but he's never won it all.
Since Schultz's near-championship run two years ago, when he finished second place, he's only continued to evolve his game. Schultz is currently on a nine-match win streak and has a record of 9-1 this year. His only loss came in his first match of the season against Yonger Bastida, the No. 2 seed in the heavyweight NCAA championship.
Schultz rank as the No. 4 seed in this year's NCAAs is especially impressive when considering his recent focus on Greco-Roman Olympic aspirations. His focus on Greco-style wrestling, which is an entirely different style from collegiate wrestling, has severely limited his practice schedule and availability in matches this season.
Schultz isn't only focusing on college wrestling — currently, his biggest goal is to become an Olympian and potentially an Olympic champion.
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If Schultz advances into the later rounds and faces the heavyweight classes' two biggest favorites, Bastida from Iowa State and Greg Kerkvliet from Penn State, he's got a real chance.
A Schultz-Bastida match is projected to be close based on their recent history, while the last time Schultz and Kerkvliet faced off, Schultz won 14 to 8.
Is this the year where Schultz wins it all? Time will tell. But amidst the uncertainty of that question, one thing is for sure among the heavyweights – Schultz is as dangerous as any of them.
According to avid collegiate wrestling fans, Schultz may be the most likely ASU wrestler to win it all, but he's still not the highest-seeded Sun Devil. Those honors go to redshirt junior Kyle Parco and redshirt senior Jacori Teemer, who are both seeded at No. 2 in their respective weight classes.
The only wrestler at 149 pounds ahead of Parco is Nebraska's Ridge Lovett, whom Parco defeated less than a month ago in Mullet Arena. Lovett's 24-1 record earned him the top seed, but his loss against Parco indicates a favorable matchup for the three-time Pac-12 champion.
The only wrestler in front of Teemer at 157 pounds is Penn State's Levi Haines. Haines is the clear favorite who has notched an undefeated 18-0 record during the season. Still, Teemer's chance of going on a run is not out of the question.
READ MORE: How ASU wrestler Jacori Teemer recovered amid the adversity of injury
From an overall team perspective, ASU is also an underdog. According to Flo Wrestling's NCAA Championship team standings, which calculate team strength based on individual seeding, the Sun Devils are tied for the seventh-highest score with 52 total team points. Additionally, in the last NWCA coaches poll of the season, they were ranked No. 16.
On paper, the Sun Devils' 7-6 record doesn't scream championship contenders.
But ASU has multiple things going for them that indicate a possible Cinderella run — they have recent success in the NCAA championships, an abundance of competing wrestlers in this year's competition, and have wrestled their best when it’s mattered most.
Under head coach Zeke Jones, ASU has had five top-ten finishes in the NCAA Championships in the last ten years. They're no strangers to this stage, and familiarity breeds possibility.
In this year's competition, ASU has eight wrestlers: redshirt sophomore Richard Figueroa, redshirt junior Julian Chlebove, junior Jesse Vasquez, redshirt junior Parco, redshirt senior Teemer, redshirt sophomore Cael Valencia, redshirt senior Tony Negron and redshirt junior Schultz.
Three of them — Schultz, Parco, and Teemer — are top-five seedings. And although the rest are not highly seeded, if a number of them can exceed expectations, ASU can go far.
A number of unprecedented underdog performances from ASU wrestlers is certainly not unfeasible considering the team’s success towards the end of the season. On the back of an electric hot streak, the Sun Devils finished 5-2 in their last seven dual matches and took home their 24th Pac-12 Championship in program history.
READ MORE: ASU wrestling ends Pac-12 dominance with another emphatic victory
In lieu of their underdog appearance, the Sun Devils' unwavering belief gives them a chance. As long as the ASU wrestling program, with the likes of top-tier wrestlers such as Schultz, is optimistic that it has a chance at the 2024 NCAA championships, that’s enough reason for the rest of the collegiate wrestling world to agree.
Edited by Vinny DeAngelis, Sadie Buggle and Grace Copperthite.
Reach the reporter at jwkartso@asu.edu and follow @kartsonis3 on X.
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