(Photo: Courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics)
TEMPE – It was a fresh start for Arizona State wrestling Saturday night as it held its Maroon and Gold scrimmage, marking a new chapter in the history of the storied program.
Head coach Zeke Jones started off the night by welcoming the crowd and thanking them for their support. Along with this, Jones acknowledged the transition period that the Sun Devils are in right now, with 23 of the 30 wrestlers on the team joining the past two seasons.
“Everybody coming in new is excited [and] wanting to prove themselves,” Jones said. “I think the competition in the room is good right now because of it.”
That competition showed as second-year Kyler Larkin and fifth-year Emilio Ysaguirre headlined the many anticipated matches. A very tight no-score first period was followed by Larkin escaping the reset and scoring a takedown, propelling him to win by fall with just one minute left in the second period– an early positive from the second-year 141-pounder.
Moving to newcomers, the 285 lbs division welcomed two new first-years, Kal-El Fluckinger and Ben Szuba. The heavyweights took part in a tightly contested match with Szouba coming out on top with a 4-2 win.
The match started with some early clinches and a well-timed scramble, leading to an entertaining first period. Szouba then opened the scoring by escaping the reset, giving him the lead going into the third. Szouba then came back and scored a takedown that propelled him to a 4-2 victory, with Fluckinger ultimately not creating enough offense in the latter stages of the match.
“I really don’t like losing,” Szouba said while reflecting on what he learned most about himself.
Furthermore, third-year 149-pounder Pierson Manville had a little bit longer of a night as he wrestled in two matches tonight to help showcase his skills to Jones. In his first match, Manville wrestled second-year Gael Moreno and was dominant. Manville put an immense amount of pressure on Moreno, leading to a 13-2 win after numerous takedown points scored.
Manville’s next match was against fourth-year Daniel Miranda, who had to beat second-year Jamar Dixon for a shot at Manville in the final. The bout was more of the same for Manville as he pummeled Miranda, leading to an 18-5 major-decision win.
One of the few members of the squad that has been at ASU longer than two years is Nicco Ruiz, the second-ranked 165-pounder in the country and reigning Big 12 champion. He started his season with a technical and dominant showing against first-year Justin Wardlow. Ruiz dominated throughout the match, but did much of his damage in the third period, scoring 11 of his 12 points.
Other matches that took place included third-year Damien Moreno and second-year Christian Castillo. Castillo is one of the few transfers ASU secured as he left Iowa State after one year. The transfer made an immediate impact as he beat Damien Moreno 4-1 to help carve out his role at 125 pounds.
Further up the weight chart, ASU trotted out two more transfers at 133 lbs, with third-year Adrian Meza coming from Iowa State and second-year Gavin Bauder coming from Clackamas Community College. It was one of the closer matches of the night as Bauder came out on top with a takedown, securing a 4-1 win.
As far as the overall outlook on the group, Jones acknowledged the group’s beginning-of-the-season jitters while also believing that his group of wrestlers is ahead of schedule in their training and looks like a “December team in November.”
