(Photo: Travis David V Whittaker/WCSN)
The No. 6 ranked Arizona State Sun Devils wrestling team opened their Pac-12 dual meet season against the Oregon State Beavers winning 26-12.
ASU Wrestling shared Desert Financial Arena with the ASU women’s gymnastics team for the annual Beauty and the Beast event.
While some might think it’s a distraction to the athletes, Coach Zeke Jones took it in a different light. He thought “gymnastics brought great energy” and said he “could feel the rhythm in the arena” which was caused by the Sun Devil gym team.
157-lb. Jacori Teemer didn’t seem against the possible distractions either as he felt right at home as he earned his first career pin as a Sun Devil.
“I like working out with music on, so it felt normal, Teemer said. “[There were] more people in the crowd, it felt good to me. I like to perform.”
The Sun Devils started off with a win by No. 11 Brandon Courtney at 125-lb. winning by dec. 14-8 against Oregon State’s Brandon Kaylor.
A dominant performance fans have become accustomed to seeing from Courtney. The 3-0 team lead didn’t last long as the Beavers won by dec. at 133-lb., 141-lb. and 149-lb. to take a 9-3 team lead. Josh Kramer, Navonte Demison and Josh Maruca all lost close matches.
Struggling at the lower weights has become a consistent theme for the Sun Devils this season. Courtney has held his own but Jones has noticed the struggles.
“[we] need to get the lightweights going,” Jones said. “They need to get takedowns, get off the bottom, and put a good seven minutes together.”
With the lightweights struggling in duals this season it has caused the Sun Devils to be trailing going into the second half of most of the dual meets this season.
Friday was no different, the Devils trailed 9-3 after four matches. To help stop the bleeding Teemer knotted the dual at nine after five matches.
“[I] wanted to get bonus points,” Teemer said. “Warming up I was thinking of ways I can get the pin.”
Teemer has become comfortable in the position he finds himself in as it’s happened almost every dual.
“So far during the season every time I’m out there we’re never winning,” Teemer said. “It’s a pick me up, I give a boost.”
Following Teemer, the stud upper weights for the Sun Devils showed why they’re so influential in the team’s success. No. 6 165-lb. Josh Shields started the second half with a pin of Aaron Olmos, making it back to back pins for the Devils.
Their only loss in the upperweights came at 184-lb. where Austin Clayton filled in for No. 1 Zahid Valencia who was wrestling with Team USA at an international event.
With this win the Sun Devils are now 9-1 this season and 1-0 in the Pac-12. They have been dominating all season and sit at the No. 6 ranking for a reason. They look like serious contenders for hardware at the end of the season. While the team’s long-term goal is a Pac-12 title and a national championship, they clearly realize the importance of short-term success in route to those goals.
“I’m already looking past this, looking to next week and looking forward to the future,” said Teemer.
The Sun Devils will return to when they take on No. 19 Stanford on Jan. 31, at 6 p.m. MST.
