ASU Wrestling: Sun Devils big three make quarters, Maruca still alive after first day of NCAA Tournament

(Photo: Travis David V Whittaker/WCSN)

After a long first day of the NCAA D-1 Wrestling National Championships in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Arizona State Wrestling team advanced all four wrestlers into day two of the 2019 NCAA tournament.

157-lb. No. 9 seed Christian Pagdilao, 165-lb. and 174-lb. No. 3 seeds Josh Shields and defending National Champion Zahid Valencia advanced into the quarterfinals tomorrow morning.

Josh Maruca fell to Iowa’s Pat Lugo by a 5-2 Dec. during the opening round of competition.

“It was a good day. Three for four in the morning and four for four so seven outta eight,” said head coach Zeke Jones. “Those guys took some big wins today, it was a big win for us.”

Pagdilao won his first match over Joshua McClure by Maj. Dec 12-2 then won his second round match over Josh Humphreys of Lehigh by an 11-7 Dec. avenging an earlier loss this season in the dual back in January.

Both Shields and Valencia worked their way into the quarterfinals by winning by Maj. Dec in both of their respective matches.

“Just trying to score as many points as possible,” said Valencia. “Trying to get my conditioning ready for the next few days. Everything I’ve done in the practice room back home with my coaches. I’m ready to show everyone what I’m all about.”

Maruca was able to work his way back after winning his first-round consolation match by upsetting the No. 7 seed Kaden Gfeller of Oklahoma State, earning an 8-3 Dec. with just over two minutes of riding time.

“Going into it I had a good game plan,” said Maruca. “Me and the coaches went through it, we knew how the guy wrestled so I went over a few things and I was able to come out on top.”

Maruca, a red-shirt junior, will now have to win his next three matches in order to become an All-American for the first time in school history.

“Just one match at a time, I’m not sure what tomorrow has in store,” said Maruca. “One person in front of me.”

Marcua is set to wrestle the No. 9 seed Justin Oliver from North Carolina State. Lifetime, Marcua is 0-2 against Oliver but they haven’t squared off since 2017.

Pagdilao will face the No. 1 seed Jason Nolf of Penn State. Nolf, the returning two-time NCAA champion for Penn State, has yet to lose this season.

No. 3 seed Shields will face No. 11 seed Bryce Steirt of Northern Iowa. Shields defeated Steirt by a narrow 3-2 Dec. back in December.

Valencia will face off with Army’s No. 22 seed Ben Harvey. Valencia has wrestled Harvey once before but it was back in 2016.

Heading into the second day of the tournament ASU has lots to wrestle for, however, they will be unable to challenge a call for the remainder of the tournament.

The Sun Devils lost their ability to challenge when they wanted a call looked at during Pagdilao’s second-round match. ASU currently sits in 19th place in the team standings with 9.5 points trailing North Carolina and Lock Haven by a half a point. Penn State is in first place after day one with 32.5 team points.

“We got a lot of momentum out of today heading into tomorrow,” said Jones. “You can’t have a bad round anywhere at the NCAA tournament. Nothing really changes in the mindset for tomorrow other than do the same thing we did today. Compete with a lot of heart and passion.”