(Photo: Brendan Belfield/WCSN)
For the second time in as many years, ASU left the NCAA Wrestling Championships with a fourth-place trophy.
The Sun Devils boasted five individual All-American honors and two top-four finishes.
Junior 133-pound Michael McGee fell to Austin DeSanto from Iowa in the Third Place match by a 7-4 decision loss and earned a fourth-place finish. McGee came close to pulling off a miraculous third-period comeback. After trailing 5-1 in the first two periods, McGee scored an escape point and two takedown points with thirty seconds left but allowed DeSanto to score another takedown of his own in the final seconds.
Freshman 285-pound Cohlton Schultz lost to Olympic gold medalist Gable Stevenson in the heavyweight national title match via a 6-2 decision loss. Schultz eclipsed two escape points, but Stevenson’s aggressive style of wrestling proved to be too much.
It’s the second straight season that an ASU wrestler competed in the national title for their respective weight class. Last year, junior 125-pound Brandon Courtney lost in the national championship to Spencer Lee from Iowa. He finished in sixth place and lost the fifth-place match to Minnesota’s Patrick McKee.
Aside from Courtney, McGee, and Schultz, freshman 149-pound Kyle Parco and sophomore 157-pound Jacori Teemer were the other ASU wrestlers to earn All-American honors. Parco finished in eighth place following a 14-2 major decision loss to Tariq Wilson from NC State. Teemer finished in sixth place following a sudden victory loss to Will Lewan from Michigan.
Of the seven ASU wrestlers to compete this weekend, only two Sun Devils didn’t compete in medal rounds. Senior 165-pound Anthony Valencia and junior 197-pound Kordell Norfleet both went 2-2 this weekend.
It was Valencia’s last NCAA Championships of his collegiate career. Over his career, he amassed four PAC-12 titles and two All-American honors. He finished in eighth place last season following a medical forfeit in the seventh-place round to Cameron Amine from Michigan.
For the Sun Devils, it is the fourth time in program history that they have finished the NCAA Championships in fourth place. It’s also the highest the team has finished under coach Zeke Jones (tied with last season’s fourth-place finish).
