(Photo: Travis David V Whittaker/WCSN)
On February 8, 2019, the Sun Devil wrestling squad hosted the No. 10 Mizzou Tigers.
Starting off the match for Arizona State was Brandan Courtney in the 125 lbs. weight class. Wrestling for the Tigers was redshirt freshman, Dack Punke.
This was a close match that remained scoreless after the first period. This match ended up going into overtime and Brandan Courtney had a take down to end the match, giving Arizona State a 3-0 lead in the dual.
Courtney has recently got a starting spot in the line up to replace Ryan Millhof after an injury. Courtney stated after the match “I feel as a person and as a wrestler I’m growing a lot. I love it and I’m embracing it and I hope next year is the same thing and I get a starting spot to wrestle for ASU.”
Following Courtney, in the 133 lbs. weight class was No. 25 Josiah Kline. Kline fell to Mizzou’s Josh Erneste in the first period.
Next up for ASU was Navonte Demison in the 141 lbs. weight class. Demison went up against No. 3 Jaydin Eierman. Eierman won by fall giving Mizzou an early lead of 12-3 over ASU.
Redshirt junior, Josh Maruca wrestled No. 7 Brock Mauller in the 149 lbs. weight class. Mauller and Maruca traded points throughout the match. Going into the third period Mizzou had a 7-6 lead. Mauller got an escape point in the third period and held on to his lead for the rest of the match. This gave Mizzou a commanding lead of 15-3.
In the 157 lbs. Arizona State’s Christian Pagdilao won by decision over Jarrett Jacques. Josh Shields also gave ASU a win by decision in the 165 lbs. weight class. With the back to back wins, ASU now trailed Mizzou 15-9.
Following these wins was the 174 lbs. match. This was a highly anticipated match because ASU’s Zahid Valencia wrestled Mizzou’s Daniel Lewis. Going into the match Valencia was ranked No. 2 and Lewis was ranked No. 4. Lewis pinned Valencia now making the team score 21-9.
In regard to the 174 lbs. match, head coach Zeke Jones stated “when the national champ gets beat it never feels good, but that guy came on a mission and a lot of people saw a very rare thing. When Zahid loses it doesn’t happen very often, but I think what happens when Zahid does get beat he really goes back to work. Now he knows he’s going to be on the bottom of a really good top guy.”
Jacen Petersen followed this match and picked the Arizona State team up with a decision over Taylor Watkins in the 184 lbs. weight class.
When asked about his performance in the match he stated, “starting out off the whistle I did well, better than I usually do I think, and I think that’s something we all need to work on a little bit and coach has been pounding on us a little bit.”
Next up for ASU was Austyn Harris in the 197 lbs. weight class. After a close match, Koelling took the lead late in the third for the Tigers and managed to hold onto his lead throughout the rest of the match. Koeling won by decision, putting Mizzou up 24-12 with only one bout remaining.
The final bout of the night was the heavy weight match up pitting Arizona State’s Brady Daniel against Mizzou’s Zach Elam. Elam pinned Daniel and the Tigers won the dual 30-12.
The only duals remaining in the Sun Devils’ season are against CSU Bakersfield and Cal Poly. Then the team will host the Pac-12 Championships, and then head to Pittsburgh for the NCAA Championships.
Jones stated that “nothing changes, we just got to continue to get better.”
