(Photo: Marlee Smith/WCSN)
Arizona State wrestling just finished the 2020-21 regular season undefeated in duels. Looking ahead, the team is entering their final weeks of the wrestling season. With just two postseason tournaments, PAC-12 Championships and NCAAs, they are looking to continue their strong season with another PAC-12 title. The team wants to repeat and win its fourth conference championship in five years.
Competition at PAC-12s will be scarce as Stanford is the only other team ranked in the top 25 in some of the coaches’ polls.
“We look at that as home court I guess or our conference. I think we are the premier team now in the PAC-12,” said ASU senior Kordell Norfleet.
The Cardinals’ senior Nathan Traxler and sophomore Shane Griffith will certainly be elite competition for Arizona State. Traxler placed second behind Kordell Norfleet at the PAC-12 Championships in the 197-pound division while Griffith took first place at 165-pounds.
ASU has enjoyed a wildly successful season. They went undefeated in duels during the regular season and have seven top twenty-five rostered wrestlers. Coach Zeke Jones and his squad are favored to win it all after compelling wins over No. 13 Oklahoma, No. 15 Wyoming, No. 11 Iowa State, and No. 20 Northern Iowa.
In addition to building on this year’s success, the Sun Devils hope to expand upon last season’s dominating performance at the PAC-12 Championships. In 2020, the boys in maroon & gold had five individual title winners and medaled every single wrestler including one second-place, three third places, and one fourth-place finish.
Expect a big performance from former Co-Most Outstanding Wrestler Kordell Norfleet. In his two PAC-12 Championships matches last season, Norfleet won by major decision and pinned Traxler from Stanford. The Sun Devil senior has already knocked off two top 25 competitors and has yet to lose this season. Norfleet has been terrorizing his opponents on the mat this season which should be a recurring theme in Corvallis, Oregon on February 28th.
Arizona State looks set to have another dominating performance after two exciting wins over top twenty-five opponents last weekend. The Sun Devils traveled to Ames, Iowa to take on No.11 Iowa State and No. 20 Northern Iowa. Since then, they have begun to prepare for next week’s conference championships. “We’re excited to head back home and get to work for the Pac-12 Championships and the NCAA Tournament.”
Here’s a breakdown of each weight class:
125-Pounds
Brandon Courtney hopes to win another conference championship this season. Courtney has had an impressive year and is ranked third at 125-pounds. Courtney has not lost a conference match since 2019, but Stanford’s Jackson DiSario will try to ruin his streak. Last year, the two went head-to-head in the conference finals as Courtney edged out DiSario with a 4-1 decision win. DiSario has improved greatly from the last time these wrestlers squared off. Right now, DiSario is ranked sixth in the nation and wants revenge. Courtney is still favored to win the conference in his weight class, but expect a tedious fight from Stanford’s dark horse candidate.
133- Pounds
Michael McGee has not lost a single match since his sophomore year. McGee should continue to dominate on the mat in two weeks. He won two MAC conference championships at Old Dominion before transferring to Arizona State, so it will come as no surprise that his success will translate over to a less competitive conference. The No. 7 ranked wrestler will compete for a chance to win his third conference title.
141-Pounds
Peter Lipari struggled to find momentum during the regular season. Lipari’s biggest issue has been his failure to score points in the latter portion of matches. Two of his four losses have gone to overtime when he couldn’t get escape points to tie the match. Lipari won both of his conference matches during the regular season, however. It certainly will not be an easy task for Lipari to win the conference, but he wishes to make one final push to qualify for NCAAs in his last collegiate season.
149- Pounds
Cory Crooks showed potential for a big postseason run during this year. Crooks only lost three matches and they all came to ranked opponents. Two of those losses were decided by a single point. With only two PAC-12 wrestlers ranked in the top 30 at 149-pounds, Cory will try to win his first-ever conference championship in his senior year.
157-Pounds
Jacori Teemer has been a force throughout his wrestling career in conference play. He won the PAC-12 at 157-pounds last year and is yet to lose against a conference opponent. Teemer might not have an easy path to another PAC-12 title this season. Senior Requir van der Merwe, from Stanford, and junior Hunter Willits, from Oregon State, are both ranked in the top 25 at 157-pounds. Van der Merwe is ranked nineteenth in the nation with a 5-1 record while Willits ranks twenty-third with a 7-2 record. Teemer’s only ranked opponent during the regular season was against No. 13 Justin Thomas from Oklahoma and resulted in a loss. Meanwhile, Merwe beat Thomas at the end of January before falling to Willits just a few days later. With tough competition, it is difficult to declare Teemer the clear favorite to win another conference title.
165-Pounds
Both No. 6 Anthony Valencia and No. 4 Shane Griffith won a PAC-12 title last season at their respective weight classes in 2020. It will be interesting to see if Griffith’s experience at 165-pounds will be enough to beat the senior. Neither of these wrestlers has squared off against national title caliber opponents. However, they are both undefeated and are prepared to cause upsets in the later rounds of NCAA championships.
174-Pounds
No. 17 Bernie Truax is the favorite to get his hand raised in the conference finals at 174-pounds this season. Truax beat Sun Devil sophomore Trey Munoz when Cal Poly ventured to Tempe earlier this month. Munoz will try to rewrite the script the next time these two shake hands.
184-Pounds
Senior Cade Belshay is looking to turn his lackluster season around. Belshay lost some very close and frustrating matches against multiple top ten wrestlers this season. He had an overtime loss to No. 18 Tate Samuelson from Wyoming. No. 8 Samuel Colbray from Iowa State beat him by a single point and No. 48 Darrien Roberts defeated Belshay by just three points earlier in the season. There shouldn’t be a lot of competition for Belshay at PAC-12s next week though, so perhaps he can contend for a conference title.
197-Pounds
Kordell Norfleet will “be ready to scrap,” next Sunday when he tries to claim his third PAC-12 title. Norfleet is fully prepared to continue his elite conference play. He lost his first-ever PAC-12 match by disqualification but has won every other match since then. He is also the only 197-pound wrestler who is ranked in the PAC-12.
HWT
The redshirt freshman Cohlton Schultz has already made a name for himself in the heavyweight division. He defeated three top-ten opponents in the regular season which includes: No. 9 Brian Andrews from Wyoming, No. 5 Gannon Gremmel from Iowa State, and No. 6 Carter Isley from Northern Iowa. Schultz will have his hands full with Stanford senior Nathan Traxler. Traxler is yearning to add another conference title under his belt before he graduates in May. Schultz will be the underdog and try to spoil the party for Traxler. Last season, Schultz’s teammate Kordell Norfleet upset Nathan Traxler during the regular season and would go on to beat him in the PAC-12 finals at 197-pounds. Of course, Cohlton will try and repeat this success.
