Little Rock 285 lber Josiah Hill (Photo/Ed Sanchez; Little Rock Athletics)InterMat Tournament/Dual Rankings (November 23) are used where appropriate.
This Past Week
The season's momentum slowed predictably with the Thanksgiving holiday, and the effect was apparent on the Pac-12 schedule. A thin weekend of action, comprising of #3 Arizona State at the Cowboy (Wyoming) Open and a non-conference dual between Little Rock and Drexel (EIWA), was made thinner when travel issues barred #25 Oregon State from traveling to face #1 Iowa in Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
On Saturday, November 27, the Sun Devils of Arizona State arrived in force to Wyoming, fielding both attached and unattached wrestlers across the ten-weights. They dominated the field, with five tournament champions, a runner-up, two 3rd-place finishers, and two 4th-place finishers. Three others finished in 5th-place. The champions for Arizona State were #3 Brandon Courtney (125), #5 Kyle Parco (149), #6 Anthony Valencia (165), unattached Cael Valencia (174), and #3 Cohlton Schultz (285). When a team enjoys such widespread success, an unfortunate consequence is the amplification of stumbles among their ranks. At 133lbs, #7 Michael McGee suffered an upset loss, 8-7, to UR Job Greenwood of Wyoming in the tournament finals. A back-and-forth match saw Greenwood score two big takedowns in both the first and second periods to take the lead from McGee, who had answered with a takedown of his own in the first. Trailing 6-4 early in the third period after a Greenwood escape, McGee scored a quick left-sided leg-attack takedown to tie the score 6-6. With roughly 90s remaining in the match, the Arizona State corner urged McGee to “get your riding time,†and the All-American got to work keeping Greenwood on the mat and in danger -- but the risk came with no reward, when Greenwood reversed McGee to take the lead for a third and final time, 8-6. A McGee escape with short-time left the final score, 8-7.
At 174lbs, a weight where Coach Zeke Jones and staff are still assessing their options, true-freshman Cael Valencia has continued to raise his own stock, winning a weight featuring a top-10 competitor and two Arizona State teammates (i.e., Ryan Rochford and Zane Coleman). En route to a tournament title, Valencia defeated his teammate Coleman via major, 12-4. In the finals, Valencia faced #10 Hayden Hastings of host Wyoming. In a tactical affair, featuring two exciting but scoreless neutral exchanges in the second period, Valencia and Hastings traded escapes, respectively, before determining the winner in the third, with Valencia scoring on a leg-attack after an extended sprawl-recovery sequence with less than a minute remaining in the match. Hastings escaped with less than 30s to wrestle and couldn't catch Valencia in time. The young Sun Devil notched perhaps his best win of the season-to-date, 3-2.
All-American heavyweight Cohlton Schultz picked up another tournament title on the season, topping #8 Brian Andrews of Wyoming in the tournament finals. A mid-first period go-behind takedown set the tone for the match. A second-period escape, takedown, and third-period rideout made it 6-1 for Schultz when the final whistle blew.
Saturday afternoon in Arkansas, Little Rock opened their home-dual schedule against Drexel, suffering a tight 25-18 dual defeat in a meet that saw the Trojans win four matches against the visiting Dragons. Little Rock led the dual through six-weights on the strength of a technical fall from undefeated Jaylen Carson at 133lbs, a come-from-behind sudden-victory decision from Conner Ward at 141lbs, and a major decision powered by five takedowns from Joey Bianchi at 149. Notable Little Rock 174lber Triston Wills faced a tough test in the form of #12-ranked Mickey O'Malley, eventually dropping a fall midway through the match, giving Drexel a lead they would not relinquish. Nonetheless, Trojan heavyweight Josiah Hill gave the home crowd something to smile about, earning a first-period fall to close the dual on a positive note.
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