Pac-12 Weekly Recap (12/22/2023)

Arizona State travels to Reno TOC

Arizona State sent five wrestlers to the Reno TOC and returned with near-perfect results, going 17-6 in their matches.

Richard Figueroa was stunned 6-4 by Wyoming’s Jore Volk. However, he did post four victories, including Oregon State’s Caleb Coyle. Mykey Ramos went 5-1 at 149 pounds, losing to Oklahoma’s Willie McDougald 8-6.

Ramos had three bonus-point victories including a first-period pin. Nicco Ruiz stood out at 165 pounds. Ruiz went 5-0 with wins over Oklahoma’s Cael Carson, Mannix Morgan, and Oregon State’s Isaiah Anderson.

CSU Bakersfield falls in dual and TOC

Cal State Bakersfield dropped its dual against Oregon State 48-0. The Roadrunners forfeited 149 pounds and lost four other matches by pins. However, three wrestlers battled the Beavers to the final whistle. 

Richard Castro-Sandoval lost to Brandon Kaylor 10-4 at 125 pounds. Guillermo Escobedo battled Matthew Olguin to an 11-4 loss at 165 pounds and heavyweight Jake Andrews lost 7-5 to Charles Hastriter.

The Roadrunners followed up at the Reno TOC with two wrestlers finishing with a winning record. Ray Ray Harris went 3-2 at 125 pounds. He earned wins against unattached Gabe Gray, Clackamas CC Kai Villesanor, and Utah Valley’s Jacob Carson.

Eric Mittlestead went 3-2 at heavyweight. His victories came against Abdulah Razzak, Ethan Salazar, and Shane Mattson.

Little Rock

Little Rock continues to be the most impressive team in the Pac-12 this season. The Trojans ran their winning streak to four with dominant wins against Chattanooga and Queens.

The Trojans defeated Chattanooga 30-11. Jeremiah Reno, Triston Wills, and Stephen Little won by tech fall while Josiah Hill ended the dual with a pin. Brennan Van Hoecke, Matt Bianchi, and Tyler Brennan won close decisions.

On the other hand, Little Rock had its first dual where every match had bonus points. Joshua Sarpy, Chase Tebbets, Joseph Bianchi, Brennan, and Hill won by pins. Reno, Van Hoecke, Kyle Dutton, Wills, and Little won by tech fall. 

On Monday, Little Rock traveled to Nashville for the Collegiate Duals. Though the Trojans went 0-3, they took #17 Pittsburgh to criteria in a 22-21 loss. Nasir Bailey had a pair of ranked wins, including a quick tech fall over then #8 Evan Frost of Iowa State. Wills has two wins as well, one of which was a pin against then #14th ranked Reece Heller of Pittsburgh. 

Updated rankings from InterMat have found Little Rock amongst the top-30 in tournament rankings for the first time in program history. 

Oregon State dominates CSUB dual

Oregon State began the week with a 48-0 victory against Cal State Bakersfield. The Beavers won all but three matches by bonus points. Cleveland Belton, Isaiah Crosby, and Trey Munox highlighted the dual with first-period pins. 

Kekana Fouret won by a second-period pin and Travis Wittlake won by a 19-3 tech fall in the second period.

After their dual, the Beavers went to Reno TOC and sent a handful of their starters and several wrestlers deeper on the depth chart. The Beavers had mixed results from their wrestlers. Caleb Coyle went 5-1, losing his one-ranked match to ASU’s Richard Figueroa.

Isaiah Crosby went 4-1 at 157 pounds, losing to Oklahoma’s Jared Hill 2-1. He won some close battles including a 10-8 victory over Alex Ramirez and 4-2 against Oklahoma’s John Wiley.

Justin Rademacher went 4-1 and Mason Christiansen went 4-2 at 197 pounds.  

Stanford loses VT dual; Undefeated at Campbell

Stanford wrestled against Virginia Tech last week and fell 29-7. Daniel Cardenas defeated Bryce Andonian in a top-ten matchup 15-7 at 157 pounds. Jason Miranda won 3-0 at 141 pounds against Mac Church.

Unfortunately, the Cardinal wrestling squad found themselves on the wrong side in the other top matchups. Nico Provo was stunned at 125 pounds, losing 5-2 to Cooper Flynn. In addition, Sam Latona defeated Tyler Knox 12-3, and Mekhi Lewis defeated Lorenzo Norman 8-0 and Sonny Sasso defeated Nick Stemmet 8-4.

Tuesday was much better for the Cardinal as they swept the Campbell quad with wins over the hosts, North Dakota State, and Purdue. Though they were without four typical starters, Chris Ayres’ team managed to pull out three wins. As expected, Cardenas and Stemmet went 3-0 on the day.