The tournament titles for both Robles and Drouin marked the first crowns captured in Reno by a Sun Devil individual since two All-Americans were victorious in 2003. That year, Reno-native Ryan Bader won the crown at 197 before Cain Velasquez took home the heavyweight title.
No. 13 Oklahoma State won the team titles with 146.5 points and was followed by No. 17 Edinboro (132.5), North Carolina (94), CS Bakersfield (87) and Navy (79). CSUB was the lone Pac-10 team to finish ahead of the Sun Devils with conference rivals Oregon State (59.5), UC Davis (58.5) and CS Fullerton (57) placing eighth, ninth and 10th, respectively. The sixth-place showing for ASU gives the program its eighth Top 6 finish in 10 years in Reno.
Robles, who was the tournament's top seed at 125 pounds, was dominant on the day as he won his first four bouts in impressive fashion before topping third-seeded Obenson Blanc (Oklahoma State), 9-2, in the final. Leading up to the final bout, Robles won a fall at 2:13 in the opening round over Andre Gonzalez (CS Fullerton) and a major decision of 17-5 over Jake Gonzales (Oregon State) before adding technical fall victories over Richard Alarcon (Citadel) and Kyle Fluke (Edinboro) in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively. Following his final victory, Robles was selected as the Outstanding Wrestler of the entire tournament.
Not to be outdone, Drouin marched his way through the bracket to win his first collegiate crown, winning six bouts at the top-seed at 141 pounds. Drouin made quick work of his time to the quarterfinals as he pinned Jacub Bassett (Western Wyoming) in 1:28 in the opener and followed a medical forfeit victory in the second round with a 17-0 technical fall over Derek Royster (Citadel) in the third round. In the quarterfinals, he scored a 5-2 decision over Andrew Stella (Buffalo) before earning a 6-2 decision in the semifinals over Adin Duenas (CS Fullerton). The final was his toughest task of the day as he found himself scoring a takedown late the bout to force overtime where he scored a takedown over third-seeded Jamal Parks (Oklahoma State) to win in sudden victory, 7-5.
At 197 pounds, Nick Williams put together a strong run as he rebounded from a lost by pin fall in the first round to win four bouts in a row in the consolation rounds and advance to the consolation quarterfinals. In that bout, he fell, 7-4, to third-seeded and 19th-ranked Pat Bradshaw (Edinboro), bringing his tournament to an end with a 4-2 record. Had the tournament placed through eight (instead of only six), Williams would have placed as well.
In all, 12 Sun Devils competed in the tournament with 11 of those wrestlers winning at least one bout on the day.
ASU will return to the mats on December 29-30 as it will compete in the Midlands Championships inside Welsh-Ryan Arena on the Northwestern University campus in Evanston, Ill.
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