This article was originally published on November 18, 2022.
The No. 5 Arizona State wrestling defeated No. 3 Missouri in a top 5 matchup which had multiple All-Americans on the mat. The matchup took place in Mullett Arena, marking the Sun Devils’ first home duel in the new arena.
The duel started at 125 pounds where Mizzou sent out No. 14 Noah Surtin and the Sun Devils sent out redshirt freshman Richard Figueroa. Brandon Courtney is the normal 125 pound man for the Sun Devils and was spotted in street clothes.
Figueroa started the match off well, as he had a 4-2 lead over Surtin, and went on to beat a top ranked wrestler in Surtin winning the match 6-4.
“Richie fits into our plans as we see him as a multiple time national champion,” coach Zeke Jones said. “He’s beat 3 top 15-20 guys as a freshman.
At 133 pounds, No. 4 Michael McGee of ASU faced Connor Brown. The match started slow as the first period was scoreless. Brown had a 1-0 lead heading to the final period. However, McGee went on a scoring outburst and picked up the 6-4 win giving the Devils a 6-0 lead after the first two matches.
At 141 pounds, No. 6 Allan Hart was sent out for the Tigers and No. 24 Jesse Vasquez for the Sun Devils.
Hart looked to get the win and was up 1-0 and riding time on his side. Vasquez went down to start the period and tied it at one with around 30 seconds but Hart had the riding time. Jesse Vasquez picked up a last second take to win 3-2.
“I wasn’t looking at stealing the match, I was just wrestling,” Vasquez said. “If I could do what I could do, I could come out victorious.”
Vasquez’s match was crucial in the Sun Devils win over the Tigers.
Next was the 149 pound match and it was a top 8 matchup. For ASU No. 3 Kyle Parco took the mat against No. 8 Brock Mauller. The match was a slow pace as not many points were scored. Parco picked up the 3-2 hard fought win over Mauller.
The last match of the first half was 157 were No. 15 Jarret Jacques faced ASU’s Max Wilner. In this one it was all Jacques as he picked up the tech fall winning 25-9.
At the break, the Sun Devils had a 12-5 lead over Mizzou.
The second half of the duel started at 165 pounds where the Tigers sent out No. 1 Keegan O’Toole, the defending national champion at 165. For the Sun Devils it was transfer No. 17 Tony Negron. In this one O’Toole showed how great he really is. O’Toole dominated from the Jump and picked up a tech fall winning 17-1 over Negron.
In the 174 match ASU’s Cael Valencia faced No. 9 Peyton Mocco. Mocco controlled this match from start to finish, winning 14-4 over Valencia. Those two wins gave the Tigers a 14-12 lead with three matches to go.
At 184 pounds, No. 17 Anthony Montalvo took on No. 22 Sean Harman. This was another match where it went back and forth. Montalvo had the 3-2 lead in the third and held on winning 4-2, getting the extra point due to ride time.
“Anthony’s match was pivotal,” Jones said. “We needed to get one and Anthony was the guy.”
No. 15 Kordell Norfleet faced No. 4 Rocky Elam at 197. In this match Elam controlled all the way throughout, winning 8-2.
“We have to get better at those weights if we want to compete for a national title,” Jones said.
With one match remaining the score was 17-15 in favor of Mizzou.
At heavyweight it was No. 1 Cohlton Schultz for the Sun Devils and No. 7 Zach Elam for the Tigers. The Duel came down to this final match.
Schultz came out firing right away for the Devils, and held a 6-2 lead after 1. The match would go Schultz’s way the whole time as he cruised to a 12-4 victory. That victory put the Sun Devils ahead 19-17 and gave the Sun Devils their second duel win of the year and first one at the new Mullett Arena.
“Being a career heavyweight, two point duel coming to the final match. That’s what we live for,” Schultz said. “Nothing beats that excitement with the duel on the line.”
This top 5 win is huge for the Sun Devils as a lot of experts projected the Tigers to win against the Sun Devils.
“We won because of the people in the stands. They were rocking,” Jones said. “Our guys feed off it, you can just tell.”
ASU is now 2-0 in duels and its next duel is January 4 in Texas vs Cornell. The Sun Devils next home duel is January 15th vs Princeton. The Sun Devils do have 3 tournaments before the Cornell match, so the squad will take what they learned tonight and apply before their next duels.
“We are going to focus on getting better from now to March,” Jones said. “We are learning and getting better until the championships.”
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