The No. 11 Arizona State Sun Devils faced No. 9 Iowa State Cyclones at Hamilton High School in a future Big 12 wrestling match-up.
The dual began at 125 lbs with the Cyclones No. 24 senior Kysen Terukina who went up against redshirt junior Tristian Mascarenas for the Sun Devils. While Mascarenas was able to hold on through the first period, Terukina dominated in the second and third period to seal the victory 12-6.
At 133 lbs. redshirt junior Julian Chlebove would get Arizona State their first victory of the night with a 13-3 major decision win over Iowa State’s redshirt freshman Ethan Perryman. Chlebove tallied three takedowns with two coming in the third period.
“It was awesome to be out here in this environment, it felt really good. It was a packed house, and I was excited to get out there and get my hand raised and do good for the team.” said Chlebove.
After two matches the Sun Devils had the 4-3 lead in the dual, but it would not last long. No.12 redshirt junior Anthony Echemendia would lead the Cyclones to a 20-4 tech fall victory over Sun Devil redshirt junior Cody Foote. Echemendia won in the second period tallying five takedowns putting Iowa State up 8-4.
Freshman Kaleb Larkin debuted for the Sun Devils at 141 lbs and made his name known with a 48 second pin over Cyclones senior Zach Redding.
“I was pretty nervous walking out, but that’s normally how it is for all my matches. So I’m nervous at the beginning, and then when I start to get my hands on him and start moving him and get my pressure. The nerves are gone and I realize I’m in the match.” said Larkin. “I didn’t expect to get it, usually they belly out after the ankle trip, but he stayed back up into me, so I just shelfed it and snagged the cradle and then got it (the pin).”
Through four matches the Sun Devils had the 10-8 lead over the Cyclones, but they were not able to hold it as the Cyclones would go on to win the remaining six matches.
157 lbs ISU No. 21 freshman Cody Chittum 9-5 decision over ASU No. 3 redshirt senior Jacori Teemer.
165 lbs ISU No. 4 senior David Carr 19-4 tech fall over ASU freshman Nicco Ruiz.
174 lbs ISU No. 23 redshirt freshman MJ Gaitan 8-4 decision over ASU redshirt sophmore Cael Valencia.
184 lbs ISU No. 9 senior Will Feldkamp 12-7 decision over ASU No. 26 redshirt senior Tony Negron.
197 lbs ISU No. 26 senior Julian Broderson 11-4 decision over ASU sophomore Jacob Meissner.
HWT ISU No. 3 senior Yonger Bastida 4-2 decision over ASU No. 5 redshirt junior Cohlton Schultz.
The Sun Devils ended the dual with a 28-10 loss, their third straight. The loss drops the Sun Devils down to 1-3 on the season which a lot of questions to be answered.
“It’s disappointing, we lost. Our goal is to go out onto the mat and win every match every time so it’s disappointing” said head coach Zeke Jones.
While there was a lot of disappoint from the dual, there were a lot of other positives to note.
“We got to see the first Kaleb Larkin match, which people are gonna enjoy him for the next five years. Julian (Chlebove) got a good win and a major (decision), but overall when you lose eight matches it’s disappointing” said Jones.
The Sun Devils will look to improve on parts of their wrestling and toughness as the season starts to heat up.
“We got to get tougher and get into better shape. I think our kids have to make a decision when they get to the four to six minute period. Half-way through the second period and half-way through the third period, when the time and score are behind. We’ve got to go get it. Thats we have to do” said Jones.
While the dual was not in their usual location of Desert Financial Arena or Mullett Arena the energy was still high. With only 3,000 fans allowed in a packed high school gym, the energy was the same if it was in the original sites.
“Sold out gyms are always fun to wrestle in. I knew the small intimate atmosphere sold out would be really fun, I think the crowd enjoyed it. I think a few more wins would have been nice and we would have felt better.” said Zeke Jones on wrestling at Hamilton High School.
The Sun Devils will hit the road for the next three weeks with the first Pac-12 dual vs CSU Bakersfield January 7th. They will then travel to Little Rock on January 19th followed by Pittsburgh on January 21st. Arizona State will then travel to Stillwater, Oklahoma to take on Oklahoma State on February 2nd before returning to Tempe to face Oregon State February 4th at Desert Financial Arena.
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