TEMPE — As music played following an intermission, the crowd eagerly cheered for Arizona State’s No. 3 freshman Kaleb Larkin, who walked out to take on the No. 1 sophomore 157-pound weight class wrestler in the country, West Virginia’s Ty Watters.
For the former 149-pound weight class wrestler, Watters stood as his biggest test. Watters has been in this weight class, while this would be Larkin’s second-ever match at 157.
Larkin came out blazing. Anytime Watters trapped the leg, Larkin countered. Anytime Watters tried to get his hands inside for hand positioning, Larkin countered. Any shot attempt, Larkin countered.
Larkin kept fighting back from a 2-1 deficit, and after multiple attempts, the ‘unicorn’ freed his leg, spun around and fully secured the takedown to walk off the mat and into the locker room with a standing ovation as Larkin did what many thought he could not and beat Watters.
“I know he’s the best in the country,” Kaleb’s brother, No. 5 sophomore Kyler Larkin, said. “We get to show that in March. It was just time. I know he’s better than all those guys; he just needed an opportunity to show it.”
The Arizona State Sun Devils dropped another meet Friday night, losing to the West Virginia Mountaineers, 20-19 in a match that came down to one pin and one final point. The Sun Devils move to 0-7 on the year and 0-2 against Big 12 competition in a meet that showcased the top-end talent of ASU but once again exposed the weaknesses, specifically with certain weight classes.
“They beat us to the punch in some spots,” ASU coach Zeke Jones said. “We are not getting our hands on the inside and controlling the tie-up. We have our hands on the outside. The guys who are winning are controlling the tie-up. So I’m telling the guys, ‘You want to start winning?’ Start learning how to get your hands inside and control the tie-ups.”
The Sun Devils, for the second straight meet, got ahead after winning four of their first six matches Friday night.
Redshirt freshman 141 wrestler Pierson Manville had a hard-fought 1-0 victory to give the Sun Devils their first lead of the contest.
Both Larkin brothers took care of business alongside No. 13 sophomore 165 weight class Nicco Ruiz, who won by technical fall to put ASU up 14-10 heading into its statistically weakest part of the lineup.
“(We) have three guys who can compete for a national title on both Larkin’s and Ruiz with Manville slowly plugging behind that,” Jones said. “We got the nucleus, and they are all young. We keep that nucleus, and we build on it. Next year we go from, whatever, like 0-50 to 50-0 with just one or two more kids.”
Hand fighting and overall physicality were key weaknesses shown by the other weight classes that have not seen much success.
The biggest kicker for ASU tonight was when sophomore 149 weight class Daniel Miranda was unable to evade a late pin with a bridge or switch and gave up the six points with time expiring. Had the pin not occurred and every other outcome stayed the same, the Sun Devils would have secured their first win of the year.
However, coach Jones gave Miranda words of encouragement.
“Miranda is a great kid, he made a big mistake, and he’s got to live with it,” Jones said. “It is only wrestling, though. It is not life or death. It really hurts him, I am sure, but at the same time, keep it in perspective. We are going to wrestle on Friday, and he could get a big win. That is the great thing about sports, it can flip in a minute. In that moment, he just needed to stay focused and lost focus. It is a bummer.”
Facing great competition is nothing out of the ordinary for the Larkin brothers. For them, it has been about reaching the potential they and coach Jones knew they could get to.
Kaleb has faced graduate student top five 149 weight class wrestler Lachlan McNeil and, earlier in the week, No. 3 senior Vinny Zerban in what was Kaleb’s debut match at 157.
“I do not know anybody who goes up a weight class and in the same week beats the number one and three, that is not possible. I mean, it is possible, but just rare. He is obviously in the hunt for a national title.”
On the flip side, Kyler defeated former ASU NCAA champion and now Oklahoma State senior wrestler Richard Figueroa earlier this year. For Kyler, confidence is key to his success, and he credits his brother with instilling that confidence, as they often wrestled with each other.
“I have asked Kyler to speak on what he thinks before he goes out,” coach Jones said. “He goes, I wrestle with Kaleb Larkin, the best wrestler in the world, every day. Nobody’s as good as the guy I’m about to face. So he gets confidence because he wrestles his brother every day. What is making him better is experience. He had all this potential, and now he is executing what we all thought and believed.”
The Sun Devils will look to get their first team win of the season on Thursday, Jan. 15, at 6:30 p.m. MST at Desert Financial Arena against the Missouri Tigers, where it will be MMA night.
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