2017-18 Sun Devil Wrestling Weekly Notes Media Relations: Mollie Hanke | [email protected] | (480) 965-6594 | www.TheSunDevils.com 2017-18 SCHEDULE (7-2) No. 9 @ASUWrestling Welcomes MMA Stars, 1988 NCAA Title Team to Tempe Date Opponent Venue/Score Oct. 28 M&G Final N/A TEMPE, Ariz.— This weekend will be a special weekend for No. 9 Arizona State wrestling Nov. 5 Mich. St. Open N/A Nov. 5 NWCA All-Star Classic N/A as two important and significant groups will be welcomed back to Tempe. Nov. 10 #3 Michigan L, 18-21 Nov. 12 #2 Ohio State L, 12-31 On Friday night, the Sun Devils host Stanford (8 pm MT) in their Pac-12 opener, which will Nov. 19 #22 Pittsburgh W, 32-6 Nov. 26 #14 SD State$ W, 25-13 serve as the team’s annual MMA Night, honoring MMA stars from ASU and beyond. Dec. 1-2 Cliff Keen Invite 3rd (113.5 pts) Dec. 29-30 Midlands 4th (106.5 pts) On Saturday afternoon, the 1988 NCAA Championship team returns home to celebrate Jan. 6 #19 North Carolina W, 27-9 the 30th anniversary of the title in a match vs. Oregon State (1:30 pm MT). Following Sat- Jan. 12 Virginia (VA Duals) W, 35-3 Jan. 12 Iowa St (VA Duals) W, 25-13 urday’s match, the ASU Wrestling Legends celebration will take place at Tempe Mission Jan. 13 #11 N. Iowa (VA Duals) W, 24-16 Palms at 4 pm MT with appetizers, raffles, a cash bar, and tributes to the storied Sun Devil Jan. 13 #9 VA Tech (VA Duals) W, 21-15 team. (See page 2-3 of notes for more on the 1988 team). Jan. 19 Stanford*$ Wells Fargo Jan. 20 Oregon State*$ Wells Fargo Jan. 24 CSU Bakersfield* Bakersfield, Calif. To register for the reception, visit the following link: To register, visit http://www.thesundev- Feb. 3 Edinboro Open Edinboro, Pa. ils.com/news/2017/12/28/-asuwrestling-to-welcome-back-1988-ncaa-title-team-in-january. Feb. 9 Lehigh Wells Fargo aspx?path=wrestling. Feb. 11 Cal Poly* SLO, Calif. Feb. 25 Pac-12 Champs.$ Corvallis, Ore. Mar. 15 NCAA Champs. Cleveland, Ohio For a special ticket package for this weekend’s matches, visit https://oss.ticketmaster.com/ Mar. 16 NCAA Champs. Cleveland, Ohio aps/sundevils/EN/buy/flexplan to get both matches for just $15. Mar. 17 NCAA Champs. Cleveland, Ohio $Pac-12 Network Both matches will be broadcast on the Pac-12 Network. *Pac-12 Conference game UP NEXT Probable ASU Lineup After back-to-back home duals this weekend, Arizona State heads to Bakersfield, Calif. for 125: #15 Ryan Millhof/Josh Kramer 133: #13 Ali Naser a mid-week Pac-12 dual at CSU Bakersfield on Wednesday, Jan. 24. 141: Nikko Villarreal/Cory Crooks 149: #12 Josh Maruca/#8 Jason Tsirtsis ARIZONA STATE WINS 38TH ANNUAL VIRGINIA DUALS 157: Oliver Pierce/#4 Josh Shields 165: #15 Anthony Valencia After earning their first top-3 finish since 1997 in 2017, the Sun Devils improved further in 174: #1 Zahid Valencia 2018, winning their first-ever Virginia Duals, the 38th annual version of the tournament. 184: Kordell Norfleet 197: Cade Belshay/Austyn Harris/Conner Small ASU won the James River Pool with a 35-3 win vs. Virginia and a 25-13 win vs. Iowa State HWT: #4 Tanner Hall before defeating No. 11 Northern Iowa, 24-16, in the semifinals and reigning champion Coaching Staff No. 9 Virginia Tech, 21-15, in the finals. Head Coach: Zeke Jones (4th year, 37-20 duals) Assistant Coach: Lee Pritts (6th year) Assistant Coach: Chris Pendleton (4th year) Zahid Valencia was named Most Outstanding Wrestler for the second straight season at Volunteer Assistant: Haislan Garcia (2nd year) the tournament. Director of Operations: Maddie Schossow (2nd year) Student Video Coordinator: Matt Kramer (1st year) SUN DEVILS HAVE FIVE PLACERS AT MIDLANDS Student Video Coordinator: Alex Reyes (1st year) Athletic Trainer: Carter Pruitt (3rd year) Zahid Valencia continued his undefeated sophomore campaign with his second consec- Media Relations: Mollie Hanke (2nd year) utive title at Midland’s 55th annual Championships. Five placewinners for the team – Z. Valencia (1st), Josh Shields (2nd), Tanner Hall (2nd), Anthony Valencia (4th), Jason Tsirtsis ASU Wrestling Social Media (5th) – was the most for the Sun Devils since 1997 when they had six and third-most all- time. Tsirtsis capped his Midlands career as a six-time placewinner. Z. Valencia earned the third most points for his team amongst the field (28 pts) while Oliver Pierce had the sec- FACEBOOK ond most pins in the least time (3/7:34). Valencia became the 15th individual title winner Search: Sun Devil Wrestling at Midlands for ASU and just the third to win multiple titles. TWITTER ASU Individual Champions (Midlands) @ASUWrestling 1987 – Dan St. John (158) 1988 – Thom Ortiz (150) INSTAGRAM SunDevilWrestling1962 1988 – Dan St. John (158) 1988 NCAA Champions Sun Devil Wrestling Seven Competitors, Seven All-Americans 1988 NCAA Championships Roster Weight Name Final Placement 118 ............... Zeke Jones* .......................... 6th 126............... Chip Park* ............................3rd 142............... Thom Ortiz* .......................... 4th 158............... Dan St. John* .......................3rd 167............... Jim Gressley .........................3rd In 1988, Arizona State wrestling, led by legendary head coach 190............... Mike Davies* ........................ 2nd Bobby Douglas, did something that 275............... Rod Severn* ......................... 5th no other program west of the Rocky *Indicates Pac-10 individual champion Mountains had done before, or has done since: brought home the NCAA wrestling trophy. With seven All-Americans--includ- ing one national runner-up in team captain Mike Davies--the Sun Devils amassed 93 points, beating out the previous year’s champion and its runner up, Iowa State and Iowa. Seven All-Americans for ASU was the second-most in one season of all-time (8 in 1990). Currently, three members of the championship team, along with its head coach, have been inducted into the Arizona State University Athletics Hall of Fame: Bobby Douglas, Mike Davies, Zeke Jones, and Dan St. John. 30th Anniversary Sun Devil Wrestling 1987-88 TEAM ROSTER Sun Devil Ht Wt Year Hometown/High School Mike Anderson 6-8 HWT Fr. Mt. Morris, Mich./E.A. Johnson Mike Davies 6-0 190 Sr. Chardon, Ohio/Chardon Travis Fagen 6-0 158 Jr. Kennewick, Wash./Kamiakin Jerry Garcia 5-6 126/134 Sr. Casa Grande, Ariz./Casa Grande John Ginther 5-11 177 Jr. Muncie, Ind./Delta Jim Gressley 6-1 167 Jr. Chandler, Ariz./Chandler Zeke Jones 5-4 118 So. Ann Arbor, Mich. Mark Mansfield 5-10 158 Jr. Phoenix, Ariz./Churchill County Mike Mathers 5-7 150 Jr. Tucson, Ariz./Canyon del Oro Rob Mathers 5-7 150 So. Tucson, Ariz./Canyon del Oro Glenn McMinn 5-7 134 Sr. Apache Junction, Ariz./Apache Junction Julio Moreno 5-6 134 Jr. Somerton, Ariz./Kofa Rogelio Moreno 5-6 126 Fr. Somerton, Ariz./Kofa Tommy Ortiz 5-10 150 So. Tucson, Ariz./Sunnyside Chip Park 5-2 126 Sr. Mesa, Ariz./Westwood Dan St. John 5-9 142 So. Cleveland, Ohio/St. Joseph’s Rod Severn 6-2 HWT Sr. New Lothrop, Mich./Hill McCloy Jim Sinadinos 5-8 142 Jr. Lansing, Mich. Mike Stivers 5-9 150 So. Yuma, Ariz./Kofa G.T. Taylor 5-8 158 Fr. Lorain, Ohio/Southview Anthony Wilhelms 6-0 158/167 Sr. Yankton, S.D./Yankton Head Coach: Bobby Douglas 14th Season (17-2-0 in 1987-88) 1987-88 TEAM RESULTS Sun Devil Dual Overall Tournament Finishes #Zeke Jones, 118 12-2-1 31-5-1 1SD*,1LV, 1OWC, 1PAC, 6NCAA Julio Moreno, 118 0-4 0-7 #Chip Park, 126 13-0 34-5 1SD, 2LV, 3OWC, 1PAC, 3NCAA Jerry Garcia, 126 1-5 5-7 3SD Glenn McMinn, 134 4-2-3 10-6-3 1SD, 2OWC Jerry Garcia, 134 0-0-1 0-0-1 #Tom Ortiz, 142 11-1 28-3 3MD, 1OWC, 1PAC, 4NCAA Jim Sinadinos, 142 3-2 6-5 2SD Glenn McMinn 142 2-0 2-0 Rob Mathers, 142 0-0 0-1 3SD Jim Sinadinos, 150 1-6 4-10 Tom Ortiz, 150 1-5 8-5 1SD, 3LV Dan St. John, 150 4-0-1 4-0-1 #Dan St. John, 158 13-1 38-3 2SD, 3LV, 1MD, 1OWC, 1PAC*, 3NCAA Anthony Wilhelms, 158 4-1 4-1 #Jim Gressley, 167 16-2-1 34-8-1 2SD, 5LV, 1OWC, 2PAC, 3NCAA John Ginther, 177 11-2-1 24-4-1 1SD, 3LV, 1OWC Travis Fagen, 177 1-2 2-4 #Mike Davies, 190 18-1 40-3 1SD, 1LV, 3MD, 1OWC*, 1PAC, 2NCAA #Rod Severn, HWT 13-0-3 30-2-3 2SD, 1LV, 1OWC, 1PAC, 5NCAA #NCAA qualifiers; *named Outstanding Wrestler of tournament; SD: Sun Devil Invitational; LV: Las Vegas Invitational; MD: Midlands; OWC: Oregon Wrestling Classic; PAC: Pac-10 Championship; NCAA: NCAA Championship 2017-18 Sun Devil Wrestling Head Coach Zeke Jones The seventh coach in ASU wrestling history, Zeke Jones was hired in April 2014 and had his contract renewed in October 2016. Jones led his alma mater to its 17th Pac-10/12 championship (19th conference title in- cluding two Western Athletic Conference titles) in 2017 behind five individual champions in Josh Maruca (149), Josh Shields (157), Anthony Valencia (165), Zahid Valencia (174), and Tanner Hall (HWT). In his first season with the Sun Devils, Jones led ASU to a second-place finish at the Pac- 12 Championships, the highest finish since 2006, and coached six wrestlers to the 2015 NCAA Wrestling Championships including All-American Blake Stauffer (184). In 2016, the Sun Devils again finished second as a team at Pac-12’s and returned six individuals to the NCAA championships.