ASU wrestling wins seven matches to down CS Bakersfield

With seven individual wins, including two that produced bonus points, the No. 22 Arizona State University wrestling team opened the second half of its season with a 25-13 road victory over the host Roadrunners of CS Bakersfield inside the Icardo Center in Bakersfield, Calif., on Sunday afternoon in a Pac-10 dual. The victory kept the Sun Devils perfect in the conference at 3-0 and improved them to 4-2 overall on the season while the Roadrunners slipped to 0-3 on the year with a 0-2 record in the Pac-10.

The dual opened at 184 pounds with Jake Meredith taking a 5-1 victory over Mike Larson to stake the visitors to an early 3-0 team lead. Larson carried a 1-0 lead through two periods before Meredith started the third period down and reversed Larson for a 2-1 lead. Meredith added a two-point near fall and one more point for riding time to take the win. At 197 pounds, rookie Anthony Pike was trailing 8-3 in the second period before Riley Orozco pinned him at 4:55 to put the hosts in front, 6-3.

But, that lead for the Roadrunners was short-lived as No. 15 Erik Nye knocked off the top-ranked heavyweight in the Pac-10 rankings, No. 16 Mitch Monteiro, with a 5-3 decision to tie the team score at 6-6. With the match scoreless through one, Monteiro chose down to open the second and escaped for a 1-0 lead before Nye made it 2-1 with a takedown. After Monteiro escaped, the match was tied at 2-2 heading into the third where Nye escaped and then took down Monteiro for a 5-2 lead. The CSUB big man escaped with 1:03 remaining, but no more scoring was to be had as Nye took the decision.

From there, the Sun Devils piled on 10 points to take the lead for good as the light weights took to the mats. First up, No. 3 Anthony Robles used four takedowns and one three-point near fall to easily score a 13-1 major decision over Frank Lomas to win the 125-pound match and give ASU a 10-6 lead. Then, Ben Ashmore made it 16-6 after the 133-pound match as he scored a takedown 15 seconds into the match before working for the fall and getting it as he stuck Tyler Iwamura in 1:21.

CSUB cut the lead to 16-10 after 141 pounds as No. 12 Elijah Nacita scored a major decision over ASU’s No. 11 Chris Drouin, 13-5, but the Sun Devils rebounded with two wins in a row as Vicente Varela and Michael Swigart won at 149 and 157, respectively, to make it 22-10 ASU. First up, Varela used three takedowns, one reversal and one three-point near fall to take a 12-5 decision over John Cardenas. Then, Swigart won a close match as he took a 2-0 lead into the second period before Andrew Balch escaped to open the period and then took down Swigart with one second remaining in the stanza. Trailing, 3-2, Swigart chose down to open the third and reversed Balch at 1:06 and then rode him out for the 4-3 win.

The hosts picked up a win at 165 as Joey Granata defeated Kyle DeBerry, 5-4. DeBerry was up 2-1 through the first period on a takedown before Granata took the 3-2 lead through two periods on a reverse. DeBerry chose neutral to open the third and scored a takedown, but, with one second remaining in the match, was reversed by Granata to fall, 5-4. The final match of the day came at 174 pounds and featured a meeting between a pair of high school teammates as ASU’s Eric Starks won a 4-3 decision over his fellow Battle Ground High School graduate Trevor Hall. Hall held a 2-1 lead through one with a takedown before a Starks escape in the second tied it at 2-2. Hall escaped in the third for a 3-2 lead before Starks took down Hall with two seconds remaining in the match to win, 4-3.

Next up for the Sun Devils will be the 2010 NWCA National Duals that will be held in Cedar Falls, Iowa, on Saturday and Sunday (January 9-10). The match-ups for the first round of the double-elimination team tournament will be announced later this week.

#22 Arizona State (4-2, 3-0 Pac-10) def. CS Bakersfield (0-3, 0-2 Pac-10), 25-13
Icardo Center • Bakersfield, Calif.
184 - Jake Meredith (AS) dec. Mike Larson (CB), 5-1
197 - Riley Orozco (CSB) pinned Anthony Pike (AS), 4:55
285 - #15 Erik Nye (AS) dec. #16 Mitch Monteiro (CB), 5-3
125 - #3 Anthony Robles (AS) major Frank Lomas (CB), 13-1
133 - Ben Ashmore (AS) pinned Tyler Iwamura (CB), 1:21
141 - #12 Elijah Nacita (CB) major #11 Chris Drouin (AS), 13-5
149 - Vicente Varela (AS) dec. John Cardenas (CB), 12-5
157 - Michael Swigart (AS) dec. Andrew Balch (CB), 4-3
165 - Joey Granata (CB) dec. Kyle DeBerry (AS), 5-4
174 - Eric Starks (AS) dec. Trevor Hall (CB), 4-3