Wrestling downs CS Fullerton in Pac-10 home opener
With wins in six of the nine contested matches and bonus points earned in four of those wins, the No. 20 Arizona State University wrestling team scored a 25-19 victory over visiting CS Fullerton on Saturday night inside Wells Fargo Arena with a spirited crowd of 815 cheering the teams on. The victory, ASU's first in conference action this season, improves the Sun Devils to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the Pac-10 while the visiting Titans fell to 0-3 with all three defeats coming in Pac-10 action.
The dual opened at 157 pounds where No. 2 Bubba Jenkins, fresh off his exhibition upset of previously top-ranked Adam Hall (Boise State) at the NWCA All-Star Classic, put the hosts on top with his 15-2 major decision over David Rios, putting ASU ahead, 4-0. The first of four wins in a row for the Sun Devils, Jenkins built a 7-1 lead through the first period before adding five more in the second for a 12-2 lead. Overall, Jenkins scored on five takedowns to pick-up the first Pac-10 victory of his career.
From there, Te Edwards added six team points with his pin of Clayton Schulke at 165 pounds, sticking the Titan in 2:30. Edwards was up, 2-1, before being taken down. On the restart, Edwards reversed Schulke and eventually turned his foe to his back and earned the win by fall and a 10-0 ASU lead. The lead grew by four at 174 pounds as Eric Starks used nine takedowns and one reverse to drive his way to a 22-7 technical fall. The final stretch of early winning came to a close at 184 as Jake Meredith used a reverse to start the second period and a takedown to open the third to take a 5-0 decision over Todd Noel.
After a forfeit at 197 to the Titans and a short intermission break, the action picked back up at heavyweight with ASU leading, 17-6. In a rematch from last week's Fullerton Open, Michael Hawkins went to work and put up a great battle, but fell to the 16th-ranked wrestler in the nation, Kurt Klimek, 2-1. After a scoreless first, Klimek scored on an escape to start the second with Hawkins echoing the score to open the third. But, with 41 seconds remaining, Hawkins was hit with his second stall warning, which awarded Klimek one penalty point, which proved to be the difference in the match.
In the remaining four matches, the teams went back and forth with each side taking two wins. The split began at 125 pounds where No. 3 Anthony Robles captured the 90th win of his career by scoring a 15-0 technical fall over Andre Gonzalez and bring ASU to a 22-9 lead after just 2:54 of wrestling in the 125 match. The win moved Robles into a tie for 25th on ASU's all-time wins list, equalling the total of Marco Sanchez (1988-93), and making him 4-0 on the young season with two wins by technical fall and two wins by fall. CSUF then won the 133 match as Marcus Orona pinned David Prado in 4:19 to push the team score to 22-15.
Needing a win in the last two matches to secure the team victory, Kalin Goodsite took to the mat at 141 and secured that win as his 6-1 decision over Peter Hoang gave the Sun Devils a 25-15 lead. After a scoreless first, Goodsite chose bottom and escaped before taking down Hoang and riding him the rest of the period for a 3-0 lead. That lead grew in the final stanza as Hoang escaped before Goodsite score another takedown and added one point for riding time. The final match of the night saw Nick Jordan score a 16-3 major decision over ASU's Tai Fukumoto at 149.
With the team victory, the Sun Devils improved to 29-4-1 in the conference opener and 13-0-1 in such contests. ASU also not holds an all-time record of 128-23-1 against Pac-10 foes (82-23-1 against current members) while sporting a 19-3-0 all-time record against the Titans.
Next up for the Sun Devils is their annual trip to the Cliff Keen/Las Vegas Invitational in Las Vegas, Nev., next Friday and Saturday. The event will be filled with some of the best teams in the nation as ASU is one of 10 teams from the NWCA/USA Today Coaches Poll Top 25.
#20 Arizona State (3-1, 1-0 Pac-10) def. CS Fullerton (0-3, 0-3 Pac-10), 25-19
Saturday, November 27, 2010 • Wells Fargo Arena (Tempe)
157 - #2 Bubba Jenkins (AS) major David Rios, 15-2
165 - Te Edwards (AS) pinned Clayton Schulke, 2:30
174 - Eric Starks (AS) tech fall Bryce Whitehead, 22-7 (7:00)
184 - Jake Meredith (AS) dec. Todd Noel, 5-0
197 - Kyle Bergstedt (CSF) won by forfeit
285 - #16 Kurt Klimek (CSF) dec. Michael Hawkins, 2-1
125 - #3 Anthony Robles (AS) tech fall Andre Gonzalez, 15-0 (2:54)
133 - Marcus Orona (CSF) pinned David Prado, 4:19
141 - Kalin Goodsite (AS) dec. Peter Hoang, 6-1
149 - Nick Jordan (CSF) major Tai Fukuomoto, 16-3
Attendance: 815 • Official: Charlie Jones