Wrestling to host five home duals in 2010-11 season

Click here for the 2010-11 Schedule

Shawn Charles, the second-year head coach of the Arizona State University wrestling program, has announced the schedule his Sun Devils will face in the upcoming 2010-11 season, which features 11 duals, two dual tournaments and three individual tournaments. Those events will be used to prepare the Sun Devils for the final two competitions of the season, the Pac-10 Championships and the NCAA Championships.

ASU’s season gets underway on November 13 with two road duals in the state of Arizona as the Sun Devils travel to face Grand Canyon at 1 p.m. in Phoenix before heading north to Prescott for a 7 p.m. dual with Embry-Riddle. Those duals will mark the sixth time in program history (since 1962-63) that ASU has visited a pair of intrastate foes in the same season and the first since the 1980-81 season when the Sun Devils defeated Northern Arizona, 56-0, in Flagstaff before taking down Arizona in Tucson, 34-12.

After their opening day traveling the state, the Sun Devils will return home on November 18 to welcome its first of five visitors to Wells Fargo Arena as they play host to Oklahoma in a 7 p.m. dual. The Sun Devils will then travel to Fullerton, Calif., and compete in the Fullerton Open (November 20) before returning home to close the opening month of the season with their first Pac-10 dual as CS Fullerton comes to town on November 27 (time TBA).

The month of December remains unchanged for the Sun Devils as they will once again compete in a pair of tournaments in Nevada, starting with the Cliff Keen/Las Vegas Invitational in Las Vegas, Nev., on December 3-4 before returning to Reno for the Reno Tournament of Champions on December 19. Following the holiday break, the Sun Devils will jump back into dual competition with a home contest against Oklahoma State at 6 p.m. on January 2. Form there, ASU will travel to the Virginia Duals in Hampton, Va. (January 7-8) and the Lone Star Duals in Arlington, Texas (January 15) where their dual opponents will be named at a later date.

The final two duals of the month also are the final two home events for the Sun Devils as they play host to a pair of Pac-10 rivals. First up will be a dual with CS Bakersfield on High School Night, which is set for 7 p.m. on January 21. The following weekend, on January 30, ASU will play host to Cal Poly at 2 p.m. Prior to that dual, the program will recognize its departing seniors, including starters Anthony Robles and Ben Ashmore, among others.

February will see the Sun Devils become road warriors as they travel around for four duals and the first of two championship events. The first weekend of the month will bring a pair of duals against Big 12 opponents as ASU travels to face Nebraska on the 4th and Iowa State on the 6th. The meeting with Nebraska will be the first between the two schools since the 2003-04 season. The following weekend, the Sun Devils will close out the regular season with duals at Oregon State on the 11th and Stanford on the 13th.

Following a week off from competition, the Sun Devils will return to Corvallis, Ore., for the second time in 15 days as they will take part in the 2011 Pac-10 Championships that will be hosted by Oregon State on February 27. ASU has had success in Corvallis in the past as they won the 1987 and 1995 Pac-10 titles. From there, those that qualify from the Pac-10 tournament and through at-large selections will travel to Philadelphia, Pa., for the 2011 NCAA Championships on March 17-19.

Overall, all but the dual with Nebraska will be a rematch from last year. The last time ASU and NU met came during the 2003-04 season with the Huskers winning a 30-10 decision in Tempe. The Sun Devils also will look to maintain a strong hold on both intrastate schools and the Pac-10 Conference during the season. All-time, ASU is 57-9-0 against teams from the state of Arizona, including a 2-0 record last year with wins at home against GCU and ERAU, and stand 127-23-1 against all teams that are (or have been) in the Pac-10 after going 4-2 last year.