Wrestling ties fourth in Reno TOC

December 20, 2009

The No. 21 Arizona State University wrestling team saw five of its individuals place in the Top 6 with <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-wrestl/mtt/robles_anthony00.html"… Robles</a> taking second place at 125 pounds to lead the way as the Sun Devils placed in a tie for fourth overall at the 2009 Reno Tournament of Champions event that was held in Reno on Sunday. The Sun Devils scored 77 points to tie with Ohio for fourth while No. 3 Oklahoma State won the title with 154 points. No. 17 Edinboro was second with 85.5 points and No. 15 Penn State was third with 83 points.<separator></separator>The team finish for the Sun Devils is their best since the 2002 tournament in which they place third overall for the third time in the event. ASU has moved up the standings each of the last two seasons, taking sixth last year and fourth this year, to give the program nine Top 6 finishes in their 11 appearances.<separator></separator>Robles, the top seed and second-ranked wrestler at 125 pounds, went 4-1 on the day and moved easily to the semifinals with wins by fall in 59 second and 1:25 before scoring a 17-2 technical fall. He needed a late takedown to defeat fifth-seeded and 11th-ranked Chris Notte of Oklahoma State before third-seeded and seventh-ranked Eric Morrill of Edinboro won a 4-3 decision in the finals.<separator></separator>Heavyweight <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-wrestl/mtt/nye_erik00.html">Erik Nye</a> had another strong showing in tournament action for the Sun Devils as he went 4-2 on the day and took fourth place with both losses coming in close decisions. Nye opened the tournament with a win by fall in 2:09 before advancing to the semifinals where he fell to eventual champion Jake Rosholt of Oklahoma State, the top-seeded and third-ranked wrestler in the nation. Nye rebounded with a win in the consolation semifinals before falling to Kurt Klimek of CS Fullerton, 3-1.<separator></separator>Two Sun Devils placed fifth in their respective weight classes with <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-wrestl/mtt/drouin_chris00.html">C… Drouin</a> and <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-wrestl/mtt/varela_vicente00.html"… Varela</a> earning those finishes at 141 and 149, respectively. The second-seeded and fifth-ranked Drouin advanced to the semifinals before third-seeded and sixth-ranked Jamal Parks of Oklahoma State, the eventual champion, handed the ASU junior a 3-2 setback. Drouin found himself in a battle for fifth place at the end of the day and defeated Navy’s Matt Pagan for the second time, this time with a 4-3 decision.<separator></separator>Varela, like Nye, also had another strong showing in tournament action as he won four elimination matches in a row to place. After going 1-1 in the championship rounds, Varela won by fall in 1:07, an 18-5 major decision and then a 7-2 decision over the eighth-seeded Luke Silver of Oklahoma State before taking another win by major (9-0). Varela, who fell in the consolation semifinals, won fifth place by medical forfeit.<separator></separator>The final Sun Devil to place was <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-wrestl/mtt/starks_eric00.html">Er… Starks</a> at 174 pounds as he took sixth. The sophomore won his first three matches of the day to advance to the semifinals, but lost his next three in decisions decided by four or less to settle for sixth.<separator></separator>The Sun Devils will return to action after the turn of the new year as they will travel to Bakersfield, Calif., on January 3 for a Pac-10 dual with the Roadrunners of CS Bakersfield.<separator></separator>15th Reno Tournament of Champions Reno Events Center • Reno, Nev. COMPLETE ASU RESULTS #/# indicates tournament seed/national ranking 125 - #1/#2 <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-wrestl/mtt/robles_anthony00.html"… Robles</a> (4-1, Runner-up) Champ 1st - Robles pinned Chase Dirden (MS Northern), 0:59 Champ 2nd - Robles pinned Kody Klaus (UC Davis), 1:25 Quarterfinal - Robles tech fall #8/nr Andre Gonzalez (CS Fullerton), 17-2 (7:00) Semifinal - Robles dec. #5/#11 Chris Notte (Oklahoma State), 2-1 Final - #3/#7 Eric Morrill (Edinboro) dec. Robles, 4-3<separator></separator>133 - #3#17 <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-wrestl/mtt/ashmore_ben00.html">Ben Ashmore</a> (2-2, DNP) Champ 1st - Ashmore dec. Justin Durham (CS Bakersfield), 7-2 Champ 2nd - Ashmore dec. ns/NCAA2 #6 Kyle Pedretti (Upper Iowa), 8-7 Quarterfinal - Kasey Garnhart (Wyoming) dec. Ashmore, 3-1 Conso 4th - Cory Vombaur (Wyoming) dec. Ashmore, 4-0<separator></separator>133 - <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-wrestl/mtt/prado_david00.html">Da… Prado</a> (1-2, DNP) - not scoring for the team Champ 2nd - #1/#8 Boris Novachkov (Cal Poly) pinned Prado, 2:30 Conso 2nd - Prado tech fall Tyler Johnson (South Dakota State), 17-1 (5:07) Conso 3rd - Cory Vombaur (Wyoming) dec. Prado, 9-3<separator></separator>141 - #2/#5 <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-wrestl/mtt/drouin_chris00.html">C… Drouin</a> (3-2, 5th Place) Champ 2nd - Drouin dec. Darrin Boing (Ohio), 8-2 Quarterfinal - Drouin major Matt Pagan (Navy), 12-3 Semifinal - #3/#6 Jamal Parks (Oklahoma State) dec. Drouin, 3-2 Conso Semi - #4/nr Elijah Nacita (CS Bakersfield) dec. Drouin, 8-1 5th/6th Place - Drouin dec. Matt Pagan (Navy), 4-3<separator></separator>149 - <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-wrestl/mtt/varela_vicente00.html"… Varela</a> (6-2, 5th Place) Champ 1st - Varela pinned Jesse Westphal (MS Mankato), 3:39 Champ 2nd - #6/nr Glen Shober (Navy) dec. Varela, 3-2 Conso 2nd - Varela pinned Justin Eldred (Southern Oregon), 1:07 Conso 3rd - Varela major Trent Stevenson (SW Oregon), 18-5 Conso 4th - Varela dec. #8/nr Luke Silver (Oklahoma State), 7-2 Conso Quarter - Varela major J.J. Johnson (Eastern Michigan), 9-0 Conso Semi - #3/#17 Barrett Abel (UC Davis) dec. 6-4 5th/6th Place - Varela won by medical forfeit over #7/nr Torsten Gillespie (Edinboro)<separator></separator>149 - <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-wrestl/mtt/ruiz_tony00.html">Tony Ruiz</a> (1-2, DNP) - not scoring for the team Champ 2nd - #5/nr Quinten Fuentes (Oklahoma State) pinned Ruiz, 2:54 Conso 2nd - Ruiz dec. Jesse Westphal (MS Mankato), 8-4 Conso 3rd - Dave Christian (Cal Poly) dec. Ruiz, 8-3<separator></separator>157 - <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-wrestl/mtt/swigart_michael00.html… Swigart</a> (1-2, DNP) Champ 1st - Swigart dec. Justin Turek (MS Mankato), 6-2 Champ 2nd - #3/#6 Chase Pami (Cal Poly) pinned Swigart, 4:06 Conso 2nd - Nick Jordan (CS Fullerton) dec. Swigart, 7-4<separator></separator>165 - #8/nr <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-wrestl/mtt/deberry_kyle00.html">K… DeBerry</a> (3-2, DNP) Champ 1st - DeBerry dec. Tel Todd (MS Mankato), 6-0 Champ 2nd - Kyle Kiss (North Carolina) dec. DeBerry, 6-5 Conso 2nd - DeBerry dec. Justin Brandel (Eastern Michigan), 5-1 Conso 3rd - DeBerry dec. ns/NJCAA #7 Derek Mestrovich (Clackamas), 8-3 Conso 4th - #6/nr Michael Cutherbertson (Boise State) dec. DeBerry, 5-2<separator></separator>165 - <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-wrestl/mtt/edwards_te00.html">Te Edwards</a> (3-2, DNP) - not scoring for the team Champ 1st - Edwards dec. Blake Ginsburg (CS Fullerton), 8-1 Champ 2nd - #6/nr Michael Cutherbertson (Boise State) dec. Edwards, 5-0 Conso 2nd - Edwards pinned Caanan Towns (Upper Iowa), 2:53 Conso 3rd - Edwards dec. Joey Wilson (UC Davis), 3-1 Conso 4th - Kyle Kiss (North Carolina) dec. Edwards, 6-4<separator></separator>174 - #3/nr <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-wrestl/mtt/starks_eric00.html">Er… Starks</a> (3-3, 6th Place) Champ 1st - Starks dec. Phillip Joseph (Eastern Michigan), 5-3 Champ 2nd - Starks pinned Jake Rice (SW Oregon), 4:57 Quarterfinal - Starks dec. ns/NCAA 2 #2 Mitch Norton (Upper Iowa), 9-7 Semifinal - #2/nr Ryan DesRoches (Cal Poly) dec. Starks, 6-3 Conso Semi - #5/nr Jacob Ison (Ohio) dec. Starks, 4-0 5th/6th Place - Brock Smith (Wyoming) dec. Starks, 7-4<separator></separator>184 - #7/nr <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-wrestl/mtt/meredith_jake00.html">… Meredith</a> (2-2, DNP) Champ 1st - Meredith dec. Chris Platt (Southern Oregon), 8-4 Champ 2nd - Meredith dec. Rory McBryde (UC Davis), 6-4 Quarterfinal - #2/#13 David Erwin (Penn State) major Meredith, 10-1 Conso 4th - Mark Savalle (CS Fullerton) pinned Meredith, 4:51<separator></separator>197 - <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-wrestl/mtt/pike_anthony00.html">A… Pike</a> (0-2, DNP) Champ 1st - Clay Steadman (Penn State) dec. Pike, 5-4 Conso 2nd - #2/#10 Tyler Sorenson (South Dakota State) pinned Pike, 3:59<separator></separator>285 - #5/17 <a href="http://thesundevils.cstv.com/sports/m-wrestl/mtt/nye_erik00.html">Erik Nye</a> (4-2, 4th Place) Champ 1st - Nye pinned Nick Hylton (Navy), 2:09 Champ 2nd - Nye dec. David Morgan (CS Bakersfield), 5-3 Quarterfinal - Nye won by medical forfeit over #4/NCAA2 #1 Brady Wilson (MS Mankato) Semifinal - #1/#3 Jared Rosholt (Oklahoma State) dec. Nye, 4-1 Conso Semi - Nye dec. #6/nr David Wade (Eastern Michigan), 3-2 3rd/4th Place - Kurt Klimek (CS Fullerton) dec. Nye, 3-1