Wrestling falls in tough conference dual, 32-18

The Arizona State University wrestling team dropped its first conference dual of the season Sunday against the 15th-ranked Oregon State Beavers (5-1, 4-0 Pac-12), 32-18, at Wells Fargo Arena.

Redshirt freshman Shane McGough and true freshman Jacob Graham showed the grit of the wrestling program after both won their matches with a pin.

McGough’s pin came in at the 2:10 second mark with his pin against 17th-ranked Garrett Drucker; tying the match at 6-6 after Sun Devil David Prado was pinned in the prior match.

For McGough, it was his 11th win on the season and eight of those wins have now come with bonus points. 

McGough’s pin was followed by a tech fall in favor of the Beavers at 141, Beaver pins at the 149 and 157 weight classes and a major decision for the Beavers at 165 as the Sun Devils fell behind 26-6 with four matches remaining. 

Graham ensured that the team wouldn’t go easily into the night as he went into his match against Ty Vinson. Trailing by six and with riding time against him, Graham fought off Vinson’s advantage position and flipped the reversal, catching the Beaver out of position as he took him down with at the 5:48 mark to decrease the Beavers lead.

Trailing 26-12, Kevin Radford stepped up at 184 pounds and ripped off a decision of his own against John Tuck, 7-3, before Tommy Burriel took to the mat against Beaver’s Taylor Meeks at 197 in a match that had the crowd and coaches out of their seats as the Sun Devils (5-5, 1-1 Pac-12) tried to make the comeback as they trailed just 26-15 at that point.  

Burriel was victorious for his 12th victory of the year as he won in a 7-5 decision over Taylor Meeks, but trailing by eight with just one bout left, the Sun Devils were effectively eliminated from winning the dual.

Fifth-ranked Clayton Jack took down ASU’s #16 Levi Cooper at the 3:26 mark for the sixth pin of the day on the dual and giving the Beavers the 32-18 victory. 

The Arizona State University wrestling team hits the road the next three weeks, beginning with the Virginia Duals next weekend. The Sun Devils next home match comes Feb. 5 against Stanford.