Wrestling takes 13th in Nevada
The Arizona State University wrestling team finished 13th overall and four Sun Devils placed in the top-six in their respective weight classes at the 17th Reno Tournament of Champions in Reno, Nev., Dec. 18.
Fourteenth-ranked Levi Cooper finished fourth overall after advancing to the consolation final in the heavyweight division. There, he squared off against the tournament’s top seed in #3 Alan Gelogaev of Oklahoma State, losing by fall at :23 to finish fourth but solidifying his a scoring place in all three tournaments the team has competed in this season.
Junior college transfer Victor De Jesus saw the pieces start coming together at 157 pounds, doubling his win total on the season as he won four bouts en route to a sixth-place finish overall. De Jesus, who had just two victories on the season but a number of close decisions, won his first match since Nov. 5 with a first round victory over Clackamas’ Kaleb Cook by tech fall, 21-4, and followed that up with a decision over Stanford’s Garrett Schaner to advance to the quarterfinals.
De Jesus dropped the quarterfinal match to the tournament four-seed, Anthony Jones of Michigan State, but fought back in the wrestleback’s and was able to make it to the fifth-place bout, narrowly dropping the decision to #11 Albert Wight of Oklahoma State, 3-2, to take sixth overall.
Two Sun Devils competing unattached from the team competition also advanced to the fifth-place bouts in their respective divisions. Jake Meredith, an NCAA Championship qualifier, saw his first competition of 2011-12 at 197 pounds.
Meredith dropped his first bout of the day to the four-seed in Appalachian State’s Austin Trotman, 7-2, and was forced to battle his way through the consolation bracket for a shot at placing. He answered the called though, ripping off four straight victories to advance to the consolation semifinal for a rematch against Trotman, falling by a second decision of 6-1 and dropping to the fifth-place round where we was unable to overcome Montana State-Northern’s Evan Hinebauch – three-seed – but settled for a sixth-place finish in his return to the mat.
Also competing unattached was sophomore Kalin Goodsite at 133 pounds. Goodsite put forth what may be the best performance of his young career, making it to the semifinals before dropping a major decision to #16 Zach Zehner of Wyoming. Goodsite dropped to the fifth-place bout, where it took overtime to decide CSU Bakerfield’s Frank Lomas’ decision victory, 4-3, to give Goodsite sixth place.
Oklahoma State would wind up easily taking the team championship with 166 points. Arizona State scored 37 points, but it should be noted that Goodsite and Meredith’s scores were not applied to the team total. Sunday’s event wrapped up tournament competition for ASU until the Pac-12 Championships in February.
The Sun Devils will return to action in a little over a week as the dual schedule resumes at home. ASU will square off against conference rival Boise State and perennial powerhouse Nebraska at Wells Fargo Arena, Dec. 29, at the Sun Devil Duals. Events are set to begin at 11 a.m., PST.