March 18, 2004
TEMPE, Ariz. - Five members of the Arizona State wrestling team traveled to St. Louis, Mo., for the 2004 NCAA Wrestling Championships Thursday with four advancing to compete on Friday inside the Savvis Center. Ryan Bader (So., Verdi, Nev.), the No. 4 seed at 197, won both his matches on day one to reach the quarterfinals and keep alive his aspirations for an individual national title.
Bader opened the tournament with a convincing 7-0 decision over Missouri's Jeff Foust in the first round before scoring a 4-1 decision over Ohio's Joel Weimer in the second round. Bader will now face No. 5 seed B.J. Padden of Nebraska, a foe that Bader has split with this season in two matches with the Sun Devil grappler winning the most recent bout in a 10-3 decision. The winner of the bout is guaranteed a spot in the semifinals as well as earning All-America accolades.
A trio of Sun Devils went 1-1 on the day and remain in contention to place as high as third at their respective weight classes. At 125 pounds, Christian Staylor (Fr., Chesapeake, Va.) dropped an opening round, 11-5 decision to No. 11 seed Bobbe Lowe of Minnesota and fell into the consolation bracket. In the back draw, Staylor defeated Jeff Sato of Columbia, 7-0, to advance. Staylor will face Christian Smith of Duke Friday morning.
At 149 pounds, Patrick Williams (Jr., Homestead, Fla.) began his day with a 40-2 decision over James Strouse in the first round before being defeated by No. 1 Jesse Jantzen of Harvard, 13-6. Williams will now face Josh Wooten of Illinois to remain in the tournament. At 184, No. 6 seed Nick Frost (Sr., Tucson, Ariz.) absorbed a tough, 2-0, loss to Nate Mesyn of Michigan State to open his final NCAA tournament and drop into the consolation bracket. In the back draw, Frost faced Ron Howard of Cleveland State and handed him an 18-3 technical fall to advance. Frost will now face Josh McLay of Minnesota in the consolation second round.
Clifford Starks (Jr., Phoenix, Ariz.) was the only Sun Devil to fall from the event after suffering two losses in the heavyweight bracket. In the opener, Starks fell, 2-1, to Jeremiah Beltran of Ohio before dropping a 3-1 decision to Tanner Garrett of Navy in the consolation first round.
Action continues Friday and will conclude Saturday with the national championship finals.