Feb. 1, 2002
TEMPE, Ariz. - With the Sun Devils trailing by one point heading into the final bout, sophomore Nick Frost's 18-2 technical fall victory over Jason High lifted the No. 11 Arizona State wrestling squad to a 20-16 win over No. 23 Nebraska in front of a crowd of 832 at Wells Fargo Arena Friday night. With the win, ASU improves to 8-2 overall and 4-0 at home, while Nebraska falls to 8-6 overall.
The Sun Devils found themselves trailing as much as 8-0 after the first two matches and 11-6 after the first five, but won four of the last five to edge the Cornhuskers.
With ASU holding a 15-11 lead after eight matches, Nebraska's Bryan Snyder, ranked No. 1 in the nation at 157 pounds, earned a 25-8 technical fall over ASU junior Rocky Smart to give the Huskers a slim 16-15 advantage. Then it was Frost who answered Snyder's technical fall with one of his own in the final bout, an 18-2 defeat of Nebraska's Jason High at 165 pounds to secure the Sun Devil win.
With the match starting at 174 pounds, the Huskers came out strong with two major decision wins and an 8-0 lead. Tony Denke took care of ASU freshman Chris Petrie 14-6 at 174, while 15th-ranked Travis Pascoe defeated freshman Will Carr 22-7 at 184.
ASU bounced back with its first points when senior Erik Gladish (ranked 10th) pulled a 7-5 upset over sixth-ranked Justin Ruiz, a close 7-5 decision. Junior Kellan Fluckiger followed with a 10-4 decision over Nebraska's Pat Miron at heavyweight, cutting the Huskers' lead to 8-6.
At 125 pounds, ASU's 11th-ranked freshman Mike Simpson fell to 10th-ranked Jason Powell, 7-2 to give some momentum back to Nebraska. But the Sun Devils stormed back to take their first lead of the night with three straight wins by senior David Douglas, junior Eric Larkin and senior Quinn Foster.
Sixth-ranked Douglas earned a 12-6 decision over Husker Joey Malia at 133 pounds to get the Sun Devils within three, while top-ranked Larkin handed ASU its first lead of the night with an 8-3 decision over Dusty Spaulding at 141. The Sun Devils increased their lead to 15-11 with Foster's narrow 9-8 victory over Travis Shufelt at 149 pounds, a match tied at the buzzer with a three-point near fall by Shufelt, only to have Foster earn the win with riding time.
That set up Snyder's technical fall over 11th-ranked Smart at 157, before Frost responded with the technical fall at 165 to give ASU the win.
The Sun Devils will play host to Pac-10 rival Oregon Sunday, Feb. 3, at 1 p.m., a match which was originally scheduled for 2 p.m. MST. The Ducks (5-5 overall, 2-2 Pac-10) lost to Boise State tonight 19-13 in Boise.
#11 Arizona State 20, #23 Nebraska 16
174: Tony Denke (NU) major dec. Chris Petrie (ASU) , 14-6
184: #15 Travis Pascoe (NU) major dec. Will Carr (ASU), 22-7
197: #10 Erik Gladish (ASU) dec. #6 Justin Ruiz (NU), 7-5
HWT: #9 Kellan Fluckiger (ASU) dec. Pat Miron (NU), 10-4
125: #10 Jason Powell (NU) dec. #11 Mike Simpson (ASU), 7-2
133: #6 David Douglas (ASU) dec. Joey Malia (NU), 12-6
141: #1 Eric Larkin (ASU) dec. Dusty Spaulding (NU), 8-3
149: Quinn Foster (ASU) dec. Travis Shufelt (NU), 9-8
157: #1 Bryan Snyder (NU) tech. fall #11 Rocky Smart (ASU), 25-8
165: Nick Frost (ASU) tech. fall Jason High (NU), 18-2
Attendance: 832