Jan. 24, 2003
TEMPE, Ariz. - The No. 9 Arizona State wrestling team returned home and jumped back into Pac-10 Conference action Friday night with a 32-9 win over Cal Poly inside Wells Fargo Arena. The Sun Devils (9-5, 2-0 Pac-10) won seven of the 10 weight classes, with falls at 149 by No. 1 Eric Larkin (Sr., Tucson, Ariz.) and at 165 by No. 8 Nick Frost (Jr., Tucson, Ariz.) to send the Mustangs (4-6, 2-1 Pac-10) to their first conference set-back of the year.
The dual opened at 141 with No. 4 Dana Holland (Sr., Glendale Heights, Ill) scoring an 11-2 major decision over CPU's Jeff Owens. After Holland used a 4-0 first-period lead to jump start his ninth win in a row, Larkin came to the mat and scored his win via fall just 1:09 into the contest. Comfortably ahead 10-0, Mike Smith (Fr., Gilbert, Ariz.) lost a 4-2 decision at 157 to bring the Mustangs to within seven points at 10-3. That is when Frost stepped in and earned his pin.
Ahead 10-3 after the first stanza, Frost's foe Keith Kroeger chose down and escaped. Frost took him down 12 seconds later and put the finishing touches on the pin. No. 8 Curtis Owen (Sr., Coeur D'Alene, Idaho) added to the now growing lead of 16-3 when he scored a 15-0 technical fall at 174. Owen scored a takedown three seconds into the match and locked in a cradle four separate times in the first period to lead 13-0 after three minutes. After choosing down to start the second, Owen needed 22 seconds to reverse his position, pickup the two points for the move and win the match.
With a 21-3 lead, CPU's Ryan Helsey decisioned Ron Renzi (Jr., Burke, Va.), 17-10, to bring the score to 21-6 following the 184 bout. Ryan Bader (Fr., Verdi, Nev.), coming off his upset of No. 6 Kyle Smith of Michigan at the National Duals, built a 5-0 lead after two periods before holding on to defeat the 2001 Pac-10 Champion, David Schenk, at 197, 7-4.
No. 4 Kellan Fluckiger (Sr., Preston, Idaho) came out and turned an 8-0 first period lead into ASU's second 15-0 technical fall victory of the night. Fluckiger scored in all three periods before earning the match termination at 6:03. At 125, Joel Mittelman earned the third Mustang win with his 8-3 decision over Adam Chavira (Sr., Parker, Ariz.). The dual ended at 133 with No. 11 Mike Simpson (So., Anaheim, Calif.) winning a decision over Nate Ybarra, 9-3.
ASU returns to action on Friday and Sunday with a road trip through the state of Oregon. Jan. 31 at 7:30, the Sun Devils and Oregon State Beavers will meet in Corvallis, Ore., before ASU moves on to Eugene, Ore., for a 2 p.m. Feb. 1 dual with the Ducks of Oregon. The Sun Devils' final home dual of the year, in which they will honor their seniors and alumni, will be Feb. 9 at 2 p.m. when Cal State Bakersfield visits Tempe.