Feb. 6, 2004
TEMPE, Ariz. - The No. 16 Arizona State wrestling team opened its final road trip of the season in a large way, winning eight of 10 bouts and scoring bonus points in six of the eight victories to score a 38-9 over host Portland State in Portland, Ore., Friday night. The Sun Devils (9-6, 5-0 Pac-10) extended their all-time lead in the series with the Vikings (1-9, 0-5 Pac-10) to 7-1-0 and have won the last seven duals in the series.
The dual opened at 125 pounds with No. 11 Christian Staylor (Fr., Chesapeake, Va.) scoring a 7-1 decision over Zac Enoch to stake the visitors to an early 3-0 lead. The Sun Devils decided to forfeit at 133 because of recent injuries at that weight, giving the hosts a 6-3 lead. The PSU lead would be short-lived, however, as Jeremy Mendoza (So., Temecula, Calif.) shutout Ben Barch at 141 to the tune of a 10-0 major decision to give the Sun Devils the lead, 7-6.
No. 11 Patrick Williams (Jr., Homestead, Fla.) extended the lead to 10-6 with his 6-3 decision over Eddie Dahlen at 149 before Brian Stith (Fr., Hampton, Va.) added the advantage with his technical fall win at 157, posting a 23-8 score to push the Sun Devils' lead to 14-6. The string of three wins in a row was halted at 165 with Devin Mair taking a 5-2 decision over Jamie Robbins (Fr., Mesa, Ariz.), making the team score 14-6.
From there, ASU would claim victory in the final four bouts, beginning with Ron Renzi (Sr., Burke, Va.) at 174. Renzi picked up six points for the team with his pin of Nick Gomeza at 5:53. At 184, Nick Frost (Sr., Tucson, Ariz.) made his return to the mats after missing action with an injury, but the wrestling was short-lived with Frost scoring a pin at 2:23 to push the lead to 26-9.
No. 2 Ryan Bader (So., Verdi, Nev.) came to the mats at 197 and picked up his 24th win of the season as Allen Kennett was disqualified at the 3:59 mark of the bout. No details as to why a disqualification was called were available. Sun Devil heavyweight Clifford Starks (Jr., Phoenix) closed out the dual with a pin of Steve Fittinger at 4:17.
Following a day of travel, the Sun Devils close out the three-dual road swing with matches at No. 25 Cal Poly (1 p.m. Sunday) and No. 23 Cal State Bakersfield (7:30 p.m. Sunday).