March 1, 2004
TEMPE, Ariz. - The 2004 Pac-10 Wrestling Championships came to a close Monday evening with a pair of wrestlers from Arizona State winning their second conference title in as many years following the finals of the event inside Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. Though Nick Frost (Sr., Tucson, Ariz.) and Ryan Bader (So. Verdi, Nev.) won individual championships, the Sun Devils failed to successfully defend the team title they won a year ago as their 85 points tied them with Stanford for fifth place. Boise State won the team crown with 94.5 points, followed by Top 5 finishers Cal Poly (91.0), Cal State Fullerton (89.5) and Cal State Bakersfield (87.0).
No. 3 seed Frost, who won his first conference crown last year at 165 pounds, jumped up to 184 and advanced to the finals where he met No. 4 seed and defending champion Ryan Halsey (CPU). Frost jumped to a 2-0 lead after one period following his takedown of Halsey with 20 seconds remaining in the first. After chosing down to start the second, Frost eventually scored a reversal to take a 4-0 lead into the final stanza. A Halsey escape was the only scoring in the period of Frost's 4-1 decision victory.
"It was big to win the final meet here," Frost said. "They (the coaches) made a big deal out of my last home dual, but this was a lot bigger for me. I am never going to wrestle here again. It was good to go out here on top, especially in a big tournament. Its better to get a big win at home, one you can remember."
One match later, it was Bader's turn to defend his title as he faced No. 2 seed K.C. Walsh of BSU. In a rematch of the title bout from a year ago, Bader struck first with his takedown with 14 seconds remaining. After Bader escaped quickly to open the second period, Walsh chose netural and neither man scored to give Bader the title with a 3-0 decision.
"It feels great to win my second title," Bader said. "But, we did not win the team title, so the win was not as fulfilling as the win last year when we [Arizona State] won the title. Last year, I went to NCAA tournament not expecting much, but this year I am expecting to do something. I want to be an All-American and this is where it starts."
ASU's third finalist was No. 1 seed Patrick Williams (Jr., Homestead, Fla.) at 149. In the first period with his bout with No. 3 Matt Cox of CPU, both men scored a two-point takedown and a one-point escape to bring the first period to an end tied a three. Both men earned one more point on escapes to start the second and third periods. With time winding down in the final stanza, Cox scored a takedown with four seconds remaining and Williams escaping with one second left, but it was not enough as Cox won, 6-5.
The fifth-place finish is the lowest for the Sun Devils in their 26 years of competition in the Pac-10 Conference. The last time an ASU team finished lower in a conference meet was in the 1974-75 Western Athletic Conference tournament where it also finished fifth. The 85 points the Sun Devils built in the 2004 event also marks the team's lowest output since the 1982-83 meet in which they tallied just 81.75 points.
The NCAA Championships will run March 18-20 in St. Louis, Mo., at the Savvis Center with four Sun Devils making the national field. Finalists Williams, Frost and Bader will join third-place heavyweight finisher Clifford Starks (Jr., Phoenix, Ariz.) in the national meet. Wildcards will be announced later tonight.