Feb. 27, 2010
Final Pac-10 Brackets (pdf)
DAVIS, Calif. - Anthony Robles captured his second-consecutive individual title and six Sun Devils placed among the Top 4 of their respective weight classes to lead the Arizona State University wrestling team to a fourth-place showing at the 2010 Pac-10 Wrestling Championships that concluded Saturday night in Davis, Calif. Robles and three others also earned spots at the upcoming 2010 NCAA Wrestling Championships that will be held in three weeks.
Based upon allocated qualifying positions given to the conference, four Sun Devils earned automatic qualification into the national tournament, including champion Robles at 125 pounds, fourth-place finisher Ben Ashmore at 133 pounds, fifth-place finisher Chris Drouin at 141 pounds and third-place finisher Te Edwards at 157 pounds. A handful of Sun Devils also could earn spots in the national tournament, but will have to await word from the NCAA when it announces at-large selections following next weekend's conference tournaments.
In the team standings, No. 15 Oregon State won the crown with 127.0 points while defending champion No. 8 Boise State finished second with 125.0. No. 20 Cal Poly took third with 120.0 points with the Sun Devils scoring 104.5 points to finish fourth overall, which is one place better than last year. CS Bakersfield (97.0), Stanford (87.0), UC Davis (79.0) and CS Fullerton (77.0) rounded out the eight-team scoring.
Robles continued to stay hot against Pac-10 foes as he captured his second-consecutive conference crown, this time defeating second-seeded and 16th-ranked Jason Lara (OSU), 9-3, in the final. With the win, Robles captured the 101st individual title in program history and became the 36th different Sun Devil to win multiple conference crowns. Robles, who is ranked No. 3 nationally, improved to 28-2 on the year and has won 14 in a row overall.
At 133, Ashmore opened the day with a 5-3 win in the consolation semifinals before taking on second-seeded and 13th-ranked Kelly Kubec (OSU), where he fell, 7-5. With four qualifiers at the weight class, Ashmore took the final qualifying spot for the Pac-10 at 133 pounds.
Drouin, a finalist in his first two years in the Pac-10, suffered a 9-0 major decision lost to fifth-seeded and 16th-ranked Elijah Nacita (CSB) in the consolation semifinals before bouncing back to stop top-seeded and fourth-ranked Levi Jones (BSU) to finish fifth place at 141 pounds. Like Ashmore, Drouin secured the final qualifying spot for the conference at the weight class.
Perhaps the biggest move on the day came at 157 pounds as Edwards, who was seeded fifth and entered the tournament having placed fifth last year, needed to place third to punch his ticket to the NCAA Championships and did just that. First up, Edwards met seventh-seeded Trevor Machado-Ching (UCD) and won an 8-5 decision in front of the home fans before setting up a medal match with third-seeded and 14th-ranked Keegan Davis (OSU). In that match, Edwards battled tough and held off Davis for a 3-2 victory and a berth into the national field.
At 165 pounds, Kyle DeBerry finished his tournament with a flash of power as the sophomore, who placed fifth last year, took third this year with a pair of impressive wins on the day. First off, DeBerry took on third-seeded Joey Granata (CSB) and scored a 15-5 major decision to advance to the third-place match. In the medal match, DeBerry faced sixth-seeded Michael Cuthbertson (BSU) and avenged an earlier loss this season by scoring a 10-4 decision to take third place.
Two other Sun Devils placed higher than they did last year, including Vicente Varela at 149 and Jake Meredith at 184. Varela finished sixth after taking seventh last year while Meredith, who finished sixth last year, placed fourth this season. Three other Sun Devils placed in the tournament, including Eric Starks (fourth at 174), Michael Hawkins (seventh at 197) and Eric Nye (sixth at heavyweight).
Next up for the Sun Devils will be a trip to the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb., for the NCAA Wrestling Championships, March 18-20.
2010 Pac-10 Conference Wrestling Championships
The Pavilion Davis, Calif. Day Two Results Only
#x/#x - tournament seeding/national ranking
125 #1/#3 Anthony Robles (3-0, Pac-10 Champion)
Final - Robles dec. #2/#16 Jason Lara (OSU), 9-3
133 #4/nr Ben Ashmore (2-2, 4th Place)
Conso Semi - Ashmore dec. #7/nr Justin Durham (CSB), 5-3
3rd Place Match - #2/#13 Kelly Kubec (OSU) dec. Ashmore, 7-5
141 #6/#17 Chris Drouin (2-2, 5th Place)
Conso Semi - #5/#16 Elijah Nacita (CSB) major Drouin, 9-0
5th Place Match - Drouin dec. #1/#4 Levi Jones (BSU), 9-2
149 #3/nr Vicente Varela (1-3, 6th Place)
Conso Semi - #5/nr Nick Jordan (CSF) dec. Varela, 11-9
5th Place Match - #6/nr RJ Pena (OSU) pinned Varela, 6:33
157 #5/nr Te Edwards (3-1, 3rd Place)
Conso Semi - Edwards dec. #7/nr Trevor Machado-Ching (UCD), 8-5
3rd Place Match - Edwards dec. #3/#14 Keegan Davis (OSU), 3-2
165 #4/nr Kyle DeBerry (3-1, 3rd Place)
Conso Semi - DeBerry major #3/nr Joey Granata (CSB), 15-5
3rd Place Match - DeBerry dec. #6/nr Michael Cuthbertson (BSU), 10-4
174 #6/nr Eric Starks (2-2, 4th Place)
Conso Semi - Starks dec. #5/nr Jake Johnson (STAN), 4-1
3rd Place Match - #3/nr Ryan DesRoches (CPU) dec. Starks, 6-2
184 #5/nr Jake Meredith (2-2, 4th Place)
Conso Semi - Meredith dec. #7/nr Kelan Bragg (CPU), 6-3
3rd Place Match - #2/#13 Zach Giesen (STAN) dec. Meredith, 8-1
197 #8/nr Michael Hawkins (1-2, 7th Place)
7th Place Match - Hawkins def. #6/nr Ethan Weisrock (CSF), medical forfeit
285 #2/#17 Erik Nye (1-3, 6th Place)
Conso Semi - #4/#19 Ricky Alcala (UCD) dec. Nye, 5-4 tb2
5th Place Match - #6/nr Samuel Zylstra (BSU) dec. Nye, 6-5
Team Scoring - Final
1. Oregon State - 127.0
2. Boise State - 125.0
3. Cal Poly - 120.0
4. Arizona State - 104.5
5. CS Bakersfield - 97.0
6. Stanford - 87.0
7. UC Davis - 79.0
8. CS Fullerton - 77.0