March 15, 2012
ST. LOUIS – The Arizona State University wrestling team opened up competition at the 2012 NCAA Wrestling Championships in St. Louis, Mo., on Thursday with only one wrestler advancing to the second day of competition.
Returning heavyweight All-American Levi Cooper will advance to the second round of tomorrow’s wrestleback bracket after splitting his two matches on the day. Cooper, the tournament’s No. 9 seed, was upset in the first round at the Scottrade Center by Michigan State’s Steve Andrus, 4-2 in overtime, to fall into the consolation bracket.
Cooper regrouped, however, and scored an upset of his own against No. 8-seeded Spencer Myers of Maryland, 2-1, to live to fight another day. He will take on Boston University’s Kevin Innis tomorrow. Cooper will have to win three matches on Friday to guarantee an All-American finish.
In other action, the three Sun Devil redshirt freshmen did not fare as well. Despite being the only freshmen to represent the Pac-12 Conference at the NCAA Championship, Shane McGough (133), Nathan Hoffer (141) and Kevin Radford (184) all dropped both of the bouts on Thursday and were eliminated from the competition.
McGough fell in a 19-6 major decision in the tournament opener for the Sun Devils against Purdue’s Cash Quiroga before taking another major decision in a loss to Cornell’s Naryman Arujau in the first round of wrestlebacks, eliminating him from the competition.
At 141 pounds, Nathan Hoffer faced the second-seeded Kendric Maple of Oklahoma in the opener and was pinned 4:48 into the competition. He would be pinned again in the first wrestleback match by Central Michigan’s Scott Mattingly in 4:21 and was knocked out as well.
Kevin Radford, competing at 184 pounds, had a bit closer draw in his first-round matchup but still came out on the losing end of a 6-4 decision against Penn’s Erich Smith. Radford would get pinned 6:09 into his wrestleback matchup to fall out of the competition.
Cooper will return to the mat for Day Two tomorrow with action set to begin at 11 a.m. EST and will be broadcast live on ESPN3.com.