After a busy start, the Sun Devils will use the next few weeks to prepare for one more tournament and their home opener against Iowa State on Friday, Jan. 5 at Hamilton High School, the first of three locations the Sun Devils will call home this year.
Following that dual, they'll spend a month on the road before returning to Tempe to open Desert Financial Arena and then close the regular season with three duals at Mullett Arena. Each home dual will feature a ranked opponent.
Currently, Iowa State sits at No. 5 in FloWrestling's Team Tournament rankings, right in front of Arizona State. The highlight of this dual may be a top ten matchup between No. 4 Kyle Parco and No. 8 Casey Swiderski at 149lb. The two faced off in November's Cliff Keen Invitational, and Parco took the match in a 4-2 decision. Iowa State has a wrestler in the top three in the 165lb, 184lb, and 285lb classes. If No. 5 Cohlton Schultz returns from international competition for this dual, the heavyweight battle between him and No. 3 Yonger Bastida will be electric.
This dual will be held at Hamilton High School in Chandler on Friday, Jan. 5 at 6 p.m. Tickets and location information can be found here.
OPEN MAT RANKINGS
The Sun Devils are ranked seventh in the Open Mat Dec. 12 rankings, with Richard Figueroa leadin the way with a No. 1 ranking at 125. Kyle Parco is ranked third at 149, Jacori Teemer fifth (157) and Cohlton Schultz sixth at 285.
FEB. 4 AT DFA VS. OSU
On Feb. 4, ASU returns to Desert Financial Arena against reigning Pac-12 champion No. 17 Oregon State. In a 23-16 dual in Corvallis last year, ASU swept the lightweights through 149lb and used a sudden victory from Cael Valencia at 174lb and a fall from Cohlton Schultz at HWT to secure the win. Oregon State's highest ranked wrestler is former Sun Devil No. 6 Trey Munoz at 184lb.
MULLETT FEVER
Arizona State will close out the regular season in Mullett Arena, welcoming No. 13 Stanford, No. 16 Lehigh, and No. 3 Nebraska to the building that saw No. 3 Missouri get sent home with a 19-17 loss last year. Pac-12 rival Stanford visits on Feb. 17, and brings along 125lb No. 1 and Cliff Keen Invitational champion Nico Provo. Fittingly, '22 CKLV champion and No. 3 Richard Figueroa's last match was a 13-5 major decision over Provo. If both are active, this match will surely be highlighted across the wrestling world. Lehigh will also bring a No. 1 wrestler in Ryan Crookham at 133lb. No. 18 Julian Chlebove and he were supposed to face off in the '22 Midlands Championships before Chlebove moved on by medical forfeit. With Nebraska comes yet another No. 1 ranked wrestler, Ridge Lovett at 149lb, and No. 3 Peyton Robb at 157lb. No. 4 Jacori Teemer is 0-3 versus Robb, with the last two ending in 6-4 decisions. With the possibility of meeting for a third time in one year in the NCAA Championships, this will be a huge matchup for Teemer to flip the script.
KYLE PARCO
Kyler Parco has been a rock throughout the beginning of this season, winning his three dual matches by a combined score of 32-9. Defense has been a strong suit, as he has only given up more than three points on two occasions, in a 20-6 victory and a sole 5-0 loss in the Cliff Keen semifinals. He started out hot in Las Vegas, with 11-0 and 11-1 major decisions in the round of 32 and 16, respectively. He punched his ticket to the semifinals with a 4-2 decision over current No. 8 Casey Swiderski. A loss to No. 4 Caleb Henson then sent him to the consolation semifinals. Responding quickly, Parco landed a 14-3 major decision and followed it up with a strong 11-1 major decision over current No. 5 Dylan D'Emilio to earn third place in the 149lb bracket. The loss to Henson had the wrestlers swap places in the following rankings, with Parco dropping to No. 4. With a season-ending injury to Penn State's No. 2 Shayne Van Ness, the two will likely jump to No. 2 and No. 3 and be in a tight race with No. 1 Ridge Lovett of Nebraska, who Parco will face in the last dual of the season. Parco's five major decisions this year entered him into the record books, as his 17 major decisions as a Sun Devil are good for No. 18 all time.
.@kyle_ocrap for 6??#ForksUp /// #O2V pic.twitter.com/lHbZ96EoL2
— Sun Devil Wrestling (@ASUWrestling) December 5, 2023
JACORI TEEMER
One of the biggest headlines coming into this year was the return of Jacori Teemer, a 3x All-American and 3x Pac-12 champion. After missing the entire 2022-23 season due to injury, Sun Devil fans' hearts sank as he suffered another injury just 1:14 into his first match. Luckily, this one wasn't season-ending, and Teemer came back with a vengeance at the Cliff Keen Invitational. He followed up a 19-3 tech fall with two decisions and a 14-6 major decision in the 157lb semifinals. Facing a familiar foe in No. 3 Peyton Robb, Teemer was bested 6-4. Teemer remained at No. 4 in the country in the next rankings and will see Robb again at the end of the year.
.@JacoriTeemer is BACK. #ForksUp /// #O2V pic.twitter.com/u1LFqGiQD1
— Sun Devil Wrestling (@ASUWrestling) December 5, 2023
JULIAN CHLEBOVE
Chlebove has been ranked as high as No. 10 in FloWrestling's 133lb weight class, and delivered two dual wins for the Sun Devils against North Carolina and Missouri. Heading into the Cliff Keen Invitational, Chlebove was seeded fourth. He came out on fire, landing two tech fall victories in the round of 64 and 32. A close loss in the round of 16 put Chlebove in the consolation bracket. He responded to this with yet another tech fall victory, followed up by a major decision to make it to the second consolation round of eight. In a low-scoring match, Chlebove took a 4-2 loss to move to 6-2 on the season. Dropped to No. 18, he will look to climb back up the ladder when the Sun Devils get into the bulk of the season after Christmas.
KALEB LARKIN
Freshman Kaleb Larkin won his first senior-level international event in the prestigious Bill Farrell Memorial International in New York on Nov. 18. In a loaded 65 kg weight class, eight seed Larkin upset All-American Jesse Mendez 7-6, 2x All-American Pat Lugo 3-2, and 4x All-American Matthew Kolodzik with a resounding 16-5 major decision in the finals. The title earned Larkin an automatic bid to the '24 U.S. Olympic Trials next April.
After an unprecedented run at Bill Farrell, Larkin has qualified for the '24 Olympic Trials?? ??#ForksUp /// #O2V pic.twitter.com/UsLwdDZeHb
— Sun Devil Wrestling (@ASUWrestling) November 19, 2023
RICHARD FIGUEROA AND COHLTON SCHULTZ
There has been a hole at 125, as Figueroa has been ranked in the top three throughout the season but spent the first half of the season recovering from an injury. Expected to compete in the new year, the redshirt sophomore is 17-0 in his collegiate career and his return will be a huge spark for this team. Schultz sits at No. 5 in the country at HWT, but has been wrestling internationally as a U.S. Senior World team member. When he returns to Tempe, the team is very likely to earn points at the end of every dual.
UP NEXT
The Sun Devils travel to Evanston, IL, for the Ken Kraft Midlands Championships on Dec. 29-30.