April 27, 1999
TEMPE, Ariz.-- The 1998-99 ASU Wrestling Awards Banquet was held Monday night at Monti's La Casa Vieja with several student-athletes receiving honors.
Junior Mark Perryman (141 pounds) was recognized as the "Most Improved Wrestler." A transfer from Cal Poly SLO, Perryman put together a 22-8 slate this season and captured the Pac-10 Championship. He posted two wins at the NCAA Championships.
Redshirt sophomore Steve Blackford (165) received the "Most Inspirational Wrestler" award. Blackford posted his second straight 30-win season, going 30-14 in 1998-99, and recorded a team-high 11 pins. The Pac-10 runner-up, he garnered All-America honors with a fourth-place finish at NCAAs.
The "Sportsmanship Award" was presented to senior two-time All-American Casey Strand (184). Pacing the team with 36 wins in his senior campaign, Strand closed out his career fifth on the ASU career victories list with 123. He posted tournament wins at the Keystone Classic and the Las Vegas Invite and placed third at the Midlands Invite.
The "Most Outstanding Wrestler" award went to freshman Eric Larkin (133) who went 30-5 on the season despite battling back from a rib cage injury suffered in December. Larkin won the Pac-10 title and achieved All-America status with his fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championships. The highest-placing true freshman at NCAAs, he paced the team with nine wins by major decision and became ASU's first freshman All-American since 1993.
In addition, Head Coach Lee Roy Smith recognized redshirt sophomore Micah Daggy (4.00 pre-business) for being named to the Pac-10 All-Academic First Team, senior Arturo Anaya (3.19 electrical engineering) and Perryman (3.00 history) to the Second Team and sophomore Dan Hyman (3.00 pre-business) to Honorable Mention status. Smith also honored the Maroon and Gold Scholar Athletes (those who earned a 3.0 grade point average or higher semester or cumulative GPA): Anaya, sophomore Matt Azevedo, Blackford, Daggy, sophomore Quinn Foster, Hyman, junior Randy Leydecker, junior Jose Moreno, junior Glenn Pero, and Perryman.