ST. LOUIS – No. 9 Arizona State wrestling will have two representatives in Saturday morning's medal rounds, a pair of All-Americans in No. 1 Zahid Valencia (174) and No. 7 Tanner Hall (HWT).
Hall advanced to the morning's quarterfinals with an impressive redemptive victory on Thursday night vs. Stanford's Nathan Butler, but suffered a 5-3 loss to the No. 2 seed, Connor Medbery on Friday morning.
Z. Valencia easily won his quarterfinal matchup, a 14-8 decision vs. No. 9 Myles Amine of Michigan, but dropped a hotly contested semifinal vs. No. 5 Mark Hall (Penn State), a 4-3 decision.
Valencia will face Illinois' Zac Brunson, the No. 10 seed for a place in the third-round match on Saturday morning. Valencia has earned two decision victories over Brunson this season, one in the Midlands semifinals and one in the dual in Tempe.
"I just want to thank everyone who's supported me – coaches, administration, faculty, staff at ASU, and I just want to thank God for this opportunity to wrestle," said Valencia.
After pinning Appalachian State's No. 9 Denzel Dejournette, Hall takes on Duke's Jacob Kasper, the No. 4 seed, Saturday morning for a spot in the third-place match.
Josh Maruca had one of the biggest early upsets of the day at 149 lbs., defeating the No. 2 seed, Oklahoma State's Anthony Collica, on a nearfall at the buzzer before his season ended in the next round at the hands of Lehigh's No. 10 Laike Gardner.
Anthony Valencia (165) fell just short of All-American status, upset by No. 13 Brandon Womack of Cornell. Valencia's season ends as he sits in the top-five in ASU's single season bonus point wins and in the top-10 in major decision wins.
No. 9 Josh Shields (157) also suffered his second loss of the tournament in the morning session, a 5-3 decision by Pittsburgh's Taleb Rahmani, but joins A. Valencia on ASU's top-10 single season major decision wins list.
The medal rounds start Saturday morning at 10 am CT/8 am PT, broadcast on ESPNU as well as on ESPN3.
Hall advanced to the morning's quarterfinals with an impressive redemptive victory on Thursday night vs. Stanford's Nathan Butler, but suffered a 5-3 loss to the No. 2 seed, Connor Medbery on Friday morning.
Z. Valencia easily won his quarterfinal matchup, a 14-8 decision vs. No. 9 Myles Amine of Michigan, but dropped a hotly contested semifinal vs. No. 5 Mark Hall (Penn State), a 4-3 decision.
Valencia will face Illinois' Zac Brunson, the No. 10 seed for a place in the third-round match on Saturday morning. Valencia has earned two decision victories over Brunson this season, one in the Midlands semifinals and one in the dual in Tempe.
"I just want to thank everyone who's supported me – coaches, administration, faculty, staff at ASU, and I just want to thank God for this opportunity to wrestle," said Valencia.
After pinning Appalachian State's No. 9 Denzel Dejournette, Hall takes on Duke's Jacob Kasper, the No. 4 seed, Saturday morning for a spot in the third-place match.
That moment when Tanner Hall becomes an All-American! #ElevateAl #NCAAwrestling pic.twitter.com/0k8GWkwOfR
— Sun Devil Wrestling (@ASUWrestling) March 18, 2017
Josh Maruca had one of the biggest early upsets of the day at 149 lbs., defeating the No. 2 seed, Oklahoma State's Anthony Collica, on a nearfall at the buzzer before his season ended in the next round at the hands of Lehigh's No. 10 Laike Gardner.
Anthony Valencia (165) fell just short of All-American status, upset by No. 13 Brandon Womack of Cornell. Valencia's season ends as he sits in the top-five in ASU's single season bonus point wins and in the top-10 in major decision wins.
No. 9 Josh Shields (157) also suffered his second loss of the tournament in the morning session, a 5-3 decision by Pittsburgh's Taleb Rahmani, but joins A. Valencia on ASU's top-10 single season major decision wins list.
The medal rounds start Saturday morning at 10 am CT/8 am PT, broadcast on ESPNU as well as on ESPN3.