ST. LOUIS – With their best finish as a team since 2011, the No. 9 Arizona State wrestling team finished 14th overall at the 2017 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. This weekend also marked the first time since 2011 the Sun Devils have had multiple All-Americans and medalists.
2017 marks the first time in two seasons ASU has had an All-American and the highest All-American finish for the team since Anthony Robles and Bubba Jenkins won national titles in 2011 (Levi Cooper was also an All-American the same season).
Tanner Hall and Zahid Valencia, each finishing third, become the 113th and 114th All-Americans in Sun Devil wrestling history and 14th and 15th third-place finishers, first since Eric Larkin in 2001.
Z. Valencia is ASU's second all-time All-American at 174 lbs., the highest finisher in the weight class, alongside Owen Curtis (4th) in 2003, while Hall joins a historic list of heavyweight All-Americans that includes Curley Culp, Dan Severn, and Cain Velasquez. He becomes the first Sun Devil heavyweight All-American since Velasquez in 2005 and 2006.
"Overall, it was a good team effort this weekend and it's always great to finish undefeated on the third day of the NCAA tournament," said head coach Zeke Jones. "I have a tremendous amount of respect for Tanner and Zahid as well as everyone on our team. They competed hard; they just need to clean up some small things and they'll be on the podium next year. I'm proud of our overall effort and now we start working for next year."
After Valencia, the No. 1 seed at 174 lbs, was upset in Friday night's semifinals, he rebounded Saturday morning, pinning Illinois' No. 10 Zac Brunson in 1:36 for a place in the third-place bout. To capture third, he earned a 15-5 major decision vs. Michigan's Myles Amine, the No. 9 seed.
"Zahid may be the best wrestler in the tournament and I say that knowing he took third and with a world champion and Olympic champion competing. Yesterday's loss has already made him better as we could see in his wrestling today."
The No. 7 seed at heavyweight, Hall avenged his NCAA appearance from last season after just missing All-American status, upsetting the No. 4 and No. 3 seeds en route to a third-place finish.
To start the morning, Hall defeated Duke's Jacob Kasper, an 8-5 decision, before earning a 5-4 decision following three regulation periods, a sudden victory, and two tiebreaker periods vs. Virginia Tech's Ty Walz. Prior to today, Hall was 0-3 vs. Walz over the past two seasons as Walz also defeated Hall in the first round of last year's NCAA championships.
"Tanner taking third was huge. He's never beat Walz and that guy is a good wrestler. I call that improvement."
The 2017 championships total attendance was 111,454, the third largest NCAA wrestling championships in history. The NCAA Division I wrestling championships is perennially the third-highest attended championships behind football and men's basketball.
Z. Valencia caps a historic redshirt freshman season with a 38-1 record, going undefeated up to the NCAA championship semifinals Friday night. He finishes the year T-3 in bonus point wins in a season (28), T-3 in major decision wins (11), T-12 in single season pins (14), and T-13 in single season victories (38).
Hall (35-6) finishes an impressive sophomore campaign in which he advanced to his second consecutive NCAA championships, joining Z. Valencia in winning a Midlands title this season. Outside of wrestling, he also excels academically as a member of Barrett Honors College at ASU.
As a team, the Sun Devils made significant strides in 2016-17, moving up 15-20 spots in national rankings to earn a top-10 rank, advancing five or more to NCAA's for the third consecutive year, and earning best finishes in years at NCAA's, Midlands, and Virginia Duals.
The nation's No. 1 recruiting class from 2015, spearheading the Sun Devils' success this season, is joined next season by transfers Jason Tsirtsis (NCAA champion from Northwestern) and Ryan Millhof (Big 12 champion and All-American from Oklahoma) as well as three incoming freshmen, two of which are top-five in their weight classes – Brandon Courtney, Navonte Demison, and Dakota Galt.
Results
Josh Maruca (149)
First Round – Zain Retherford (PSU) def. Josh Maruca, TF 19-2 (4:55)
Consolation First Round – Josh Maruca def. Nick Barber (EMU), Dec 5-1
Consolation Second Round – Josh Maruca def. No. 2 Anthony Collica (OKST), Dec 8-5
Consolation Third Round – No. 10 Laike Gardner (Lehigh) def. Josh Maruca, Dec 3-2
No. 9 Josh Shields (157)
First Round – Josh Shields def. Jake Faust (DUKE), MD 12-1
Round of 16 – Bryant Clagon (Rider) def. Josh Shields, Dec 6-5
Consolation Second Round – Taleb Rahmani (PITT) def. Josh Shields, Dec 5-3
No. 7 Anthony Valencia (165)
First Round – Anthony Valencia def. Cody Burcher (OHST), MD 11-0
Round of 16 – Anthony Valencia def. No. 10 Te'Shan Campbell (PITT), Dec 9-2
Quarterfinal – No. 2 Logan Massa (MICH) def. Anthony Valencia, MD 9-0
Consolation Fourth Round – No. 13 Brandon Womack (Cornell) def. Anthony Valencia, Dec 8-7
No. 1 Zahid Valencia (174)
First Round – Zahid Valencia def. Christopher Pfarr (MINN), MD 19-5
Round of 16 – Zahid Valencia def. No. 16 Christian Brucki (CMU), MD 12-3
Quarterfinal – Zahid Valencia def. No. 9 Myles Amine (MICH), Dec 14-8
Semifinal – No. 5 Mark Hall (Penn State) def. Zahid Valencia, Dec 4-3
Medal Round 1 – Zahid Valencia def. No. 10 Zac Brunson (Illinois), Pin 1:36
3rd Place – Zahid Valencia def. No. 9 Myles Amine (MICH), MD 15-5
No. 7 Tanner Hall (HWT)
First Round – Tanner Hall def. Dustin Dennison (UVU), Dec 4-2
Round of 16 – Tanner Hall def. Nathan Butler (STAN), Pin 7:39
Quarterfinal – No. 2 Connor Medbery (WISC) def. Tanner Hall, Dec 5-3
Consolation Fourth Round – Tanner Hall def. Youssif Hemida (MD), Dec 2-1
Consolation Fifth Round – Tanner Hall def. No. 9 Denzel Dejournette (APP), Pin 3:44
Medal Round 1 – Tanner Hall def. No. 4 Jacob Kasper (DUKE), Dec 8-5
3rd Place – Tanner Hall def. No. 3 Ty Walz (Virginia Tech), TB-1 5-4
2017 marks the first time in two seasons ASU has had an All-American and the highest All-American finish for the team since Anthony Robles and Bubba Jenkins won national titles in 2011 (Levi Cooper was also an All-American the same season).
Tanner Hall and Zahid Valencia, each finishing third, become the 113th and 114th All-Americans in Sun Devil wrestling history and 14th and 15th third-place finishers, first since Eric Larkin in 2001.
Z. Valencia is ASU's second all-time All-American at 174 lbs., the highest finisher in the weight class, alongside Owen Curtis (4th) in 2003, while Hall joins a historic list of heavyweight All-Americans that includes Curley Culp, Dan Severn, and Cain Velasquez. He becomes the first Sun Devil heavyweight All-American since Velasquez in 2005 and 2006.
"Overall, it was a good team effort this weekend and it's always great to finish undefeated on the third day of the NCAA tournament," said head coach Zeke Jones. "I have a tremendous amount of respect for Tanner and Zahid as well as everyone on our team. They competed hard; they just need to clean up some small things and they'll be on the podium next year. I'm proud of our overall effort and now we start working for next year."
After Valencia, the No. 1 seed at 174 lbs, was upset in Friday night's semifinals, he rebounded Saturday morning, pinning Illinois' No. 10 Zac Brunson in 1:36 for a place in the third-place bout. To capture third, he earned a 15-5 major decision vs. Michigan's Myles Amine, the No. 9 seed.
"Zahid may be the best wrestler in the tournament and I say that knowing he took third and with a world champion and Olympic champion competing. Yesterday's loss has already made him better as we could see in his wrestling today."
Zahid Valencia of @ASUWrestling ends his journey in St. Louis with a third-place finish! #NCAAWrestling pic.twitter.com/6TIlW9y3Bl
— NCAA Wrestling (@ncaawrestling) March 18, 2017
The No. 7 seed at heavyweight, Hall avenged his NCAA appearance from last season after just missing All-American status, upsetting the No. 4 and No. 3 seeds en route to a third-place finish.
To start the morning, Hall defeated Duke's Jacob Kasper, an 8-5 decision, before earning a 5-4 decision following three regulation periods, a sudden victory, and two tiebreaker periods vs. Virginia Tech's Ty Walz. Prior to today, Hall was 0-3 vs. Walz over the past two seasons as Walz also defeated Hall in the first round of last year's NCAA championships.
"Tanner taking third was huge. He's never beat Walz and that guy is a good wrestler. I call that improvement."
Tanner Hall of @ASUWrestling hangs on for the third place heavyweight win in the tiebreaker! #NCAAWrestling pic.twitter.com/8NkfknnoCm
— NCAA Wrestling (@ncaawrestling) March 18, 2017
The 2017 championships total attendance was 111,454, the third largest NCAA wrestling championships in history. The NCAA Division I wrestling championships is perennially the third-highest attended championships behind football and men's basketball.
Z. Valencia caps a historic redshirt freshman season with a 38-1 record, going undefeated up to the NCAA championship semifinals Friday night. He finishes the year T-3 in bonus point wins in a season (28), T-3 in major decision wins (11), T-12 in single season pins (14), and T-13 in single season victories (38).
Hall (35-6) finishes an impressive sophomore campaign in which he advanced to his second consecutive NCAA championships, joining Z. Valencia in winning a Midlands title this season. Outside of wrestling, he also excels academically as a member of Barrett Honors College at ASU.
As a team, the Sun Devils made significant strides in 2016-17, moving up 15-20 spots in national rankings to earn a top-10 rank, advancing five or more to NCAA's for the third consecutive year, and earning best finishes in years at NCAA's, Midlands, and Virginia Duals.
The nation's No. 1 recruiting class from 2015, spearheading the Sun Devils' success this season, is joined next season by transfers Jason Tsirtsis (NCAA champion from Northwestern) and Ryan Millhof (Big 12 champion and All-American from Oklahoma) as well as three incoming freshmen, two of which are top-five in their weight classes – Brandon Courtney, Navonte Demison, and Dakota Galt.
Results
Josh Maruca (149)
First Round – Zain Retherford (PSU) def. Josh Maruca, TF 19-2 (4:55)
Consolation First Round – Josh Maruca def. Nick Barber (EMU), Dec 5-1
Consolation Second Round – Josh Maruca def. No. 2 Anthony Collica (OKST), Dec 8-5
Consolation Third Round – No. 10 Laike Gardner (Lehigh) def. Josh Maruca, Dec 3-2
No. 9 Josh Shields (157)
First Round – Josh Shields def. Jake Faust (DUKE), MD 12-1
Round of 16 – Bryant Clagon (Rider) def. Josh Shields, Dec 6-5
Consolation Second Round – Taleb Rahmani (PITT) def. Josh Shields, Dec 5-3
No. 7 Anthony Valencia (165)
First Round – Anthony Valencia def. Cody Burcher (OHST), MD 11-0
Round of 16 – Anthony Valencia def. No. 10 Te'Shan Campbell (PITT), Dec 9-2
Quarterfinal – No. 2 Logan Massa (MICH) def. Anthony Valencia, MD 9-0
Consolation Fourth Round – No. 13 Brandon Womack (Cornell) def. Anthony Valencia, Dec 8-7
No. 1 Zahid Valencia (174)
First Round – Zahid Valencia def. Christopher Pfarr (MINN), MD 19-5
Round of 16 – Zahid Valencia def. No. 16 Christian Brucki (CMU), MD 12-3
Quarterfinal – Zahid Valencia def. No. 9 Myles Amine (MICH), Dec 14-8
Semifinal – No. 5 Mark Hall (Penn State) def. Zahid Valencia, Dec 4-3
Medal Round 1 – Zahid Valencia def. No. 10 Zac Brunson (Illinois), Pin 1:36
3rd Place – Zahid Valencia def. No. 9 Myles Amine (MICH), MD 15-5
No. 7 Tanner Hall (HWT)
First Round – Tanner Hall def. Dustin Dennison (UVU), Dec 4-2
Round of 16 – Tanner Hall def. Nathan Butler (STAN), Pin 7:39
Quarterfinal – No. 2 Connor Medbery (WISC) def. Tanner Hall, Dec 5-3
Consolation Fourth Round – Tanner Hall def. Youssif Hemida (MD), Dec 2-1
Consolation Fifth Round – Tanner Hall def. No. 9 Denzel Dejournette (APP), Pin 3:44
Medal Round 1 – Tanner Hall def. No. 4 Jacob Kasper (DUKE), Dec 8-5
3rd Place – Tanner Hall def. No. 3 Ty Walz (Virginia Tech), TB-1 5-4