Valencia became the first Sun Devil in history to win national championships at the same weight class in back-to-back years. He became the third all-time Sun Devil to win two championships (also: Dan St. John in 1989, 1990 at two different weight classes; Markus Mollica in 1993, 1995).
He also became the sixth Pac-10/12 Conference wrestler to successfully defend his NCAA title. The others were Oregon State's Jess Lewis (HWT) in 1969-70, Greg Stroble (190) in 1973-74, Dan Hicks (142) in 1978-79, and Les Gutches (177) in 1995-96 and CSUB's Stephen Neal (HWT) in 1998-99.
Valencia was one of just two wrestlers to win four bonus point victories in five wins en route to the title.
Earlier in the afternoon's Medal Rounds, two-time All-American Josh Shields finished his junior season sixth in the nation at 165 lbs. while Pagdilao finished his career seventh in the nation at 157 lbs. with his first All-American honor.
All six sessions of the 2019 championships were sellouts and the finals was the fifth-highest in history (18,950) while the total attendance (109,405) was the sixth-highest.
Shields will start his senior season in 2019-20 just two wins away from career win No. 100.
The Sun Devils wrap up a 2018-19 campaign in which Valencia advanced to his third straight semifinal and second straight title match. ASU also had three or more All-Americans in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1996 and 1997.
They add a stellar recruiting class which includes the No. 1 pound-for-pound recruit, heavyweight Cohlton Schultz, as the No. 1 recruiting class including Zahid Valencia, Josh Shields, Josh Maruca, and Tanner Hall embark upon their last season in Sun Devil singlets.
#23 Josh Maruca (149)
First Round (Thursday) – #10 Pat Lugo (Iowa) DEC #23 Josh Maruca, 5-2
Cons. Round 1 (Thursday) – #23 Josh Maruca DEC #7 Kaden Gfeller (Oklahoma State), 8-3
Cons. Round 2 (Friday) – #9 Justin Oliver (NC State) DEC #23 Josh Maruca, 9-5
#9 Christian Pagdilao (157) – All-American (7th Place)
First Round (Thursday) – #9 Christian Pagdilao MD #24 Joshua McClure (UNC), 12-2
Second Round (Thursday) – #9 Christian Pagdilao DEC #8 Josh Humphreys (Lehigh), 11-7
Quarterfinals (Friday) – #1 Jason Nolf (Penn State) TF #9 Christian Pagdilao, 23-6 (7:00)
Cons. Round 4 (Friday) – #9 Christian Pagdilao DEC #12 Taleb Rahmani (Pitt), 13-7
Cons. Round 5 (Friday) – #4 Alec Pantaleo (Michigan) DEC #9 Christian Pagdilao, 9-4
7th Place (Saturday) – #9 Christian Pagdilao DEC #7 Larry Early (Old Dominion), 3-2
#3 Josh Shields (165) – All-American (6th Place)
First Round (Thursday) – #3 Josh Shields MD #30 Colston DiBlasi (George Mason), 14-4
Second Round (Thursday) – #3 Josh Shields MD #14 Jesse Dellavecchia (Rider), 10-2
Quarterfinals (Friday) – #3 Josh Shields DEC #11 Bryce Steiert (UNI), 6-0
Semifinals (Friday) – #2 Vincenzo Joseph (Penn State) DEC #3 Josh Shields, 3-2
Cons. Round 6 (Saturday) – #5 Chance Marsteller (Lock Haven) DEC #3 Josh Shields, 4-3
5th Place (Saturday) – #7 Isaiah White (Nebraska) DEC #3 Josh Shields, 8-4
#3 Zahid Valencia (174) – All-American
First Round (Thursday) – #3 Zahid Valencia MD #30 Dean Sherry (Rider), 11-2
Second Round (Thursday) – #3 Zahid Valencia MD #14 Kimball Bastian (Utah Valley), 16-5
Quarterfinals (Friday) – #3 Zahid Valencia FALL #22 Ben Harvey (Army), 2:12
Semifinals (Friday) – #3 Zahid Valencia MD #2 Daniel Lewis (Missouri), 11-3
Finals (Saturday) – #3 Zahid Valencia DEC #1 Mark Hall (Penn State), 4-3