TEMPE, Ariz. -- In a shortened 2019-20 season, the No. 6 Arizona State wrestling team was still able to accomplish many amazing feats that will be cemented into the program's history forever.
The consensus top-5 team made significant strides all season, individually and as a team. Below are some of those key figures to mention:
0: The Maroon and Gold finished out the dual meet season perfect in the Pac-12 with a 5-0 record while outscoring their conference rivals 166-43. The perfect record in league action is the program's first since 2017-18.
1: The Sun Devils marked many historical moments during the 2019-20 season, but hosting the first-ever wrestling match at a professional baseball stadium might have been on the top of the list. The quadrangular meet with Campbell, Harvard and Iowa State was featured inside the Arizona Diamondbacks' Chase Field, where fans got to witness wrestling history. ASU was able to sweep the Duals on the Diamond (3-0) while compiling 13 bonus-point wins on the day and earning its first 40-point score since 2012 in a win over Harvard. The nightcap was also unique to the two teams competing as ASU honored former 1988 National Championship head coach and Iowa State coach Bobby Douglas before the Devils faced the Cyclones – between the two programs, Douglas compiled 427 wins in 32 seasons which makes him one of four collegiate wrestling coaches to win at least 400 matches.
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— Sun Devil Wrestling (@ASUWrestling) January 13, 2020
Beauty & The Beast ?? pic.twitter.com/dbMSwZqPul
1:38: Kordell Norfleet pinned No. 12 Nathan Traxler in just 1:38 at the Pac-12 Championships, earning Norfleet his second conference title. The performance was also good enough to earn him Co-Outstanding Wrestler of the Championships.
Just a kid from Chicago securing the program's 19th Pac-10/12 team title ??#ForksUp pic.twitter.com/bSn5HMH3XA
— Sun Devil Wrestling (@ASUWrestling) March 8, 2020
2: Newcomer Jacori Teemer was named Pac-12 Wrestler of the Week twice on Feb. 12 and Feb. 26, becoming the first ASU wrestler to win the honor two times in one season. The Long Beach native defeated three top-25 wrestlers to receive the weekly honors.
2: Anthony Valencia and Cohlton Schultz represented ASU as the two wrestlers to punch their tickets to the Olympic Trials after earning top-five placements at the US Senior Nationals in December. Schultz went 4-0 to sit atop the podium as the 130-kg Greco-Roman Champion while Valencia battled his way through the consolation bracket to garner a fifth-place trophy in the 74-kg freestyle division.
.@AnthonadorGold IS HEADED TO STATE COLLEGE ??
— Sun Devil Wrestling (@ASUWrestling) December 22, 2019
A. Valencia punches his ticket to the 2020 Olympic Trials after defeating Kulchytskyy by way of superiority, 11-1! pic.twitter.com/iLNQdaM71G
3: Sixth-year head coach Zeke Jones was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year for the third time in four seasons. Jones won the award back in 2017 and 2018 after winning the Pac-12 Championship in back-to-back seasons. He becomes the first ASU wrestling head coach to win the conference award three times since Thom Ortiz did so in 2003, 2005 and 2006.
4: After upsetting the No. 1 team in the nation in, Penn State, the Sun Devils moved up to No. 4 in the NWCA coaches' poll – the highest ranking received for the program since 1998.
Trust the process ?? #ForksUp pic.twitter.com/OeUFPAMsTd
— Sun Devil Wrestling (@ASUWrestling) December 11, 2019
4: Josh Kramer knocked off four ranked opponents in one weekend at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic in New York. Kramer defeated #19 Louie Hayes, #12 Anthony Madrigal, #15 Nick Farro and #10 DJ Fehlman to earn a second-place finish at 133 lbs.
5: ASU left Stanford with the 2020 Pac-12 team trophy while five Sun Devil wrestlers were crowned champions at their respective weight class – Brandon Courtney (125), Jacori Teemer (157), Josh Shields (165), Anthony Valencia (174), Kordell Norfleet (197) and Tanner Hall (HWT).
Pac-12 Champions -- ?????? ???????????????? ?????? ??#ForkUp pic.twitter.com/VuxUIxweGb
— Sun Devil Wrestling (@ASUWrestling) March 10, 2020
6: During the NCAA Championship Selection Show, six wrestlers qualified as top-10 seeds for the national tournament, making the Sun Devils just one of three teams in the nation to have six or more wrestlers seeded within the top-10 at their respective weight classes.
7: The Sun Devils defeated seven ranked teams during the dual meet season – No. 1 Penn State, No. 8 North Carolina, No. 11 Iowa State, No. 11 Stanford, No. 20 Missouri, No. 20 Virginia and No. 23 Purdue
8: Cohlton Schultz completed the Cool Cat Cafe 808 Burger Challenge by eating eight burger patties in 30 minutes.
Challenge accepted ??
— Sun Devil Wrestling (@ASUWrestling) February 15, 2020
.@TheCohlTrain for the WIN ?? pic.twitter.com/cUrdnhnWsD
9: Anthony Valencia rattled off nine straight wins towards the end of the season that included four falls, three majors and one tech fall
11: Brandon Courtney was a major decision machine through the course of his second year in Tempe, notching 11 majors in 30 matches to place himself tied for fourth all-time in ASU history for most majors in a season. Courtney also led the team in wins (25) and technical falls (4).
15: The Sun Devils ended the dual meet season with 15 wins - the most by an ASU wrestling team in 31 years (1989-90).
19: ASU took third place for the second consecutive season at the Cliff Keen Invitational back in December, the program's highest joint finish at CKLV in over 19 years. Tanner Hall, Josh Shields, and Zahid Valencia all earned berths to the championship round in one of the toughest regular-season tournaments of the year.
31: In the final conference matchups of the season, Anthony Valencia secured ASU's two fastest pins of the season in 31 seconds and 41 seconds, all in the same weekend.
60: The Sun Devils snapped No. 1 ranked Penn State's 60 match win-streak and issued the Nittany Lions their first loss since 2015 in November. The win streak was the longest modern era record in college wrestling since Iowa won 69 straight from 2008-2011.
TEMPE, WE LIT ?? pic.twitter.com/XpjcKj10pw
— Sun Devil Wrestling (@ASUWrestling) November 23, 2019
100: Seniors Tanner Hall and Josh Shields joined teammate Zahid Valencia as the second and third member apart of the 2015 recruiting class to reach 100 wins in their Sun Devil careers. Shields joined the 100-win club in the second match of the season, defeating Purdue's Emil Soehnlen by major decision, 12-2. Hall would hit the century mark in a top-25 win over Missouri in Columbia.
The newest member of the 100-win club is a SUN DEVIL! Congratulations, Tanner! ??: @ASUWrestling pic.twitter.com/nOXfKYEsJh
— NCAA Wrestling (@ncaawrestling) February 10, 2020
141.5: The team scored 141.5 points at the Pac-12 Championships to go on to win its third conference team title in four years – the team score was the highest conference tournament point total for the program since 1993.
PAC-12 CHAMPIONS??@ASUWrestling captures their third title in four years ??pic.twitter.com/iWKQEz2swN
— Arizona State Sun Devils (@TheSunDevils) March 8, 2020
2,862: The Sun Devils averaged 2,862 fans per home match this season, the highest all-time average attendance mark in program history, surpassing last year's record of 1,700.
8,522: ASU shattered the home attendance record with 8,522 fans showing out for the upset win over No. 1 Penn State – the previous record (5,497) was set on Jan. 18, 1990 against Oklahoma State. The single-match total ranks as the 10th highest attended event in all of college wrestling in 2019-20.
This place is rockin' ?? pic.twitter.com/LulCakitBY
— Sun Devil Wrestling (@ASUWrestling) November 23, 2019
A year full of memories that will last forever. Thank you #SunDevilFamily for your endless support along the way!
— Sun Devil Wrestling (@ASUWrestling) March 17, 2020
We will rally together and continue to move forward, as we always do. pic.twitter.com/ln7YAiG5rV