TEMPE – Sun Devil Wrestling will continue its three-match road trip with a midweek dual against Big 12 foe Northern Iowa. The match is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 22 at 5:30 p.m. MST at the McLeod Center in Cedar Falls, IA. Streaming will be available via Flo.TV with a subscription.
Arizona State is coming off a split-squad weekend where 10 wrestlers competed in a dual against Northern Colorado, while 12 separate wrestlers took part in the Cyclone Open tournament hosted by Iowa State.
It was a weekend well spent for both sides, as the Sun Devils downed the Bears 26-17 on Sunday afternoon at Bank of Colorado Arena. Redshirt sophomore Kaleb Larkin fueled the Sun Devil victory by picking up his first win by fall at the 157-lb. mark in just 2:05.
Redshirt freshman Pierson Manville (141 lb.), sophomore Daniel Miranda (149 lb.), redshirt sophomore Nicco Ruiz (165 lb.) and freshman Ben Szuba (HWT) all picked up individual wins as well. Ruiz added his sixth technical fall win of the season, while Ben Szuba earned a win by major decision in the first dual of his career.
Over in Ames, senior Azizbek Fayzullaev (184 lb.) and graduate student Cael Valencia (174 lb.) each placed atop the podium in their respective weight classes. Fayzullaev went into the tournament as the No. 1 overall seed in the 184-lb. bracket as he rattled off three-straight wins, including a pin in the championship round to claim gold.
Valencia was penciled in as the No. 4 seed in the 174-lb. bracket, where the four-year Sun Devil compiled a 3-0 record, including two TF wins to claim a first-place finish. Valencia has now won two tournaments this season (Cyclone Open, Reno TOC) in addition to a runner-up effort at the Michigan State Open in January.
Scouting the opposition
Northern Iowa (8-4, 2-0 Big 12)
The Panthers have won their last five duals in a row, including a 44-0 shutout against Iowa and conference wins over No. 8 South Dakota State and No. 17 Missouri, after falling to No. 6 Nebraska on Jan. 6.
Northern Iowa currently has seven wrestlers ranked in the latest polls, including 165-pounder No. 6 Ryder Downey. Downey is off to a 13-2 start this season, where he likely lines up against the Sun Devils’ Nicco Ruiz on Thursday.
Northern Iowa probables
125: Trever Anderson (9-6)
133: Julian Farber (11-4)
141: Connor Thorpe (7-3) OR Max Brady (17-6)
149: Caleb Rathjen (3-3) OR Ethan Basile (11-5)
157: Cael Rahnavardi (6-6) OR RJ Weston (9-6)
165: Ryder Downey (13-2) OR Jack Thomsen (9-6)
174: Jared Simma (9-3)
184: Nick Fox (4-1) OR CJ Walrath (4-3)
197: John Gunderson (5-6) OR Carson Babcock (2-2)
HWT: Adam Ahrendsen (6-5) OR Grant Stromberg (9-7)
The Sun Devils currently hold a 3-2 advantage all-time against the Panthers. The last meeting between the two dates back to last season, where Northern Iowa claimed a 33-10 win over ASU on Jan. 17, 2025, at Desert Financial Arena.
Notably, the Sun Devils earned the 50th road dual victory in program history over the Panthers on Feb. 9, 1979 (W, 18-13) and currently hold a 7-3-1 advantage in the all-time series.
ASU probables
125: An’ee Vigil (Jr., 9-5)
133: Carter Dibert (R-Jr., 0-3)
141: No. 26 Pierson Manville (R-Fr., 12-4)
149: Daniel Miranda (So., 1-3) -OR- Benji Alanis (Sr., 0-1)
157: No. 2 Kaleb Larkin (R-So., 17-1)
165: No. 13 Nicco Ruiz (R-So., 15-3)
174: Cael Valencia (R-Sr., 11-5)
184: Azizbek Fayzullaev (Sr., 3-5)
197: Colton Hawks (Gr., 1-3)
HWT: No. 19 David Szuba (Gr., 14-8)
By the Numbers
2
Kyler Larkin ranks No. 2 nationally at 133 lbs. in the RPI, posting a 0.7028 rating through 14 matches.
3
Nicco Ruiz has set a new single-season career high with three wins by major decision, topping his previous career high of two in 2024.
3
Kaleb Larkin has defeated three opponents ranked in the top three this season across two weight classes:
149: No. 2 Lachlan McNeil (Michigan) MD 12-2
157: No. 1 Ty Watters (West Virginia) Dec. 4-2
157: No. 3 Vinny Zerban (Iowa State) Dec. 4-1
3
The Sun Devils have three separate duos of brothers on the active roster: The Larkins (Kaleb and Kyler), The Szubas (Ben and David), and the Ysaguirres (Aidan and Emilio).
5
Kyler Larkin has defeated five opponents ranked within the top 30 at 133 lbs. this season:
No. 6 Tyler Knox (Stanford)
No. 11 Dillon Campbell (Virginia Tech)
No. 16 Gunner Andrick (West Virginia)
No. 17 Richard Figueroa II (Oklahoma State)
No. 30 Jarvis Little (Appalachian State)
5
The Sun Devils feature five wrestlers ranked in FloWrestling and Intermats weekly rankings:
133 | No. 5 Kyler Larkin
141 | No. 26 Pierson Manville
157 | No. 2 Kaleb Larkin
165 | No. 13 Nicco Ruiz
HWT | No. 18 David Szuba
7
Seven of Kaleb Larkin’s last eight bouts have seen him lined up against opponents ranked within the top 25, where he has gone 7-1 in that stretch:
No. 24 Alek Martin (SDSU) W, 7-3
No. 9 Jaxon Joy (Cornell) L, TF (15-0 / 2:53)
No. 14 Aden Valencia (Stanford) W, 10-6
No. 21 Alek Martin (SDSU) W, 5-2
No. 3 Vinny Zerban (Iowa State) W, 4-1
No. 1 Ty Watters (West Virginia) W, 4-2
10
Kaleb Larkin and Nicco Ruiz share a team lead with 10 bonus-point victories (Larkin - 4 TF, 3 MD, 3 F // Ruiz - 6 TF, 3 MD, 1 F).
11
Nicco Ruiz has won 11 of his last 12 matches, including six-straight wins and three of which by TF
15
The Larkin brothers have combined to go a perfect 15-0 across three duals this season. They are the only Sun Devils to remain undefeated in duals this season.
18
Pierson Manville, Nicco Ruiz and Cael Valencia have combined for 18 wins by TF this season, as each wrestler holds a team-leading six wins by TF.
29
Graduate student David Szuba recorded the fastest fall of the season so far in just 29 seconds over Davidson’s DJ Spring. The 29-second takedown was the third fastest of Szuba’s career.
40
Nicco Ruiz earned the 40th win of his career after a 19-3 TF win on Sunday at Northern Colorado.
80
David Szuba notched the 80th win of his career between his time at ASU and Rider on Jan. 15 against Missouri’s Jarrett Stoner.
Follow along
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