ASU Wrestling’s Stauffer, Brady Win Titles At Daktronics Open
BROOKINGS, S.D.—Arizona State wrestling opened its season on Sunday at the 22nd annual Warren Williamson/Daktronics Open, hosted by South Dakota State at Frost Arena.
Redshirt Blake Stauffer and sophomore Dalton Brady led the Sun Devils as they picked up titles at 184-pounds and 133-pounds, respectively, and six more finished in third-place or higher.
Brady went 4-0 on the day, starting off with a 19-2 tech fall win over Nebraska’s Brian Peska. The Queen Creek, Ariz., native followed with three more decisions in route to his first Sun Devil title.
With five matches on the day, Stauffer recorded a pair of bonus point wins, starting off with a 16-0 tech fall over Lukas Polncic (unattached) before picking up a 15-2 major decision over South Dakota State’s Hunter Weddington. Following a pair of decision wins, the Neosho, Mo. native defeated North Dakota State’s Hayden Zilmer in the second period of sudden victory, 4-2.
Junior Ray Waters finished in second place at 174 pounds, pinning North Dakota State’s Tyler McNutt in 5:20 before he picked up decisions over John Nething II (South Dakota State) and Colin Carr (Minnesota). In the finals, North Dakota State’s Kurtis Julson edged Waters in a 3-1 decision.
Also in second was sophomore Oliver Pierce, who won three straight matches, starting off the day with an 8-0 major decision win over Minnesota’s Dylan Urbach. In the finals, Pierce fell to South Dakota’s Cody Pack in a 3-1 decision.
At 149 pounds, Christian Pagdilao placed third, falling in a close match in the quarterfinals before he won four straight in the wrestle-backs, including a match over teammate senior Preston McCalmon, 5-1. In the third/fourth place match, Pagdilao defeated North Dakota State’s Clayton Ream in a 3-2 decision to cap off the day.
Redshirt senior Joel Smith also finished in third place at 157 pounds. After opening the day with a pair of pins, including one in just 32-seconds against Dakota Wesleyan’s Nick Woslum, Smith defeated Iowa Central CC’s Richie Lewis in a 4-2 decision for third.
Also in third-place was redshirt senior Kevin Radford, who bracketed his day with a pair of major decision wins, the first over Augustana’s Jeff Nielsen, 14-4, and last at Augustana’s Aero Amo, 12-2.
At heavyweight, redshirt senior Chace Eskam started off the day with a 10-0 major decision win over Dakota Wesleyan’s Trevor Peter, before falling in a close, 2-1 sudden victory decision to Michael Lowman of Augustana. Eskam won three straight in the wrestle-backs before winning the rematch with Lowman, 5-2, to finish in third place.
Sophomore Wes Moore and redshirt junior Josh DaSilveira battled in a 197-pound rematch from the Maroon and Gold Intersquad, with Moore coming out on top in a 3-1 decision. Moore finished in fourth in the 197-pounds bracket, while DaSilveira finished in sixth.
On the day, ASU finished with 20 bonus-point victories amongst the 15 wrestlers.
Up next, the Sun Devils are on the road, opening the dual schedule on Thursday, Nov. 13 at West Virginia in Morgantown, W.Va. The dual is set for a 6 p.m. MT/8 p.m. ET start. On Saturday, Nov. 15, ASU will take on Ohio State and Binghamton as part of the Journeymen Tussle in Albany, N.Y.