HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – No. 9 Arizona State's Zahid Valencia continued his undefeated sophomore campaign with his second consecutive title at Midland's 55th annual Championships.
 
Five placewinners for the team – Z. Valencia (1st), Josh Shields (2nd), Tanner Hall (2nd), Anthony Valencia (4th), Jason Tsirtsis (5th) – was the most for the Sun Devils since 1997 when they had six and third-most all-time.

Tsirtsis capped his Midlands career as a six-time placewinner.

Redshirt senior Jason Tsirtsis caps off his #Midlands55 career as a 6x place winner.#SunDevilIntensity ?? pic.twitter.com/3nBPq5o9Yk

— Sun Devil Wrestling (@ASUWrestling) December 31, 2017

 
Z. Valencia earned the third most points for his team amongst the field (28 pts) while Oliver Pierce had the second most pins in the least time (3/7:34).
 
Valencia became the 15th individual title winner at Midlands for ASU and just the third to win multiple titles.
 
ASU Individual Champions (Midlands)
1987 – Dan St. John (158)
1988 – Thom Ortiz (150)
1988 – Dan St. John (158)
1989 – Zeke Jones (118)
1989 – Andrew McNaughton (134)
1989 – Thom Ortiz (142)
1989 – Ray Miller (158)
1989 – Dan St. John (167)
1995 – Markus Mollica (167)
1996 – Casey Strand (167)
1996 – Aaron Simpson (177)
2001 – Eric Larkin (141)
2016 – Zahid Valencia (174)
2016 – Tanner Hall (HWT)
2017 – Zahid Valencia (174)
 
As a team, Arizona State had the second most pins in the least time (9/25:39) and the second most pins/tech falls combined in the least time (11/35:00).
 
Iowa (156.5) repeated as team champions while ASU finished fourth overall with one winner, two second-place finishers, and five total placewinners (106.5 pts). Rutgers (109.5) and Central Michigan (108.0) finished second and third.
 
ASU's fourth-place finish marks their second top-10 finish since 2001 (also in 2016) and eighth all-time top-five finish (also: 1984, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1996, 1997, 2016) as well as the fourth time in history the Sun Devils have had back-to-back top-5 finishes.
 
After a month of tournament competition, the Sun Devils return to dual action next weekend in Chapel Hill at North Carolina, Saturday, Jan. 6 at 5 pm MT.
 
SATURDAY'S RESULTS
 
Ali Naser (133)
Cons. Round of 8-2 – Colin Valdiviez (Northwestern) MD Ali Naser, 8-0
Jason Tsirtsis (No. 5/149) – 5th Place
Semifinal - #1 Brandon Sorenson (Iowa) DEC #5 Jason Tsirtsis, 3-1 SV-1
Cons Semifinal-2 – #6 Ryan Deakin (Northwestern) DEC #5 Jason Tsirtsis, 5-3
5th Place - #5 Jason Tsirtsis DEC #3 Matthew Kolodzik (Princeton), 5-4
Josh Maruca (No. 7/149)
Cons. Round of 8-2 - #9 Steven Bleise (Minnesota-Unatt) DEC #7 Josh Maruca, 5-3 SV-1
Josh Shields (No. 2/157) – 2nd Place
Semifinal - #2 Josh Shields DEC #3 Luke Zilverberg (South Dakota State), 4-0
Final - #1 Michael Kemerer (Iowa) DEC #2 Josh Shields, 5-2
Oliver Pierce (157)
Cons. Round of 8-2 – Mike D'Angelo (Princeton) DEC Oliver Pierce, 3-2
Anthony Valencia (No. 1/165) – 4th Place
Semifinal - #5 Jon Schleifer (Princeton) DEC #1 Anthony Valencia, 9-2
Cons Semifinal-2 - #1 Anthony Valencia DEC #8 Kaleb Young (Iowa), 7-3
3rd Place Match – #3 Richie Lewis (Rutgers) DEC #1 Anthony Valencia, 5-2
Zahid Valencia (No. 1/174) – 1st Place
Semifinal - #1 Zahid Valencia MD #13 Garrett Sutton (Michigan), 17-7
Final - #1 Zahid Valencia MD #3 David Kocer (South Dakota), 18-7
Tanner Hall (No. 1/HWT) – 2nd Place
Semifinal - #1 Tanner Hall DEC #4 Youssif Hemida (Maryland), 2-1
Final - #2 Sam Stoll (Iowa) DEC #1 Tanner Hall, 2-1