Wrestling To Open New Year In Chattanooga
LIVE COVERAGE VIA TRACK WRESTLING
PPV COVERAGE VIA FLOW WRESTLING
TEMPE, Ariz. - The Arizona State University wrestling team is back in action this week, kicking off 2014 in Chattanooga, Tenn., at the Southern Scuffle. The tournament is set for Jan. 1-2 at McKenzie Arena.
THE DEVIL’S IN THE DETAILS
The tournament, which is in its 11th year overall and third year in Chattanooga will pit the Sun Devils against a 34-team field with 10 ranked in the top-25, including No. 1 Penn State, No. 2 Minnesota, No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 7 Cornell, No. 12 Iowa State, No. 13 Missouri, No. 17 Virginia, No. 18 Pittsburgh, No. 21 Oregon State and No. 22 Stanford.
Only four different teams have won the Southern Scuffle, including Cornell (2008, 2009 & 2010 (tie)), Minnesota (2004, 2005 & 2007), Missouri (2003 & 2006) and Penn State (2010 (tie), 2012 & 2013).
THINGS TO KNOW
Complete coverage of the Southern Scuffle is available at TheSouthernScuffle.com.
Live coverage of every match will be available through Track Wrestling here: http://www.trackwrestling.com/opentournaments/VerifyPassword.jsp?tourna…
Flow Wrestling will be providing pay-per-view coverage of the tournament, here: http://www.flowrestling.org/coverage/251121-Southern-Scuffle
ASU’S SCUFFLES
This week’s trip marks the second time ASU has competed at the Southern Scuffle, as the Sun Devils finished 9th overall (58 points) last season.
ASU recorded a runner-up finish at 197 courtesy of then-senior Jake Meredith while Kevin Radford and Blake Stauffer both finished in sixth overall at 184 and 174, respectively.
SCHEDULE
Wednesday, Jan. 1 (ALL TIMES ET)
9 a.m. - Championship Round of 64
12 p.m. - Championship Round of 32 and 1st Round of Consolation
3 p.m. - Consolation Round 2
5:45 p.m. - Championship Round of 16 and Consolation Round 3
Thursday, Jan. 2
9 a.m. - Championship Quarterfinals
11:30 a.m. - Consolation Round 5
12:30 p.m. - Consolation Round 6
1:30 p.m. - Championship Semifinals and Consolation Quarterfinals
3:30 p.m. - Consolation Semifinals
7 p.m. - Championship Finals & Medal Matches
LOOKING BACK
The Sun Devils have been off for the better part of the month of December, last competing at the Las Vegas Invite.
As a team, ASU finished 23rd overall with 22 points, while Kevin Radford led the team with an eighth-place finish at 174. Radford picked up a pair of major-decision victories en route to his finish.
Blake Stauffer picked up his first pin of the year, defeating Oklahoma’s Daniel Chaid in 5:59 at 184. At 133, Coltin Fought picked up two bonus-point wins in the form of an 11-3 major decision over Pac-12 conference foe Drew Van Anrooy of Oregon State before defeating Grand Canyon’s Lino Estrada in a 16-1 tech fall victory.
HEATING UP THE POLLS
In the most recent polls, the Sun Devils are ranked at T-No. 46 by InterMat as of Dec. 24, and at T-No. 40 by W.I.N. Magazine as of Nov. 25.
Individually, three Sun Devils have at least one ranking in each of the four major polls, led by undefeated heavyweight Kyle Colling. Colling is ranked at No. 8 in the DICollegeWrestling.net poll from Dec. 24, No. 10 in AWN’s Dec. 24 poll, No. 12 in W.I.N. Magazine’s Nov. 25 rankings, and No. 16 in the Dec. 24 poll from InterMat.
Kevin Radford (174) and Blake Stauffer (184) are ranked in a pair of polls apiece, Radford taking a mark of No. 16 from W.I.N. Magazine and a mark of No. 22 from DICollegeWrestling.net. Stauffer is ranked at No. 16 by AWN and No. 25 by DICollegeWrestling.net.
TIME IS AN ILLUSION, TIME OFF FROM WRESTLING DOUBLY SO
Oklahoma transfer and former two-sport student-athlete Kyle Colling picked up right where he left off in his first day of full-fledged competition for the Sun Devils. After not seeing action for 18 months, Colling was one of two Sun Devils to go a perfect 3-0 in Dual action at the Chicago Quad (No. 16). On the season, Colling is the lone undefeated Sun Devil at 8-0.
PODIUM NOTES
So far this season, six Sun Devils have recorded high final placements in tournament action. Kyle Colling is the first ASU wrestler to pick up a tournament title in the 2013-14 season, winning the heavyweight bracket at the Keystone Classic with four wins, including a 3-1 tiebreaker decision in the championship match.
Kevin Radford has a pair of third-place finishes under his belt, the first at the Cowboy Open (Nov. 2), where he went 5-1 in the 184 weight class before finishing third at 174 at the Keystone Classic on Nov. 24. Radford also finished eighth overall at the Las Vegas Invite on Dec. 7.
Chace Eskam finished third at the Cowboy Open at 197, going 2-1 overall and picking up a sudden-victory win in the opening round before he came out on top with a 3-2 decision to seal his finish.
Blake Stauffer went 5-1 at the Keystone Classic to finish third at 184, with three winning decisions and one tech fall victory.
Ray Waters finished fourth overall at the Keystone Classic at 165, with a pair of pins and a 12-4 major decision win over Appalachian State’s Zac Strickland.
The final Sun Devil to place so far this season is Matt Kraus, who finished in fifth at the Keystone Classic at 141. Kraus picked up at 10-1 major decision win over Trevor Moody of Indiana en route to his finish.
Breakdown:
First Place: Colling (Nov. 24)
Third Place: Radford (Nov. 2, Nov. 24), Eskam (Nov. 2), Stauffer (Nov. 24)
Fourth Place: Waters (Nov. 24)
Fifth Place: Kraus (Nov. 24)
Eighth Place: Radford (Dec. 7)
SUN DEVILS DUEL IN INTERSQUAD
Prior to its season opener, the Arizona State wrestling team competed in its yearly Maroon and Yellow Intersquad match. In the 125 weight class, Ares Carpio picked up from where he left off last season, dominating Tyree Owens, 20-5.
At 133, Tyler Liberatore took an early lead over Cord Coronado with three takedowns before Carpio came back and held off the major decision with a final score of 9-4.
Freshman Jesus Calderon stepped in at 141, but was unable to overcome Paul Looper’s collegiate experience as Looper came out with the 9-2 victory.
The marquee match of the night came at 149, with Preston McCalmon taking on NCAA qualifier Nathan Hoffer. The pair fought to a tie score at the end of regulation before Hoffer came out to win the match.
At 157, Joel Smith picked up three takedowns in his defeat of Codey Combs, while Ray Waters pinned James Brundage in 37 seconds in the 165 weight class.
Josh DaSilvera defeated Chase Eskam in overtime, 3-2 in the 197, while the battle of the heavyweights came down to Kyle Colling picking up the advantage of Daniel Gusev.
In exhibition, Luke Bean wrestled Wesley Moore at the 197, with Moore picking up the win, 8-4.
THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Each of the Sun Devils’ five home matches this season are scheduled back-to-back from Jan. 18 through Feb. 9. ASU will open the home slate with a tri-meet against Northern Colorado and Utah Valley on Jan. 18 before facing its first Pac-12 foe of the year, Boise State, on Jan. 24.
The Sun Devils will then take on Iowa State on Feb. 1 before taking on Pac-12 foe Stanford on Feb. 3, which will be aired on the Pac-12 Networks. ASU closes out the home schedule against Oregon State on Feb. 9, in another match that will be broadcast by the Pac-12 Networks.
DEVILS ON TV
Four of Arizona State’s meets are set to be aired by the Pac-12 Networks in 2014, starting with the conference opener against Boise State. ASU will then have back-to-back televised duals against Stanford and Oregon State.
The 2014 Pac-12 Championships, hosted by Stanford on March 2 will also be aired on the Pac-12 Networks.
ADDING MATURITY TO THE ROSTER
This season, the Sun Devil roster features a pair of graduate transfers, James Brundage and Nick Rex. Brundage, who hails from Ossining, N.Y., received a BA in sociology at Rider University, and is now completing his masters in management at ASU. Rex joins the Sun Devils from Campbell University, where he earned a degree in communications, and was team captain during the 2011-13 seasons.
EXPERIENCED TRANSFERS
Along with ASU’s two graduate students, the Sun Devils welcome Kyle Colling, a transfer from Oklahoma, Coltin Fought from North Carolina State, and Daniel Gusev from Sierra College.
YOUNG GUNS
Some of the most experienced returning Sun Devils come in the form of Kevin Radford and Blake Stauffer. The redshirt junior and true sophomore combined for 43 wins last season, including 25 during the Pac-12 Conference slate. Both are currently ranked in each of the four major wrestling polls.
NEW FACES
Similar to last season’s squad, the Maroon and Gold features a passel of young newcomers this year, with five true freshman additions, and a trio of sophomores. Joining the Sun Devils this season are freshmen Kaleb Baker (Memphis, Tenn.), Jesse Calderon (Indio, Calif.), Seth Monty (Mesa, Ariz.), and Mech Spraggins (Belleville, Ill.). New to the sophomore class this season are Wesley Moore (Queen Creek, Ariz.), Pablo Moreno (Yuma, Ariz.), and Kaylon Sencio (Houston, Texas).
COACHING ADDITIONS
The 2013-14 season will see a new addition to the Sun Devil squad, as Tyrel Todd was named as an assistant coach in the Summer of 2013. Todd spent the last two seasons training with the Cliff Keen Wrestling Club, where he recently competed at the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team Trials. He was fourth at the 2008 Olympic trials at 84 kilograms, just missing a bid to the Beijing Olympics in the process. Following a standout career at Michigan, where Todd was a three-time All-American and 2009 Big Ten Conference Champion at 197 points, Todd served his alma mater as an assistant for the 2010 season before spending one year on the staff as an assistant at Cal Poly.