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Pac-12 announces Wrestler of the Week

Feb 6, 2019

Gabriel Townsell, Stanford (JR, 125 pounds - Oak Park, Ill.)
• In Stanford's only dual of the week, junior Gabriel Townsell secured a Cardinal win (21-15) over No. 9 Arizona State with an 8-4 decision against Brandon Courtney.
• Townsell, who is ranked 20th nationally at 125 pounds, was trailing Courtney, 4-2, late in the third period. Courtney needed to score one more takedown to give the Sun Devils the dual victory (based on criteria). With just eight seconds left in the match, Townsell faked an inside trip and as Courtney stepped back, he used a lateral drop to score six as time expired.
• Stanford improved to 7-1 on the season and 1-1 in the Pac-12, while Townsell moved to 15-6 overall and 5-1 in duals this season.

Also nominated: Zahid Valencia (174), Arizona State (currently ranked No. 2 in the nation, posted win over Stanford’s Rico Stormer (tech fall, 23-8); Ronnier Bresser (125), Oregon State (currently ranked No. 3 in the nation, picked up two wins that totaled just 1-minute, 24 seconds of match time with falls over Fresno State’s Robbie Garcia (0:14) and Cal Poly’s Benny Martinez (1:10)).

This Week in Pac-12 Wrestling:
Fri., Feb. 8 – STANFORD at Purdue, 7 p.m. ET
Fri., Feb. 8 – Missouri at ARIZONA STATE, 7 p.m. MT (Pac-12 Arizona)
Sat., Feb. 9 – STANFORD at Indiana, 7 p.m. ET
Sat., Feb. 9 – Fresno State at CAL STATE BAKERSFIELD, 1 p.m. PT (ESPN3)
Sat., Feb. 9 – Fresno State at CAL POLY, 7 p.m. PT
Sun. Feb. 10 – Air Force at CAL POLY, 1 p.m. PT

Team Rankings:
InterMat: No. 11 Arizona State; No. 19 Oregon State
USA Today/NWCA: No. 25 Stanford
Flowrestling: No. 13 Arizona State; No. 19 Oregon State
Trackwrestling: No. 10 Arizona State; No. 20 Oregon State

Individual Rankings (interMat):
125 – No. 3 Ronnie Bresser, Oregon State; No. 8 Ryan Millhof, Arizona State; No. 20 Gabe Townsell, Stanford
133 – No. 17 Sean Nickell, CSU Bakersfield
149 – No. 15 Requir van der Merwe, Stanford
157 – No. 17 Christian Pagdilao, Arizona State; No. 18 Dominick Mandarino, Stanford
165 – No. 4 Josh Shields, Arizona State
174 – No. 2 Zahid Valencia, Arizona State
197 – No. 9 Nathan Traxler, Stanford
HWT – No. 4 Amar Dhesi, Oregon State

Pac-12 Wrestling Notes: Arizona State’s Zahid Valencia (174) has won his last 14 matches (8 straight by bonus points and 13 of last 14 by bonus points). He is 23-1, 12-1 in duals on the season … Oregon State’s Ronnie Bresser (125) is 18-1 overall and 10-0 in dual meets. His only loss of the season came at the hands of the nation's current No. 1 at 125 pounds, Sebastian Rivera, in sudden victory at the finals of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invite … After beginning the season at 8-7, Cal Poly’s Tom Lane (197) has won eight of his last nine bouts to move to No. 17 in his weight class by Amateur Wrestling News … Cal State Bakersfield is scheduled to host Senior Day against Fresno State Friday afternoon outdoor on CSUB’s Main Soccer Field.

Pac-12 Championships: Sat., Mar. 9 - hosted by Arizona State (P12N)
NCAA Championships: March 21-23, PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Pa.

2018-19 PAC-12 WRESTLER OF THE WEEK

Date Wrestler
Jan. 9 Nathan Traxler, STAN
Jan. 16  Ronnie Bresser, OSU
Jan. 23  Josh Maruca, ASU
Jan. 30  Sean Nickell, CSUB
Feb. 6  Gabriel Townsell, STAN