Lots of back-to-back ships
Zeke Jones and Arizona State wrestling brought home its 20th Pac-12 championship on Sunday. Of the 10 Sun Devil wrestlers that went to Corvallis, Ore. five won their weight class bracket.
No. 4 Brandon Courtney started the night by clinching his second straight conference title at the 125-pound class. He won both his matches by decision, the semifinal over Cal’s Antonio Lorenzo and bested Stanford’s No. 27 Jackson DiSario for the title.
At 157 class, No. 20 Jacori Teemer was the third highest ranked wrestler in his own bracket, yet repeated as Pac-12 champion. Teemer knocked off Joey Bianchi from Little Rock. He proceeded to win by decision against the higher ranked No. 14 Hunter Willits from Oregon State and No. 13 Requir van der Merwe from Stanford.
No. 4 Anthony Valencia had to go against top-ranked Shane Griffith from Stanford in the 165 class to get his second conference title and did so with ease in a 7-1 decision. No. 3 Kordell Norfleet dominated the 197 bracket. He earned a technical fall against Stanford’s Nick Stemmet followed by a major decision over Oregon State’s J.J. Dixon.
The young big man Cohlton Schultz showed out at the heavyweight class in his first conference championship as well. His first match was a major decision win over Cal State Bakersfield’s Jacob Sieder and took home the belt after a 3-1 decision against Stanford’s Nathan Traxler.
The NCAA championships start on Mar. 18 and last till Mar. 20.
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