BRIEF: Wrestling ends regular season with a pair of upsets

Feb. 15, 2011, 1:39 a.m.

Two days after defying expectations in a 21-15 victory over then-No. 17 Cal Poly, Stanford wrestling wrapped up its regular season with another upset on Sunday, defeating then-No. 12 Arizona State by a score of 28-11 on the Cardinal’s annual Senior Day. With the pair of wins, Stanford (9-9-1) finishes the Pac-10 dual-match season at 4-2 and has plenty of momentum leading up to the Pac-10 Championships later this month. The Sun Devils (5-11), meanwhile, dropped to a disappointing 1-3 in conference duals.

About 1,000 fans were on hand in Burnham Pavilion for the beginning of the match, when a brief ceremony was held in honor of Stanford’s graduating senior class—Lucas Espericueta, Zack Giesen, Justin Paulsen and Dylan Rush—which competed in its final home match in Cardinal jerseys.

Redshirt freshman Jordan Gray got things started for Stanford at 141 pounds, posting a 10-5 win over ASU’s Josh Sandoval. Gray had four takedowns in the victory, his eighth win of the season.

Stanford kept the pressure on as true freshman Donovan Halpin won a 14-3 decision over Carlos Castro at 149 pounds. Following that match, redshirt freshman Kyle Meyer and junior Nick Amuchastegui—the No. 6 wrestler in his weight class in the nation—won matches by forfeit at 157 and 174 pounds, respectively. That put the Stanford lead at 19-3.

The Sun Devils got a big boost from Anthony Robles at 125 pounds, who overwhelmed redshirt sophomore Matt Sencenbaugh in an 18-1 technical fall. Robles, a redshirt senior, is the nation’s top-ranked wrestler in his weight class.

Even with the late spark, it was too little, too late for ASU, as Stanford closed out the match with senior Justin Paulsen’s 8-2 win over Kalin Goodsite at 133 pounds.

Stanford now has two weeks to prepare for the Pac-10 Conference Championships, where top-performing teams can earn berths in the NCAA Tournament. The championships are set for Feb. 27 at Oregon State University.

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