After winning nine of 10 bouts in a 31-3 rout of Air Force (4-4) on Friday, No. 16 Stanford wrestling (7-2, 3-0 Pac 12) pulled of a 21-14 win Sunday against No. 14 Arizona State (7-3, 1-1 Pac 12), thanks to a top-five upset by redshirt junior Nathan Butler and a pin by sophomore Joey McKenna.
On Friday, the Cardinal easily downed the Falcons to secure a win. Freshman Gabriel Townsell started things off for the Cardinal with a 12-7 win over Drew Romero at 125 pounds. Redshirt junior Connor Schram, ranked No. 14 at 133 pounds, earned another win for the Cardinal. Stanford’s strong start never allowed Air Force to get into the meet, and the team continued to roll throughout the later matches.
Freshman Brandon Kier earned his first career fall in 55 seconds at 141 pounds, extending Stanford’s lead to 12-0. Air Force finally got on the board at 149 pounds when as Jerry McGinty downed Stanford redshirt junior Tommy Pawelski 6-2.
Redshirt sophomore Paul Fox then earned his 19th victory in a 16-5 major decision over Dane Robbins at 157 pounds. The Cardinal increased its lead to 19-3 at 165 pounds, where redshirt junior Keaton Subjeck edged Alex Lopouchanski 4-3.
Redshirt senior Peter Galli registered a 10-5 decision over Michael Billingsley at 174 pounds, adding three more points to the Cardinal lead. Fellow redshirt senior Zach Nevills picked up his second win of the season with a 2-1 decision over Zen Ikehara at 184 pounds, while redshirt senior Josh Marchok gave Stanford a 28-3 lead at 197 pounds thanks to a 6-5 decision over Parker Hines. No. 13 heavyweight Butler ended the face-off with a 3-1 decision over Kerry Powers.
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With an energizing win on Friday, the Cardinal looked to extend their conference winning streak on Sunday.
After winning the first two bouts, Arizona State jumped out to a 6-0 lead. No. 12 Josh Shields edged Fox 13-9 at 157 pounds, while No. 9 Anthony Valencia posted a 6-2 decision over No. 19 Subjeck at 165 pounds.
Galli scored the first points of the dual for Stanford with a 6-5 decision over Jacen Peterson at 174 pounds. Third ranked Zahid Valencia increased the Sun Devils’ lead to 11-3 as he recorded a 21-4 victory over Nevills at 184 pounds. Marchok then cut into the Arizona State lead with a 3-1 decision over Austyn Harris at 197 pounds.
Butler, ranked 13th nationally at heavyweight, earned a 4-2 upset over fourth-ranked Tanner Hall. Tied 1-1 after regulation, Hall scored the escape in the first tiebreaker to take a 2-1 edge. Butler then earned an escape late in the period to tie it 2-2. Butler was able to register a takedown with five seconds left in the second sudden victory period to secure the upset. Cutting Arizona State’s lead to two points, Butler’s win energized the Stanford team.
No. 17 Townsell secured a 12-8 decision over Josh Kramer to give the Cardinal a 12-11 edge in the dual. Arizona State replied at 149 pounds as Josh Maruca posted a 9-3 decision over Pawelski, scoring Arizona State’s last points of the dual.
After No. 14 Schram earned his 11th season victory and picked up a win for Stanford with an 8-2 decision against Ted Rico at 133 pounds, No. 3 McKenna confirmed the win for Stanford thanks to a fall in 1:25 over Nikko Villarreal at 141 pounds. McKenna moves to a team-best 22-1 this season, including a 7-0 record in duals.
Stanford goes on the road next weekend to face Boise State on Saturday, before traveling to Oregon State on Monday.
Contact Alexandre Bucquet at [email protected].