Arizona State Wrestling and Arizona State Gymnastics hosted an evening of Beauty and the Beast, with simultaneous wrestling and gymnastics at the Desert Financial Arena. This event has happened before, but it was the first time since 2020 due to COVID-19.
The Sun Devils hosted Cal Poly in wrestling and Stanford in gymnastics.
ASU Wrestling went 2-3 in the dual season, losing three games in a row. Cal Poly Wrestling also entered the duals where he had three straight losses and a 4-5 record.
The dual started out lighter at 125 pounds. ASU got off to a hot start, winning the first four games of the dual, with Richard Figueroa winning 6-5, Michael McGee 14-7, Jesse Vazquez 7-3 and Kyle Parco winning by pinfall. bottom. The Sun Devils ended his four games with him leading 15-0.
They’re fighting every day,” said assistant coach Lee Prytz. “Having them together allows us to continue to improve each other’s IQ and ability to win.”
All of the ASU lightweights got off to a hot start early and are looking to maintain that success when the postseason rolls around.
Moving to the 157-pound class, Cal Poly went from 157 to 184 over the next four matches. At 174, then 184 Jared Priest picked up the pinfall. Cal Poly and ASU’s winning streak was then tied at 15 to advance to the final three games.
In the 197-pound class, ASU’s Jonathon Fagen took on Cal Poly’s Kendall La Rosa. Fagen started the match going into the final period with a 5-0 lead. Fagen held on and gave the Sun Devils a 3-point lead with one game left.
The bout went to heavyweight and ASU pitted David Palosika against Cal Poly’s Trevor Tinker. Tinker he came out quick at Cal Poly and stayed hot throughout the match. He made a big decision going 10-2 and got an extra bonus point, and at Cal Poly he scored a 19-18 dual.
The Sun Devils’ losing streak is down to four, and the conference loss is the Devils’ first conference dual loss since the 2018-19 season, when they lost to Stanford 21-15. ASU is gearing up for the next Dual at Stamford on Sunday, January 22nd.
“This is a team effort. We have to defend the bonus points,” said Prydz. “At 33, at the end he lost his bonus points by three seconds. You have to defend your bonus points. At heavyweight, if you defend your bonus points and tie, you conditionally win the dual.”
The Sun Devils lost the battle for bonus points and ended up with a dual cost of 1 point. Had the Devils tied, he would have been beaten by ASU on a points-based basis.
Meanwhile, ASU’s gymnastics began with the vault and Stanford’s with the bar. Stanford scored 49.075 points at the bar and the Sun Devils scored 48.875 points at the vault. The two teams switched places, with the Sun Devils on the bar scoring his 49.200 points and Stanford on vaulting him scoring 48.850 points.
After the first two events, Stanford had 97.925 points and the Sun Devils had 98.075 points. His last two events were Beam and Floor. Stanford scored 49.050 on the floor and 49.250 on the beam. The Sun Devils scored him 49.025 on the beam and 48.950 on the floor.
The Sun Devils were generally shy as Stanford won the dual meet by 196.225 to 196.050.
I have to be able to finish the competition a little stronger,” said ASU gymnastics coach Jay Santos. “We had the lead in the previous event, so we had to do our job on the floor.”
“I thought it was really cool to have both teams in the same room,” said junior gymnast Jada Mangahas. We fed their crowd, and it was cool to have their crowd and ours.”
ASU Gymnastics’ next game is against rival University of Arizona. The two teams will face off on Saturday, January 28th.
