Arizona State Sun Devils

5 Devils Set for Start of NCAA Wrestling Championships

Photo - Logan O’Kelley

(Tulsa, OK)  It’s finally here – the greatest tournament in all of sport. Sun Devil Wrestling’s five qualifiers are set for the NCAA Championships which start Thursday morning at 11:00 a.m. local/ 9:00 a.m. AZ in the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The action will broadcast via ESPNU for the morning sessions and ESPN for the evening sessions.

Full NCAA Championship info (tickets, brackets, watch info)
Full NCAA daily schedule
ASU Championship Notes

Brandon Courtney, Michael McGee, Kyle Parco, Cael Valencia and Cohlton Schultz are all looking to hoist hardware and finish as All-Americans. Three of ASU’s wrestlers are top-5 seeds. 133 Michael McGee, 149 Kyle Parco and HWT Cohlton Schultz come in at No. 4, 3 and 5, respectively, while 125 Brandon Courtney is the No. 10 seed and 174 Cael Valencia is the No. 29 seed. The Championships run March 16-18 at the BOK Center in Tulsa.

First Round Opponents
125 No. 10 Brandon Courtney vs. No. 23 Jake Ferri (Kent State)
133 No. 4 Michael McGee vs. No. 29 Angelo Rini (Columbia)
149 No. 3 Kyle Parco vs. No. 30 Dylan Martinez  (Air Force)
174 No. 29 Cael Valencia vs. No. 4 Chris Foca (Cornell)
HWT No. 5 Cohlton Schultz vs. No. 28 Dorian Crosby (Bucknell)

The Sun Devils are hoping to make a splash in the Sooner State. ASU finished fourth in the last two NCAA Championships, with five wrestlers earning All-America honors in 2022 and six earning AA honors in 2021. Courtney, McGee, Parco, and Schultz are all returning All-Americans, while Valencia is making his NCAA debut. Courtney was a NCAA runner-up in 2021 to Spencer Lee, while Schultz was the heavyweight runner-up last year to Gable Steveson. McGee, Parco and Schultz all claimed Pac-12 individual titles last weekend after winning gold in their respective weight classes. Courtney finished as a runner-up to Oregon State’s Brandon Kaylor, and Valencia won his true-second match against Stanford’s Tyler Eischens.

ASU Top-5 Finishes:
1st: 1988
2nd: 1989, 1990
3rd: none
4th – 1993, 1995, 2021, 2022
5th – 1980, 2003

Sun Devil National Champions (12)
Culp, Curley ………….. HWT ……………. 1967
Urbano, Eddie ……….. 150 ……………… 1985
St. John, Dan ………… 158 ……………… 1989
St. John, Dan ………… 167 ……………… 1990
Mollica, Markus ……… 158 ……………… 1993
Miller, Ray …………….. 167 ……………… 1993
Mollica, Markus ……… 167 ……………… 1995
Larkin, Eric ……………. 149 ……………… 2003
Robles, Anthony ……..125 ……………… 2011
Bubba Jenkins …………157 …………………2011
Valencia, Zahid ……….174 ………………….2018
Valencia, Zahid ……….174 ………………….2019

Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Will Edmonds

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