Wrestling Wins Beauty And The Beast Dual Over Boise State, 21-15

TEMPE, Ariz.—The Arizona State wrestling team won its inaugural Beauty and the Beast Meet dual, defeating Boise State, 21-15, inside Wells Fargo Arena.

In front of a crowd of 1,148, the Sun Devils are now 1-0 in Pac-12 action, with a mark of 6-5 in duals on the year. Boise State falls to 2-5 on the year and a 2-3 mark in league action.

“What I’m seeing from this group is that they’re starting to come together,” head coach Shawn Charles said. “Everyone is working hard for the end result. They’re all going out there and doing what they can to put points up on the board and to help the program.”

After picking up a win in the opening weight class as Ares Carpio scored a 9-8 decision over Rami Haddadian at 125, the Sun Devils dropped the following three bouts to trail Boise State, 9-3.

At 157, Joel Smith picked up a 10-2 major decision over Taylor West, cutting the Broncos’ lead to 9-7 going into the break.

ASU came out of the intermission with a win at 165, with Nick Rex picking up three points over Holden Packard in a 6-4 decision, which gave ASU a 10-9 edge.

“Joel Smith went out at 157 and demonstrated that we can go out and work hard to score points, and he got bonus points for the team score that match,” Charles said. “We knew 165 was going to be a dog fight for us, and Nick Rex has really been putting in the time. He transferred in this year but has bought in to everything we are doing as a program. He went out and laid it on the line for us in an extremely tight match. He knew how important it was and fought tooth and nail for the victory.”

The Sun Devils picked up two more bonus point victories at 174 and 184, starting with Ray Waters pinning Cole Rice in 3:20 for six points toward the team score. At 184, Blake Stauffer picked up his third tech fall victory of the season, defeating Andrew Tiedman 16-0, giving ASU a 21-9 advantage going into the final weights.

Josh DaSilveira dropped a 7-3 decision over Cody Dixon at 197, while Chace Eskam fell to No. 6 J.T. Felix, 7-4.

On the gymnastics side, the No. 23-ranked Sun Devils defeated No. 25 California, 196.000-195.350, giving ASU the Beauty and the Beast sweep.

Up next for ASU wrestling, the Sun Devils host No. 18 Iowa State on Saturday, Feb. 1 at 8 p.m. MT. The match will be live streamed via thesundevils.com.

Complete Results
ASU 21, Boise State 15
125- Ares Carpio (ASU) def. Rami Haddadin (Boise State): Dec 9-8
133- Ben DeMuelle (Boise State) def. Cord Coronado (ASU): Dec 4-3
141- Brian Owen (Boise State) def. Matt Kraus (ASU): Dec 5-0
149- Chris Castillo (Boise State) def. Preston McCalmon (ASU): OT 5-3
157- Joel Smith (ASU) def. Taylor West (Boise State): Major 10-2
165- Nick Rex (ASU) def. Holden Packard (Boise State): Dec 6-4
174- Ray Waters (ASU) def. Cole Rice (Boise State): Fall 3:20
184- Blake Stauffer (ASU) def. Andrew Tiedman (Boise State): Tech 16-0
197- Cody Dixon (Boise State) def. Josh DaSilveira: Dec 7-3
HWT- No. 6 J.T. Felix (Boise State) def. Chace Eskam (ASU): Dec 7-4