The season-opening Fullerton Open was a successful one for the No. 22 ASU wrestling team, as four Sun Devils won individual titles and four others finished within the top four of the Cal State Fullerton-hosted tournament on Saturday.
Junior Jeremy Mendoza claimed the 125-pound title, defeating Stanford's Tanner Gardner, 7-5, for the championship. Senior Patrick Williams followed up that performance with a win at the 149-pound level. He defeated Cal Poly's Jeff Owens in the finals.
Juniors C.B. Dollaway and Cain Velasquez wrapped up the individual titles for ASU with wins at the 184-pound and heavyweight divisions. Velasquez defeated Fresno State's Clint Walbeck, who defeated ASU's Clifford Starks in the semifinals. Starks ended up in third place in the heavyweight division.
Freshman Patrick Pitsch finished in second place of the 167-pound division in his first official college action. He lost to Bakersfield's Christian Arrellano in the finals.
Returning junior All-American Ryan Bader finished in second place as well in the 197-pound division. Bader lost to Fresno State's Marcio Botelho, 6-4, in the title match.
Sophomore Brian Stith wrapped up the Sun Devils' top four finishers by coming in fourth place in the 157-pound division.
The Fullerton Open did not keep team scores.
The Sun Devils will wrestle in their first head-to-head matchup of the year when they travel to face perennial power Iowa in Iowa City on Saturday. The Hawkeyes are ranked No. 9 in the nation, and have long been known as one of college wrestling's elite programs.
ASU will then go to Iowa State to take on the No. 5 Cyclones on Sunday.
Devils sign three recruits
Although this year's regular season is just underway, ASU is already looking ahead as coach Thom Ortiz inked three top prep standouts to national letters of intent for the 2005-2006 season.
Matt Lopez of Tucson's Sunnyside High School, Jake Cranford of Oregon and Jason Robbins of Florida have all committed to the ASU program as they each enter their senior seasons of high school wrestling.
The three wrestlers have a combined 318-19 record that includes six state championships. Robbins is ranked No. 2 nationally in the 140-pound weight class, with Lopez seventh at 152 pounds and Cranford ninth at 189.
Lopez is from the same high school as Ortiz and former ASU wrestler and current assistant coach Eric Larkin. Larkin won ASU's last individual national title in 2003.
Robbins has won three state titles in Florida and has plans of competing for time at the 141-pound weight class next season.
"His goal is to be a starter for us next year," Ortiz said.
Reach the reporter at kyle.odegard@asu.edu.
