ASU wrestling will head to UC Davis with the regular season in the rearview mirror.
The 2010 Pac-10 Championships, hosted by the Aggies, has a story line at every weight class and at every school.
Eight returning champions and seven runner-ups return from last season.
Defending Pac-10 champion Boise State (15-3, 7-0 Pac-10) has shown no signs of letting up, and five Pac-10 teams finished with a record above .500.
ASU (9-7, 4-2 Pac-10) returns one individual champion and two runner-ups.
“I’ve been talking about it all year long — that our goals and everything [are] geared toward the Pac-10 [Championships] and the NCAA Tournament,” ASU coach Shawn Charles said. “I’m holding true to that.”
Seven of the Sun Devils’ 10 wrestlers competed at the Pac-10 Championships last season, where the team finished 1.5 points behind UC Davis (3-12, 1-6 Pac-10) for fifth place.
“These guys are ready,” Charles said. “We’ve been training hard all year long, working out all the kinks and bugs. We’ve had some great practices this week.”
ASU’s only Pac-10 losses of the season came against Oregon State (18-3, 6-2 Pac-10) and Cal Poly (8-4, 5-2 Pac-10).
Depth is the most important factor for the weekend.
All 10 Sun Devils finished in the top eight last year, and all 10 Sun Devils are ranked in the top eight heading into this year’s tournament.
The team is lead by junior Anthony Robles, the defending champ at 125 pounds and the defending Pac-10 Wrestler of the Year.
Robles has not lost to a Pac-10 opponent all season and is the top seed.
“Being the No. 1 seed in the Pac-10, I know those guys are going to be gunning for me,” Robles said. “The last ranked guy in the Pac-10 can still come up and surprise you. I just have to be mindful of that.”
For two other Sun Devils, junior Chris Drouin (141) and sophomore Eric Starks (174), it has been a season-long wait after placing second last year.
For Drouin, the wait has been twice as long after finishing second in both his freshman and sophomore seasons.
Both are ranked No. 6 in their respective weight classes.
Other seeds for the Sun Devils include No. 5 junior Ben Ashmore (133), No. 3 sophomore Vicente Varela (149), No. 5 sophomore Te Edwards (157), No. 4 sophomore Kyle DeBerry (165), No. 5 sophomore Jake Meredith (184), No. 8 freshman Michael Hawkins and No. 2 senior Erik Nye.
“Everything at the Pac-10 tournament is going to shake out the way it’s supposed to,” Charles said. “There are four or five guys that are better than where they are seeded.”
Reach the reporter at nathan.meacham@asu.edu
