Five Sun Devils took home silver daggers, the prize for getting first place at the Edinboro Open.
In the 149-pound weight class, Kraus took the championship. Instead of putting Kraus up at the 157-pound weight class where he has been wrestling at the last couple of weeks, he was in the same bracket as redshirt sophomore Christian Pagdilao.
ASU wrestling fans know of the conundrum that is ASU’s 149-pound weight class, and there has been some discussion about whether to start Pagdilao or Kraus. Neither of those options are seen as bad, and if anyone was wondering what a practice looks like between the two, it looks pretty good.
Pagdilao was the No. 1 seed in the bracket and got a first-round bye. He then easily won his first two matchups, skating to a quarter-finals date with his wrestling-mate, Kraus, and it turned out to be what every ASU fan expected: an all-out brawl.
They seemed to know each other’s style, as they were locked at 3-3 at the end of regulation. It took a while to figure out, but Kraus ended up getting the 5-3 victory in overtime, and he punched his ticket to the next round.
Kraus won his semi-final against West Virginia’s James Dekrone 2-0. Kraus then defeated Central Michigan’s Colin Heffernan, 3-2, to win the 149-pound title.
Brady earned a technical fall win over Navy’s John Lemon 24-9. He got a pin in the next round, and his momentum vaulted him to the finals, where he defeated Ohio State’s 10-8 in overtime, and won the 133-pound weight class.
DaSilveira was the next Sun Devil to win it all. He started with a first-round bye, but then got a 21-5 technical fall win over Edinboro’s Shawn Reynolds. He then got two close wins in the quarter and semi-finals, but he was able to make it to the championship.
He faced Michigan’s Jackson Striggow in the final, and it was an instant classic. DaSilveira was down 5-4 With 13 seconds reaming in the match. He was able to get a clutch take-down to take a one-point lead, and he never looked back.
Shields is a redshirt freshman, he played in today's tournament, showing what he's capable of.
He easily waltzed his way through the bracket to win the championship. He got a pin in the second round and won by technical fall in the final round to take the 165-pound title.
Last but not least is freshman Zahid Valencia. In a weight class with last year’s champion All-American Blake Stauffer, he was nearly forgotten about, but he did not disappoint when his redshirt was lifted as well. He won the final match 4-0.
Five ASU wrestlers won their brackers, but senior heavyweight Chace Eskam was able to make it to the finals as well. He was defeated by Lehigh’s Doug Vallaro, 2-1
Oliver Pierce pinned his opponent in the consolation match to earn third place in the 157-pound weight class, and Joshua Kramer defeated Lock Haven’s David Sheesley by technical fall, winning third place in the 125-pound weight class. Also, freshman Lance Benick took third in the 197-pound weight class two spots behind DaSilveira.
