ASU wrestling placed sixth in the 2024 NCAA National Championships on Saturday, ending its last season in the Pac-12 conference.
The story of the weekend was redshirt sophomore Richard Figueroa, who went 5-0 by rattling off three wins against top-10 seeds and two wins against top-five seeds en route to the Sun Devils' first individual national title since 2019.
After two back-to-back wins against top-ranked opponents in February, Figueroa stood in front of the podium and spoke plainly, "I got my mojo back."
Since then, he's won 10 straight, five of which came this weekend at the NCAA Championships.
Figueroa's contributions, along with three other Sun Devil All-Americans in redshirt senior Jacori Teemer, redshirt junior Kyle Parco, and redshirt junior Cohlton Schultz, propelled ASU to a sixth-place finish in Kansas City.
Teemer also advanced to the finals in his class but lost 5-0 to the undefeated favorite Levi Haines from Penn State. Still, Teemer’s 15 straight victories leading up to the championship match represent a remarkable season for the 157-pounder, who missed all of last season due to injury.
READ MORE: How ASU wrestler Jacori Teemer recovered amid the adversity of injury
Parco placed fifth overall after defeating No. 1 Ridge Lovett for the second time this season, while Schultz finished sixth amongst the heavyweights with a 3–3 record on the weekend.
This performance marks the fourth consecutive season where the Sun Devils have had a top-seven team finish in the NCAAs and at least four All-Americans on the roster.
Edited by Vinny DeAngelis, Shane Brennan and Angelina Steel.
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Jack is a sophomore studying sports journalism. This is his second semester with The State Press. He has also worked at other student journalism organizations.
