Wrestling dominates Duke in season opener

With Stanford college students, mother and father and wrestling lovers watching within the bleachers at Taube Tennis Middle, Stanford wrestling (1-0, 0-0 Pac-12) defeated the Duke Blue Devils (0-3, 0-0 ACC), profitable each matchup of the twin meet.

Whereas wrestling matches are historically silent because the wrestlers hand struggle, the Saturday afternoon crowd held gasp after gasp in awe of the slams, takedowns, escapes and reversals that the Cardinal wrestling crew mastered. 

Stanford wrestlers attained wins throughout all ten bouts. Half of the wins got here by technical falls, which occur when the victor wins with an a minimum of 15-point margin, incomes the crew an additional 5 factors. The crew gained by a rating of 41-0. 

This season opener was additionally the primary meet at Stanford for brand spanking new head coach Chris Ayres. Ayres was appointed in September after transferring from Princeton, the place he spent 17 seasons remodeling this system right into a convention and nationwide contender. Ayres mentioned that in preparation for the match towards Duke, the crew labored on bettering wrestling from the underside place. 

Beginning off on the 125-pound weight class, sophomore Nico Provo beat his opponent in a 8-1 resolution. Provo had a wonderful ankle choose takedown within the first spherical and one other within the second spherical. He let his opponent escape within the third spherical, giving the Blue Devils their solely level of the matchup, however Provo additionally earned an escape and over a minute of driving time later within the bout.

Subsequent at 133 kilos, freshman Tyler Knox displayed a robust 21-5 win in his first ever faculty wrestling match. Knox earned a takedown throughout the first 30 seconds as he wore out his opponent within the first spherical. Though the primary spherical ended at simply 3-0, with a number of takedowns and Duke escapes from backside, the matchup ended with 23 seconds left within the second spherical and a 21-5 technical fall win. 

Tyler’s technical fall was adopted by one other from senior 141-pounder Jason Miranda, who didn’t let his Duke opponent earn a single level. Inside seconds of a pin from Miranda, the primary spherical ended 11-0. Via a ten-second escape from backside and a takedown within the second spherical, Miranda earned the 15-point margin wanted to win with a technical fall.

At 149 kilos, three-time NCAA qualifier and redshirt senior Jaden Abas achieved a 12-7 resolution win with swift profitable pictures, together with a stealthy outdoors single within the first and second spherical. Abas additionally let his opponent escape a number of instances, permitting for impartial positions to emerge and for Abas to reshoot. 

Daniel Cardenas, a 157-pound sophomore, earned a 19-4 technical fall with a powerful first spherical. He took shot after shot, incomes 12 factors from takedowns however giving his opponent three factors by letting him escape. Cardenas completed the matchup in the course of the second spherical after attaining a reversal, regardless of heavy resistance from the opponent on prime and a close to fall.

Freshman Zach Hanson, at 165 kilos, had a little bit of a slower begin, spending a lot of the first spherical partaking in hand combating and ending the spherical 0-0. Nevertheless, after a fast escape, highly effective takedowns within the second spherical and two robust takedowns within the third, the matchup ended with a 10-3 resolution win.

A giant spotlight of the night time was the Cardinal debut of 174-pounder freshman Lorenzo Norman, who dominated his Duke opponent in a 20-3 technical fall to win in his first collegiate wrestling match. After getting a takedown throughout the first ten seconds, he amazed the gang with three extra takedowns and a close to fall in simply the primary spherical, which ended 16-3. The three factors earned by his opponent got here solely from escapes. In 41 extra seconds, Norman earned an escape and takedown, incomes a 20-3 win earlier than the top of the second spherical. 

Then, at 184 kilos, sophomore Jack Darrah engaged in a sluggish however regular first spherical — most of it hand combating, arm grabbing and neck clenching — ending 0-0.  Within the second spherical, Darrah escaped shortly from backside earlier than returning to impartial wrestling, ending the spherical 1-0. Within the third spherical, Darrah’s opponent escaped twice, however Darrah took him down to finish the matchup with a detailed margin of 4-2.

One other main spotlight from the match was 197-pound senior Nick Stemmet’s win, the quickest of the afternoon. In simply the primary spherical, he pulled his opponent’s leg in together with his personal, bringing his opponent onto his chest. Stemmet then carried out three extra speedy and brutal takedowns earlier than getting a technical fall, incomes an 18-3 rating in simply over two minutes. 

The afternoon wrestling match ended with a 12-4 main resolution from senior heavyweight Peter Ming, with two profitable takedowns within the first two rounds. The third spherical began slightly later then standard, as Ming’s opponent recovered from some brow bleeding. Nevertheless, this didn’t maintain Ming again from placing in all his power on the mat with two large slams to the bottom, sparking gasps of exhilaration throughout the bleachers within the remaining spherical.

The crew will compete once more subsequent Sunday, as they tackle Nebraska-Kearney at Burnham Pavilion. The twin is scheduled to start at 1 p.m. PT.