Pac-12 Championships to kick off college postseason on Sunday in Corvallis

The Pac-12 Wrestling Championships will be the first Division I conference tournament to take place this season as the league’s five schools head to Corvallis, Ore., for Sunday’s one-day competition.

There are 10 past Pac-12 champions expected in this weekend’s field, including four each from Arizona State and Oregon State and one apiece for Stanford and CSU-Bakersfield. Additionally, four of the five participating schools combine for 15 wrestlers nationally ranked by FloWrestling with Arizona State leading way with seven.

The Sun Devils, ranked No. 9 in the nation, enter the weekend with a strong lineup, returning four champions from last season’s tournament which include No. 5 Josh Shields at 157, No. 15 Anthony Valencia at 165, No. 1 Zahid Valencia at 174 and No. 8 Tanner Hall at 285. Zahid and Hall are both 2017 All-Americans.

Looking to win its second-consecutive Pac-12 title and 18th overall, ASU also boasts three well-credentialed transfers, bringing in 2014 NCAA champion and 2015 All-American for Northwestern Jason Tsirtsis, 2016 All-American for Oklahoma Ryan Milhoff and Ali Naser of Fresno Community College, who has freestyle wins over Olympians Coleman Scott and Sam Hazewinkel.

No. 12 Tsirtsis (149) and Naser (133) are seniors, while 12th-ranked Milhoff (125) is a junior.

Before the Sun Devils took the conference crown last year, Oregon State won five-straight team titles. This season, the Beavers aim to be back on top with a tough squad highlighted by four Pac-12 champs and one All-American.

Winning conference titles for OSU in the past are Ronnie Bresser at 125 in 2015, Jack Hathaway at 133 in 2015, Corey Griego at 197 in 2017 and Amarveer Dhesi at heavyweight in 2016, who also earned All-America honors that same year. All but Hathaway are expected to compete at the same weight. Hathaway has since moved up to 141.

With both holding national rankings, a Milhoff-Bresser matchup would be interesting to see, especially in the finals. Milhoff holds down the No. 12-spot, while Bresser is within reach at No. 9. The two have only gone head-to-head once this year, with Milhoff pulling out the upset over then-No. 6 Bresser, 9-4.

The 285-pound weight class is sure to be exciting as Hall and Dhesi are joined by a third past conference champion, Nathan Butler of Stanford. A senior, Butler has produced top-three finishes in each of his Pac-12 championship appearances and is a past Junior World bronze medalist.

The three have all wrestled each other this year. Dhesi looks like the favorite going into this weekend as he went 2-0 against his fellow conference champions, taking out Hall, 3-2, in overtime and defeating Butler, 8-5. Similar to Dhesi, Butler also won a 3-2 overtime matchup with Hall.

All three have top-10 rankings at the weight with Dhesi checking in at No. 6 and Butler and Hall following closely behind as the No. 7 and No. 8 wrestlers, respectively.

Also representing Stanford is 2017 All-American Paul Fox at 157 pounds and ninth-ranked Keaton Subjeck at 174 pounds. Fox finished third in the conference last year.

The other returning conference champion in the field is Sean Nickell of CSU-Bakersfield, who won the 2017 crown at 125 pounds. This year, he is expected to compete at 133 pounds.

CSUB sends two ranked wrestlers in No. 19 Coleman Hammond at 157 pounds and No. 19 Matt Williams at 197 pounds.

Cal-Poly is the fifth squad set to compete in the tournament. The Mustangs feature a Pac-12 No. 1 ranked wrestler in Colton Schilling at 141.

Action is slated to begin at 10:30 a.m. PT on Sunday at Gill Coliseum in Corvallis, Ore. Finals are scheduled for 6 p.m. The tournament will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 networks and streamed live on Pac-12.com.

2018 PAC 12 WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Feb. 25 at Oregon State (Corvallis, Ore.)

Schedule
10:30 a.m. – Round I
11:40 a.m. – Round II
4 p.m. – Round III
6 p.m. – Finals

PAC-12 rankings
125
1. Ryan Millhof- Arizona State
2. Ronnie Bresser- Oregon State
3. Sergio Mendez- CSU Bakersfield
4. Gabe Townsell- Stanford
5. Yoshito Funakoshi- Cal Poly

133
1. Sean Nickell- CSU Bakersfield
2. Ali Naser- Arizona State
3. Mason Pengilly- Stanford
4. Devan Turner- Oregon State
5. Tyler Schilling- Cal Poly

141
1. Colton Schilling- Cal Poly
2. Russell Rohlfing- CSU Bakersfield
3. Isaiah Locsin- Stanford
4. Jack Hathaway- Oregon State
5. Nicholas Villarreal- Arizona State

149
1. Jason Tsirtsis- Arizona State
2. Joshua Cortez- Cal Poly
3. Joshua Reyes- Oregon State
4. Kalani Tonge- CSU Bakersfield
5. Jake Barry- Stanford

157
1. Josh Shields- Arizona State
2. Paul Fox- Stanford
3. Hunter Willits- Oregon State
4. Coleman Hammond- CSU Bakersfield
5. Jett Moy- Cal Poly

165
1. Anthony Valencia- Arizona State
2. Lorenzo De La Riva- CSU Bakersfield
3. Brandon Dallavia- Stanford
4. Rodney Willaims- Oregon State
5. Ryan Farina- Cal Poly

174
1. Zahid Valencia- Arizona State
2. Keaton Subjeck- Stanford
3. Bryan Battisto- CSU Bakersfield
4. Ryan Anderson- Cal Poly
5. Myles Terry- Oregon State

184
1. Kordell Nortfleet- Arizona State
2. Matt Wihelm- Cal Poly
3. Dominic Ducharme- CSU Bakersfield
4. Austin Flores- Stanford
5. Bob Coleman- Oregon State

197
1. Corey Griego- Oregon State
2. Matt Williams- CSU Bakersfield
3. Thomas Lane- Cal Poly
4. Cole DePasquale- Stanford
5. Cade Belshay- Arizona State

285
1. Amarveer Dhesi- Oregon State
2. Nathan Butler- Stanford
3. Tanner Hall- Arizona State
4. Spencer Empey- Cal Poly
5. Mark Penyacsek- CSU Bakersfield