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ARIZONA STATE WINS PAC 12 CHAMPIONSHP (CLICK HERE TO VIEW STORY)
Pac 12 Championshipsm March 7, Palo Alto, Calif.
2020 Nationally-Ranked Wrestlers / Top 8: 11 / 7
2019 NCAA Qualifiers / Champs / All-Americans: 20/1/5
Team Race: With only five schools competing in the Pac-12s, Arizona State was favored considering two 2019 champs were expected to return in Josh Shields and two-time national champ Zahid Valencia and Zeke Jones’ team featured six nationally-ranked wrestlers.
But Valencia has been suspended and tourney-host Stanford hopes to win its first-ever Pac-12 title with two returning champs in Requir Van der Merve (149) and Nathan Traxler (197).
Top Individual Matchups: There are two weights that could feature ASU-Stanford head-to-heads.
• At 165, where Shields will be challenged by Shane Griffith, who is one of three nationally-ranked Stanford freshmen.
• At 197, Traxler has been ranked behind ASU’s Kordell Norfleet after losing in overtime to the Sun Devil on Jan. 31.
Oregon State returns a champ in Grant Willits (141), who is not currently ranked by WIN. Stanford freshman Real Woods should be the No. 1 seed.