Top Moments: Sun Devil wrestling wins Pac-12 title

In February of 2017 Arizona State wrestling captured its 17th Pac-12 title, and its first conference championship since 2006 at the Pac-12 Wrestling Championships in Palo Alto, Calif.

The Sun Devils came into the tournament ranked No. 12 in the nation and managed to score 127 points as a team while the host team, No. 17 Stanford, finished runner-up with 122.5 points.

ASU’s impressive point total came from crowning five individual Pac-12 champions.

Sun Devils Josh Maruca (149), Josh Shields (157), Anthony Valencia (165), Zahid Valencia (174) and Tanner Hall (HWT) all took home individual championships. ASU’s Josh Kramer was the runner-up at 125 and Jacen Peterson also finished at the runner-up at 184.

Zahid Valencia was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the Championships after posting a pair of pinfalls in his three matches. His impressive run included a pinfall in the semifinals that took just 16 seconds.

Valencia also secured the only pinfall of the championship round and was ASU’s first champion at 174 since Curtis Owen in 2003. He went on to secure a third-place finish in the NCAA tournament.

Tanner Hall was ASU’s first Pac-12 champion at heavyweight since Cain Velasquez back in 2006. He also secured a third-place finish in the NCAA tournament.

ASU ended the season ranked No. 20 in the nation by USA TODAY with a team record of 10-4.