When ASU wrestling head coach Zeke Jones was hired in April of 2014, the Arizona State alumnus was asked to revive a once-proud program, one that was 65th nationally at the time. And there was another goal in mind, to be able to schedule a home marquee matchup with Penn State.
With the Sun Devils’ current ranking of no. 5, the main goal of Jones’ hire is being accomplished. On Friday evening at Wells Fargo Arena, Jones and the Sun Devils will be able to realize the other goal and this one-time lofty ambition. The Arizona State program will be headlined by senior Zahid Valencia who was a consensus preseason no. 1 in the 184 lbs. class and his brother, junior Anthony Valencia who was ranked preseason no. 10 in the 174 lbs. class.
“This is a big time in our program,” Jones said. “It's a team an and event and a time that we put on our schedule ever since the I've arrived here; we've marked this on our calendar as an important date in the history for wrestling and wrestling in the west wrestling for Arizona State wrestling for our program and for our University.
“A tremendous amount of pride has went into our culmination of bringing Penn State in here and have a tremendous amount of faith in the guys next to me (the Valencia brothers) and excited about our team competing on Friday. It's a big one.”
The 2018-19 campaign was a period of transition, as ASU coming off back off of back 10-win seasons, posted a 6-10 mark. This time a year ago, the Sun Devils lost two of their three Top-25 matchups. This year Arizona State has already claimed two victories against ranked programs and at a 4-0 mark on a pace to eclipse last season’s record.
Being that this season is an Olympic year, it isn’t uncommon to redshirt some of your best players as they aim to represent their country on the biggest stage. Jones admitted that such sacrifices will often take a toll on a program. Yet, following a disappointing season and knowing the magnitude of this Friday’s matchup. Jones decided that none of his players will redshirt.
Jones added that due to the fact that ASU President Dr. Michael Crow and Athletic Director Ray Anderson have entrusted him with the Sun Devil program, that it’s only fair that he repay them, as well as the Sun Devil fans and wrestling community putting the best possible talent on the mat, especially when hoisting a wrestling dynasty such as Penn State.
“We didn’t have to ask them to redshirt,” Jones said of the Valencia brothers. “This is a year where they want to win a national championship.”
Jones lives by the motto of “wrestling anybody, anywhere, anytime” which is why he worked so diligently to secure the first-ever home-and-home meeting with Penn State (the two teams met six times prior to ASU’s road matchup at College station last year). The natural difficulties of asking a team to travel four hours by plane for a non-dual, make the fortition of his efforts that much more rewarding.
“It's difficult to get good teams on the schedule,” Jones said. “But we were happy that they (Penn State) made the commitment to come back (west). If we could keep them on our schedule forever. We would do it. They're in high demand. They're in a high densely populated wrestling area.
“People kind of think we're out here on an island. Trust me, you know, I think flying back to Philadelphia or Pittsburgh, is like riding your bike across the street. Fly to Russia, fly to Iran - that's travel. So, I always try to nudge the college coaches and say, you know, we're not that that far away. It's a four-hour flight. How hard can that be? We do it every weekend. So hopefully we can keep Penn State on the schedule. We will certainly extend our hand across and say ‘let's do it again.’ Hopefully, they'll do the same thing in return.”
Emotions will run high for a meet that is poised to see the biggest crowd ever for an ASU home wrestling match, and that is an aspect the Jones and his players are fully cognizant of ahead of Friday.
“Certainly, you use the energy to your advantage,” Jones stated. “You got to get excited about going into the arena with 8-10 thousand people. You got to love that moment. You got to just embrace it. You may never get to do this again in your life and you want to be able to look back and say ‘man, I did everything I could and enjoyed every moment that I did it.’
“About managing your energy. Sometimes people zap their energy because they can't control the emotion of the moment. So, there's going to be a balance to it, feed off the energy in the arena also know when you say ‘my arms are getting tired’ you got to sit down. Maybe lay on your back. Close your eyes put your headphones on…bring myself back down and shut my brain off for five minutes and then kind of rev it back up. So, relax and concentrate and meditate I think keeps your mind and your body and balance but man when you get out there, you better let that energy unleash.”
Zahid Valencia admitted that he fully plans to use this electric atmosphere fully to his advantage.
“I love it,” Valencia commented. “The more people that are there, the bigger the arena, I think I wrestle better than having 10 people in the room. Having that kind of atmosphere, that kind of energy that's what I live for. This is why I do it.
“It’s just so much fun having all those fans out there, it’s everything you want. So, I'm excited.”
The Valencia brothers said that they have been using social media to get out the word and encourage fans to show up on Friday, emphasizing the magnitude of this event.
“This is the match to watch. This is the one to come too,” Anthony Valencia said. “We tell them (ASU fans) that we’re one of the top in the country, and this team (Penn State) is number one in the country. We're here to try to take them out and beat them. That's exciting already. It's like man is this gonna happen? We got to be there to go see that.”
“I think that's the biggest part aside from social media, is telling your buddies and getting the word out. For people who don’t know wrestling, making sure that if you're going to come to one, come to this one. Make sure you make it and they'll see like how awesome it is to be there and looking at that atmosphere that might want them to come again.”
Jones equated the legacy of Penn State’s wrestling program, one he called a “Goliath’ to that of UCLA basketball under John Wooden or the New England Patriots. The Nittany Lions have won nine out of the last ten national championships, and haven’t lost a dual meet five years.
“Do you want to see the best college team in wrestling come to the arena?” Jones asked. “This would be the one to come and hopefully we're going to make them the second-best. That's the goal.
“Everyone in our wrestling room believes we can win and if you look at it on paper, it's possible. It's not like there's no chance. So, everything has to line up right. So, if you want to witness history both a great team or an upset of a great team, one of the best in history. I'd be there.”
