Sun Devil Wrestling readies for top-20 bouts with No. 5 Northern Iowa, No. 17 Stanford

Sun Devil Wrestling's Jesse Vasquez celebrates with teammates during warm-ups before the team's dual with California Baptist on January 10. Photo credit to Erin Hjerpe/Sun Devil Athletics.

By Griffin Fabits

January 16, 2025

Tempe, Ariz. – Fresh off its first win against a Big 12 Conference opponent, Sun Devil Wrestling is readying for a pair of big tests this weekend when it hosts No. 5 Northern Iowa on Friday, Jan. 17, before visiting Stanford on Sunday, Jan. 19.

vs. No. 5 Northern Iowa
Friday, Jan. 17 | 7 p.m. | Tempe, AZ | Desert Financial Arena
Buy your tickets today!

at No. 17 Stanford
Sunday, Jan. 19 | 4 p.m. AZT | Stanford, CA | Maples Pavilion

Match notes

The Northern Iowa dual will be streamed live via ESPN+ and can be followed by live stats via TrackWrestling. A live stream plus live stats for the Stanford dual will be shared with fans prior to the start of the match.

It's the first time Sun Devil fans can see returning national champion Richard Figueroa at home in the regular season. An injury suffered at the Daktronics Invite in November forced him to miss the home duals against Embry-Riddle and Arizona Christian.

In addition to the home debut of the defending champion, the Sun Devils' bout with Northern Iowa will also serve as a ring ceremony for the 2024 Pac-12 Champion team, plus Figueroa's individual national championship title.

Earlier this week, Northern Iowa cracked the top-five of the national rankings for the first time in a decade. They're powered by defending national champion Parker Keckeisen at 184 pounds and have a ranked wrestler at every weight class.

The bout with UNI kicks off a stretch of three duals in six days for the Sun Devils, all against ranked teams, as they'll head to Columbia to meet No. 24 Missouri on Wednesday, Jan. 22 at 5:30 p.m. AZT.

Projected Stanford lineup (5-2, 0-1)
TBA

March 8-9 | Big 12 Championships | Tulsa, OK
March 20-22 | NCAA Championships | Philadelphia, PA
*denotes Big 12 Conference dual

Read it Again
All roads lead to Philadelphia, where the Sun Devils will end their season at the 2025 NCAA Championships at the Wells Fargo Center. Under Jones, the Sun Devils have established themselves as one of the nation's premier programs, having finished within the top-seven at the national tournament in each of the last four seasons.

Previewing the 2024-25 Sun Devil Wrestling Season

Sun Devils in the Postseason Under Head Coach Zeke Jones (11 years)
Year | Conference | NCAAs
2024-25 | TBD | TBD
2023-24 | 1st | 6th
2022-23 | 4th | 7th
2021-22 | 1st | 4th
2020-21 | 1st | 4th
2019-20 | 1st | N/A (Ranked #4 in last poll)
2018-19 | 2nd | 12th
2017-18 | 1st | 10th
2016-17 | 1st | 14th
2015-16 | 2nd | 33rd
2014-15 | 2nd | 29th

Sun Devil Wrestling Individual National Champions (13 titles won by 10 individuals)
Richard Figueroa, 125 (2024)
Zahid Valencia, 174 (2019)
Zahid Valencia, 174 (2018)
Anthony Robles, 125 (2011)
Bubba Jenkins, 157 (2011)
Eric Larkin, 149 (2003)
Markus Mollica, 167 (1995)
Markus Mollica, 158 (1993)
Ray Miller, 167 (1993)
Dan St. John, 167 (1990)
Dan St. John, 158 (1989)
Eddie Urbano, 150 (1985)
Curley Culp, HWT (1967)

By The Numbers
1: It's a big year for the Sun Devils for many reasons, but chief among them: It's their first season in a loaded Big 12 Conference. The Sun Devils will establish new rivalries with conference foes such as Oklahoma State, Missouri, Iowa State and others this season and beyond.

3: There are just a trio of Sun Devils in team history to have won a pair of NCAA titles, being Dan St. John, Markus Mollica and Zahid Valencia. Richard Figueroa will attempt to join that exclusive club this season at Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center from March 20-22.

4: The Sun Devils have had four consecutive seasons where at least four have earned All-American honors.

4: Similar to the above streak, the Sun Devils have earned a top-seven finish at the NCAA Championships in each of their last four seasons.

4: Sun Devil fans will have four more chances to see defending champion Richard Figueroa and the Sun Devils at home this season, as the team is back in Tempe on Friday, Jan. 17 to host Northern Iowa at 7 p.m. The location of the match has yet to be determined.

5: Cohlton Schultz could stand alone in Sun Devil team history this season if he's able to capture his fifth career All-American honor, something nobody in the program has done before. He is currently one of 12 Sun Devils to have earned four-time AA honors.

5: Zeke Jones and the Sun Devils return five NCAA qualifiers from last season via Figueroa, Schultz, Julian Chlebove, Jesse Vasquez and Cael Valencia. It's a major boost to return this core given the team's move to the Big 12 Conference.

6: Zeke Jones has redefined success and placed the Sun Devils back into the national spotlight since his hiring in April 2014. Under his leadership, the Sun Devils have won six conference titles, as Jones trails just Bobby Douglas (8) for most in team history. Jones sits behind just Douglas and Men's Golf's Randy Lein (8) for the most conference titles among any coach in Sun Devil history.

8: Richard Figueroa has won his first eight matches in postseason competition, sweeping his way through both the 2024 NCAA Championships (5-0) and the 2024 Pac-12 Championships (3-0).

8: Eight newcomers have joined the Sun Devil Wrestling room in 2024-25, five of which are freshmen (Pierson Manville, Joseph Manfredi, Javani Majoor, Caleb Camp, Nick Hutchins) and three coming from the transfer portal (Azizbek Fayzullaev, Austin Scott, Max Acciardi).

10: With a national championship title under his belt, Figueroa is now one of just 10 Sun Devils to have won at NCAAs, joining Zahid Valencia, Anthony Robles, Bubba Jenkins, Eric Larkin, Markus Mollica, Ray Miller, Dan St. John, Eddie Urbano and Curley Culp. The 10 have combined for 13 titles in team history.

11: The 11th season of the Zeke Jones era will likely be the most impactful. The expectations to compete in a loaded Big 12 Conference are sky-high, and the team returns the defending national champion in Figueroa, a four-time All-American in Schultz and three more NCAA qualifiers. Jones has taken this program to new heights since his hiring, and he'll be tasked with keeping the Sun Devils atop the upper echelon of college wrestling throughout this new era.

11: The Sun Devils' 2024-25 schedule is loaded, as the team is set to meet 11 nationally-ranked programs, according to FloWrestling's preseason rankings. They'll see three top-10 programs in Oklahoma State, Missouri and Northern Iowa, playing host to the latter come January.

24: The Sun Devil have amassed 24 conference championship titles in team history between their time in the Western Athletic Conference and the Pac-12 Conference.

35: Cohlton Schultz's 35 career pins are putting him on the doorstep of joining a club of elite Sun Devil wrestlers. Two more pin-fall wins will tie him with Eric Larkin, Thom Ortiz and Anthony Valencia for the fifth-most in team history. He earned the 35th pin of his career in Sunday's 34-10 win at California Baptist, pinning Tristan Kemp in 1:35.

Hungry for More
Reigning national champion Richard Figueroa was named one of 10 Division I wrestlers to be a preseason frontrunner for the 2025 Dan Hodge Trophy by WIN Magazine. The Hodge Trophy, named after the late Dan Hodge who was a the three-time NCAA champion at Oklahoma and never allowed a takedown in his career, is given annually to the nation's most dominant wrestler.

Figueroa is vying to become just the second Sun Devil to earn the award, as it was first won by Eric Larkin in 2003.

WIN Magazine's 10 Hodge Trophy Preseason Frontrunners

Figueroa was also tabbed alongside fellow All-American Cohlton Schultz as two of the NCAA Wrestling's top-25 wrestlers in the country heading into the new campaign.

The 25 most accomplished DI men's wrestlers to watch this 2024-25 season

Made for March
The Sun Devils routinely make their living in the postseason. After a hot finish to their regular season in the spring, they stormed into the Gill Coliseum and captured yet another Pac-12 Championship title at the conference's final championships. It marked the 24th conference title in team history, the sixth under Jones' guidance and the fourth in the past five seasons.

With eight qualifiers competing at the NCAA Championships, the Sun Devils saw four individuals reach the podium. Figueroa etched his name in Sun Devil history with a finals win against Iowa's Drake Ayala, slamming the door on an unbelievable run in Kansas City in which he went 5-0 and dethroned two top-three seeds.

The 2023-24 season marked the team's fourth consecutive top-seven finish at the national tournament, while also earning four All-Americans for the fourth straight year.

Follow Along
Don't miss any of the action throughout the season! Follow the team on X (formerly Twitter) @ASUWrestling and on Instagram @sundevilwrestling1962.

Read archived stories prior to 2024