By Craig Morgan, thesundevils.com Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Zeke Jones calls them "the first believers," five wrestlers in his inaugural and top-ranked recruiting class who gambled on an Olympic coach's ability to resuscitate a once proud program, rather than placing safer bets with the schools that were already littering the NCAA Championship podiums.
"The team was ranked 61st in the country when I got here," said Jones, the third-year Sun Devils coach who took over fresh off a gig as the United States Olympic freestyle coach. "There were good kids here; hard workers, but if we were going to compete for championships then we needed to get the type of kids that wanted not just to be the best in the country, but to be the best in the world.
"I told this group 'if you come here, we can build it together.'"
The first believers laid the cornerstone of that foundation when they won the 2017 Pac-12 Wrestling Championships by a 4.5-point margin over host Stanford on Feb. 26, giving ASU its first conference title in 11 years. Josh Maruca (149 pounds), Josh Shields (157), Anthony Valencia (165), Zahid Valencia (174), and Tanner Hall (Heavyweight) took home individual titles for ASU; the most individual conference champs ASU has produced in a single season since 2003 when it had six.
With that goal achieved, the five will represent the Sun Devils at the NCAA Championships from March 16-18 at Scottrade Center in St. Louis. Maruca, Shields and the Valencias are all redshirt freshmen, so this is their first go-round. Hall is the one member of the group to compete as a true freshman last year. With two years spent on a Mormon mission as well, he has unwittingly adopted the mantle of mentor.
"They give me crap about it all the time," quipped Hall, who competed at the NCAA Tournament last season at New York's Madison Square Garden. "Any kind of old guy joke they can make, they'll make it. I don't want to play dad, but if I've been in a situation due to my age that they haven't, I'll try to help them out a little bit."
The NCAA individual seeds will be released on Wednesday and Jones expects four of his wrestlers to earn top-eight seeds. Maruca was ranked 20th nationally in the last coaches panel rankings released before the conference tournament. Shields was ranked No. 11 before his Pac-12 title; Anthony Valencia was ranked No. 7; undefeated Zahid Valencia was No. 1; and Hall was No. 6.
"It's exciting doing it together as a team," Anthony Valencia said. "This sport is looked at as more of an individual sport, but we have really bonded this season and wanting to win together makes it more fun."
Because Maruca wrestles earlier than his teammates, Shields call him the fire starter.
"Maruca gets the ball rolling and it snowballs for everybody," Shields said. "We feed off that energy."
Zahid Valencia (33-0) is trying to become just the third freshman in NCAA history to go undefeated and win an NCAA title. Iowa State's Cael Sanderson and Illinois' Isaiah Martinez are the others.
"Being undefeated is pretty awesome but I've had to grind out some matches this season and there is still lots of work left," he said. "I've been to some really big tournaments so I'm used to the pressure. I have to stay focused."
Zahid Valencia is the only one of the five who has never attended the NCAA Championships as a spectator. While Maruca acknowledged that competing would be a new challenge, he admits there is an allure for him after watching the event last season.
"Being a spectator and being an athlete are 180 degrees from each other," he said. "I've always liked those big crowds and I've always wrestled well in big tournaments. I like that atmosphere. I like wrestling in front of people and giving them something to cheer about, hopefully."
Hall hasn't been called upon yet to dispense experiential advice, but he still has some words of wisdom for this group that Jones says is validating President Michael Crow's and Vice President for University Athletics Ray Anderson's commitment to Olympic sports.
"NCAAs are different than any other tournament; there's nothing like it in the entire world," Hall said. "You've got the Iowa fans booing at the Penn State fans and Penn State is booing back. It's a great atmosphere, but it's important to learn to feed off of it rather than get caught up in it. We have a job to do.
"This was the vision that coach Jones pitched to us when he recruited us. He said, 'right off the bat, we're going to win Pac-12 championships, we're going to compete at NCAAs and we're going to win NCAA titles. This is the next step."
Sun Devil wrestling's 5 NCAA competitors
Josh Shields
Hometown: Murrysville, Pa.
Class: Redshirt freshman
Weight: 157
2016-17: record/national ranking: 32-7, No. 11
2016-17 season highlights: Second at Journeyman Classic; third at Daktronics Open; Pac-12 champ.
He said it: "Trust in the coaches is huge. I don't get anywhere close to where I am now without trust because their styles are a little different than what I was used to. I saw who the coaches were and what they had accomplished so it was easier. Once I started to trust in their system, that's when I started to make big gains."
Tanner Hall
Hometown: Meridian, Idaho
Class: Sophomore
Weight: 285
2016-17: record/national ranking: 29-5, No. 6
2016-17 season highlights: Won Midlands title; won Daktronics title; second at Journeyman Classic; Pac-12 Wrestler of the Week (Feb. 1), Pac-12 champ.
He said it: "The heavyweight field is very strong, as it was last year and will continue to be for the next couple years, but I trust in the training of my coaches and myself that if I do what I've been taught I'll be successful at NCAAs."
Josh Maruca
Hometown: Murrysville, Pa.
Class: Redshirt freshman
Weight: 149
2016-17: record/national ranking: 21-8, No. 20
2016-17 season highlights: Tied for team lead in tech falls; won Daktronics title; second at Journeyman Classic; defeated No. 18 Joey Delgado (Oregon State); Pac-12 champ.
He said it: "I had a lot of goals at the start of the season and just wanted to do one at a time, perform well, make it into lineup. As the season progressed, I saw it all coming together and I saw it was possible. I put it all together and had a great Pac-12 tournament."
Anthony Valencia
Hometown: Bellflower, Calif.
Class: Redshirt freshman
Weight: 165
2016-17: record/national ranking: 32-5, No. 7
2016-17 season highlights: Team leader in tech falls; won Daktronics title; third at Journeyman Classic; third at Midlands; Pac-12 Wrestler of the Week (Jan. 11); Pac-12 champ.
He said it: "We came in here because we wanted to start the dynasty; we wanted it to be big. We didn't feel the need to go to a school that was already big like Penn State. We wanted to start something new."
Zahid Valencia
Hometown: Bellflower, Calif.
Class: Redshirt freshman
Weight: 174
2016-17: record/national ranking: 33-0, No. 1
2016-17 season highlights: Won Midlands title; won Daktronics title; won Journeyman Classic title; won CKLV title; Most Outstanding Wrestler at Virginia Duals; Pac-12 Wrestler of the Week (Jan. 18); Pac-12 champ.
He said it: "It's [NCAAs] going to be a great atmosphere. Hopefully I get in that zone with all the hype that is there. I feel prepared with all the work that I've been doing, so I just want to make sure I'm enjoying myself, feeling good, being in the moment."
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Zeke Jones calls them "the first believers," five wrestlers in his inaugural and top-ranked recruiting class who gambled on an Olympic coach's ability to resuscitate a once proud program, rather than placing safer bets with the schools that were already littering the NCAA Championship podiums.
"The team was ranked 61st in the country when I got here," said Jones, the third-year Sun Devils coach who took over fresh off a gig as the United States Olympic freestyle coach. "There were good kids here; hard workers, but if we were going to compete for championships then we needed to get the type of kids that wanted not just to be the best in the country, but to be the best in the world.
"I told this group 'if you come here, we can build it together.'"
The first believers laid the cornerstone of that foundation when they won the 2017 Pac-12 Wrestling Championships by a 4.5-point margin over host Stanford on Feb. 26, giving ASU its first conference title in 11 years. Josh Maruca (149 pounds), Josh Shields (157), Anthony Valencia (165), Zahid Valencia (174), and Tanner Hall (Heavyweight) took home individual titles for ASU; the most individual conference champs ASU has produced in a single season since 2003 when it had six.
With that goal achieved, the five will represent the Sun Devils at the NCAA Championships from March 16-18 at Scottrade Center in St. Louis. Maruca, Shields and the Valencias are all redshirt freshmen, so this is their first go-round. Hall is the one member of the group to compete as a true freshman last year. With two years spent on a Mormon mission as well, he has unwittingly adopted the mantle of mentor.
"They give me crap about it all the time," quipped Hall, who competed at the NCAA Tournament last season at New York's Madison Square Garden. "Any kind of old guy joke they can make, they'll make it. I don't want to play dad, but if I've been in a situation due to my age that they haven't, I'll try to help them out a little bit."
The NCAA individual seeds will be released on Wednesday and Jones expects four of his wrestlers to earn top-eight seeds. Maruca was ranked 20th nationally in the last coaches panel rankings released before the conference tournament. Shields was ranked No. 11 before his Pac-12 title; Anthony Valencia was ranked No. 7; undefeated Zahid Valencia was No. 1; and Hall was No. 6.
"It's exciting doing it together as a team," Anthony Valencia said. "This sport is looked at as more of an individual sport, but we have really bonded this season and wanting to win together makes it more fun."
Because Maruca wrestles earlier than his teammates, Shields call him the fire starter.
"Maruca gets the ball rolling and it snowballs for everybody," Shields said. "We feed off that energy."
Zahid Valencia (33-0) is trying to become just the third freshman in NCAA history to go undefeated and win an NCAA title. Iowa State's Cael Sanderson and Illinois' Isaiah Martinez are the others.
"Being undefeated is pretty awesome but I've had to grind out some matches this season and there is still lots of work left," he said. "I've been to some really big tournaments so I'm used to the pressure. I have to stay focused."
Zahid Valencia is the only one of the five who has never attended the NCAA Championships as a spectator. While Maruca acknowledged that competing would be a new challenge, he admits there is an allure for him after watching the event last season.
"Being a spectator and being an athlete are 180 degrees from each other," he said. "I've always liked those big crowds and I've always wrestled well in big tournaments. I like that atmosphere. I like wrestling in front of people and giving them something to cheer about, hopefully."
Hall hasn't been called upon yet to dispense experiential advice, but he still has some words of wisdom for this group that Jones says is validating President Michael Crow's and Vice President for University Athletics Ray Anderson's commitment to Olympic sports.
"NCAAs are different than any other tournament; there's nothing like it in the entire world," Hall said. "You've got the Iowa fans booing at the Penn State fans and Penn State is booing back. It's a great atmosphere, but it's important to learn to feed off of it rather than get caught up in it. We have a job to do.
"This was the vision that coach Jones pitched to us when he recruited us. He said, 'right off the bat, we're going to win Pac-12 championships, we're going to compete at NCAAs and we're going to win NCAA titles. This is the next step."
Sun Devil wrestling's 5 NCAA competitors
Josh Shields
Hometown: Murrysville, Pa.
Class: Redshirt freshman
Weight: 157
2016-17: record/national ranking: 32-7, No. 11
2016-17 season highlights: Second at Journeyman Classic; third at Daktronics Open; Pac-12 champ.
He said it: "Trust in the coaches is huge. I don't get anywhere close to where I am now without trust because their styles are a little different than what I was used to. I saw who the coaches were and what they had accomplished so it was easier. Once I started to trust in their system, that's when I started to make big gains."
Tanner Hall
Hometown: Meridian, Idaho
Class: Sophomore
Weight: 285
2016-17: record/national ranking: 29-5, No. 6
2016-17 season highlights: Won Midlands title; won Daktronics title; second at Journeyman Classic; Pac-12 Wrestler of the Week (Feb. 1), Pac-12 champ.
He said it: "The heavyweight field is very strong, as it was last year and will continue to be for the next couple years, but I trust in the training of my coaches and myself that if I do what I've been taught I'll be successful at NCAAs."
Josh Maruca
Hometown: Murrysville, Pa.
Class: Redshirt freshman
Weight: 149
2016-17: record/national ranking: 21-8, No. 20
2016-17 season highlights: Tied for team lead in tech falls; won Daktronics title; second at Journeyman Classic; defeated No. 18 Joey Delgado (Oregon State); Pac-12 champ.
He said it: "I had a lot of goals at the start of the season and just wanted to do one at a time, perform well, make it into lineup. As the season progressed, I saw it all coming together and I saw it was possible. I put it all together and had a great Pac-12 tournament."
Anthony Valencia
Hometown: Bellflower, Calif.
Class: Redshirt freshman
Weight: 165
2016-17: record/national ranking: 32-5, No. 7
2016-17 season highlights: Team leader in tech falls; won Daktronics title; third at Journeyman Classic; third at Midlands; Pac-12 Wrestler of the Week (Jan. 11); Pac-12 champ.
He said it: "We came in here because we wanted to start the dynasty; we wanted it to be big. We didn't feel the need to go to a school that was already big like Penn State. We wanted to start something new."
Zahid Valencia
Hometown: Bellflower, Calif.
Class: Redshirt freshman
Weight: 174
2016-17: record/national ranking: 33-0, No. 1
2016-17 season highlights: Won Midlands title; won Daktronics title; won Journeyman Classic title; won CKLV title; Most Outstanding Wrestler at Virginia Duals; Pac-12 Wrestler of the Week (Jan. 18); Pac-12 champ.
He said it: "It's [NCAAs] going to be a great atmosphere. Hopefully I get in that zone with all the hype that is there. I feel prepared with all the work that I've been doing, so I just want to make sure I'm enjoying myself, feeling good, being in the moment."