Any wrestling coach will tell you that what is most critical is not how a wrestler starts but how he finishes. Arizona State coach Zeke Jones is simply hoping that his starters will be around at the finish.

The veteran coach of the ninth-ranked Sun Devils watched an ASU squad missing five starters tumble to 2-3 after falling 24-12 to Princeton on Jan 15. But, not surprisingly, there is no panic in his voice.

“It’s wrestling season and you have your ups and downs, and we don’t get too high with the highs or too low with the lows,” Jones said. “Know where you’re heading and what you’re doing. You have a calculated plan … be ready to adjust.

“We wrestled a dual meet this past weekend that wasn’t ideal; however, you’ve got five starters out of the lineup and it’s gonna look a little different. Our effort was good but not our greatest performance. A couple of new kids got in the lineup and could see what it feels like to wrestle Division I. But I like where we’re at.”

Traveling from Chicago for the Midlands to Austin, Texas, for the Flo Duals Series against #5 Cornell and to Ames, Iowa, for a dual meet with the #6 Cyclones can generate some wear and tear. 

“I think there was a little fatigue,” Jones said about the ASU-Princeton matchup. “We had a 14-day road trip we just came off of and the training days were pretty minimal; we were competing about every four to five days. It was hard to get training in when you’re competing every few days.

“Now that we’re back home and in a training cycle, I feel pretty confident that our bodies will build back up and get a little stronger and a little faster and we’ll be ready to go.”

The Sun Devils head into Pac-12 action this week with a home match Friday against Cal Poly followed by a Sunday trip to Stanford. Jones said Tony Negron (165) will be back in the lineup this week, but Kordell Norfleet (197) will need a little more time. He also said the return of 157-pound starter Jacori Teemer, injured prior to the season, still remains doubtful but the team will keep evaluating the situation.

The team’s travel itinerary isn’t greatly reduced, with upcoming trips heading west (Stanford), east (Lehigh) and northwest (Oregon State), but previous travel for big matches will contribute to the team’s expected postseason success, Jones said. “I think every match prepares us for the end of the season,” he said. 

“Once you get to the end of January and you start counting the weeks, and there aren’t many left, so, yeah, everything we do, both training and competition, prepares us for the end of the year. I think there will be a heightened sense of the end of the season coming. We certainly have five guys who can score high at the NCAA Tournament, and we’ve always been a tournament team … I don’t see that changing. I think we’re on track to be where we want to be at the end.”

Leadoff Hitter?

Jones said a decision regarding who will be ASU’s 125-pound starter, NCAA runner-up Brandon Courtney or redshirt freshman phenom Richie Figueroa, will sort itself out soon. 

“I think we’ll have an answer relatively soon,” Jones said. “We’re not gonna make a lot of fanfare out of it. We’ll probably have that sorted out in the next couple of weeks.”

Courtney, a redshirt senior, is ranked sixth with a 5-2 record and dropped an 8-3 decision to second-ranked Patrick Glory of Princeton. Figueroa wrestled in a few tourneys and has compiled a 12-0 mark thus far.

No Time Off For Schultz

The Sun Devils’ star heavyweight, sixth-ranked Cohlton Schultz, who was runner-up to Olympic champion Gable Steveson of Minnesota in the 2022 NCAA Tournament, didn’t miss the Princeton match because of injury. He was with the U.S. team at its Colorado Springs Training Center.

“We made a commitment to be the best in the world, so if that means getting our guys like Cohlton an opportunity to go up to the Olympic Training Center and train with the best guys in the world versus a dual meet with Princeton, we’re gonna choose the Olympic path,” Jones explained. “That a commitment we made to him and to all our kids.

“We like winning dual meets, but we’re more committed to winning national titles, World and Olympic gold medals. A little bit like the Kyle Snyder plan (when he wrestled sporadically during his final season at Ohio State), we’re gonna do things like that with Cohlton.”

A Dual Meet Championship? Bring It On

As some people affiliated with the sport continue to lobby for a possible collegiate dual meet championship event, Jones said it would be fantastic.

“I’d love it,” he said. “And I’m not too worried about the time because I don’t know that I’d be the decision-maker on when it would be. But if anybody wants to pick a time, pick a time and let’s do it. I don’t care if it’s December, if it’s March, April, January, but I think it would be fantastic to have a national championship dual meet tournament. I think it would be great.”