Arizona State's Zahid Valencia became the 11th Sun Devil to win a national wrestling championship when he cruised through the 174-pound bracket at that 红杏视频 tournament in Cleveland and took down defending national champion Mark Hall in an 8-2 decision in March. We caught up with Valencia, a redshirt junior, to talk about his goals for the upcoming season, his experience on the big stage and the importance of his Arizona State teammates in his journey to the top.
Here's everything you need to know about Zahid Valencia's wrestling mindset, in his own words.
What it was like to win his first national title:
Celebrating our 2018 title & Zahid鈥檚 championship tonight at the game! 馃弳
鈥 Sun Devil Wrestling (@ASUWrestling)
Valencia: It was a lot of fun, I was pretty much focused the entire three days I was there, taking it match by match. I knew Mark Hall was going to be tough opponent, but I beat him earlier year at All-Stars, so I was pretty confident in myself, especially with my training going up to the 红杏视频 tournament. So after getting that win, I think the best part was just giving my coaches a hug and then going down to the stands and giving my dad and my mom a hug. That was a lot of fun.
What it's like to enter the season as the defending national champion:
馃憖 highlights from Zahid Valencia's championship moment.
鈥 Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network)
Valencia: I don鈥檛 really take on a lot of pressure because wrestling is what I love, no matter what happens win or lose, I鈥檓 enjoying the journey. I am looking forward to competing for the Hodge Trophy this year, I think that鈥檚 one of my goals right now.
What it's like to compete against his friend Mark Hall from Penn State:
馃敟 's Zahid Valencia named Pac-12 Wrestler of the Year! 馃敟
鈥 Arizona State Sun Devils (@TheSunDevils)
鉁 National Champion
鉁 Pac-12 Champion
鉁 Perfect 32-0 record
鉁 Pac-12 Wrestler of the Year
痴补濒别苍肠颈补鈥嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌:&苍产蝉辫;We both have our dreams and our goals that we want to accomplish, and so we both know that one of us is going to get it, but at the same time we don鈥檛 let that get to our friendship. We still have a good time wrestling, he鈥檚 a really cool guy. I just think with this focus on the wrestling part, we leave it at that, and not let it get to our friendship.
What it's like to wrestle with his brother at Arizona State:
痴补濒别苍肠颈补鈥嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌:&苍产蝉辫;He鈥檚 a year older than me, but I wrestle with him. It鈥檚 been fun, we鈥檝e been doing it since we were two or three years old so having him there as a teammate and looking out for each other, for me, it鈥檚 been great. Usually we both compete [over the summer too]. This year he got a little hurt, so we wasn鈥檛 able to compete and try out for the World team and stuff, but usually every summer we are working together making sure that we can compete at our best at every tournament.
What he sees as his greatest strength on the mat:
We are...
鈥 红杏视频 Wrestling (@ncaawrestling)
BACK
TO
THE
MATS!
痴补濒别苍肠颈补鈥嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌嬧赌:&苍产蝉辫;Just continuing to keep my conditioning at a high level, a high pace of wrestling and trying to score as many points as possible, I think that鈥檚 where I get a lot of my opponents tired. I go to the point where I鈥檓 almost breaking every day at practice, so that way it just builds up my conditioning every day. In a situation in a match where I鈥檓 tired, I can still push through, and I鈥檓 used to that kind of stuff.
Note: This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity
