TEMPE, Ariz. — A pair of recent top-10 wins for the Sun Devils' 125-pounder Richard Figueroa has earned him Big 12 Wrestler of the Week honors, the conference announced on Wednesday afternoon.
The defending national champion at 125, Figueroa capped off his regular season by cruising past No. 10 Sheldon Seymour (Lehigh) and No. 7 Jett Strickenberger (West Virginia) to improve to 12-1 on the season. Figueroa beat Seymour in Bethlehem, 7-3, on February 21 before handing out an 11-2 major decision loss to Strickenberger on February 23 in Morgantown. Strickenberger entered the bout having defeated the last five ranked opponents he's faced, but had no answer for Figueroa's consistent attack and stingy defense.