Despite already securing the second-best record in program history, Stanford wrestling was looking to make yet another statement to end the 2007-2008 regular season this past Sunday. And with a 28-16 victory in Tempe, Ariz., the Cardinal’s first-ever win over Arizona State, Kerry McCoy’s squad did just that in their final tune-up prior to the all-important Pacific 10 Conference Championships, beginning on March 2 in Eugene, Ore.

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Junior Luke Feist helped cement the Cardinal’s victory over ASU with a narrow, 1-0 victory at 174 pounds. Feist and his teammates will now prepare for the Pac-10 tourney, opening March 2.

The Cardinal (13-4, 6-3 Pac-10) got off to a fast start against the Sun Devils (9-8, 3-5), winning the opening match at 125 pounds by forfeit before Porfirio Madrigal made perhaps his biggest statement of the year at 133 pounds. The Stanford freshman pinned his ASU opponent at 6:44, with just 16 seconds remaining, to put the Cardinal up 12-0 and give Stanford the clear edge in momentum. The win by fall was Madrigal’s third such victory of the year and first in a dual meet.

The Devils answered back at 141 pounds with a major decision for four team points, but Stanford rallied again with big wins in the next two matches. At 149 pounds redshirt freshman Lucas Espericueta notched his third pin of the year at 4:30, improving his record to 23-10 on the year. No. 10 senior Josh Zupancic followed with a 19-5 major decision, coming just one point shy of a win by technical fall to boost the Cardinal’s 22-4 lead.

Stanford suffered losses in three of the remaining five matches, but a close 1-0 win by junior Luke Feist at 174 pounds and an 11-4 victory by sophomore Jake Johnson at 197 pounds were enough for the Cardinal to hold on for the match win and history.

“It was great, just being able to go down there and beat a team [like that],” McCoy said. “It’s funny, we were sitting there before the match, and you look up at their banners, like every gym has banners, and Arizona State has about 20 Pac-10 Conference Championship banners. There were a few series where they won eight, nine, 10 in a row.

“To see that and then go out and win in their gym, it’s great,” he continued. “Their team has been a little bit down, they’ve got a couple of kids out of their lineup, but to get a win and have it on our stat-sheet as a win against Arizona State really starts to solidify how successful this year has been for us.”

And what a year it has been for McCoy and the Cardinal. The third-year Stanford coach deferred much of the credit for his team’s increased success since his arrival to the foundation laid by previous coaching regimes, his assistants and the athletes who “bought in” to his philosophy. But whatever the reason, the Cardinal wrestling team is on a path it hasn’t been for some time with the all-important postseason tournaments fast approaching.

“I think we’re a little bit ahead of [where we thought we’d be],” McCoy said. “We had high hopes for the year, we really thought we could be undefeated in dual meets. And the four losses that we had, three of those matches were one match swing — if we win one [more] match then we win the dual.”

“That’s really not that bad of a way to finish our season, with four losses all within one match of a difference,” he continued. “The biggest thing is that we beat a lot of teams pretty soundly; that shows that we have a lot of potential. And we’ve had some injuries and some guys in and out of the lineup, but there’s a Stanford pride going on right now.”

In laying out his team’s training strategy between now and the Pac-10 tournament in just over a week, McCoy emphasized the work his team had already put in this season and how far they had come collectively.

“I tell our guys, ‘the work’s been done, the money’s in the bank, now we just need to fine-tune the way we’re going to go out and perform,’” he said. “Getting individual strategies to each one of the guys, scouting their opponents so they can have a plan for who they’re going to wrestle and go out there and perform [is going to be important]. The biggest thing now is to get everyone a chance to place in the tournament and get everyone to the NCAA tournament.”

One thing’s for sure: the Cardinal’s prospects to do just that in the Pac-10 this year are better than they have been in a long time.