Ohio State wins Big Ten tournament

Give Round 2 to the Ohio State wrestling team.

Round 3 at Quicken Loans Arena in two weeks will decide which team is the best in the nation.

Earlier this season, Penn State, considered by many the No. 1 team in country, beat the Buckeyes in a 1 vs. 2 dual meet by one point.

On March 4, OSU evened up the series with a convincing win at host school Michigan State to win the Big Ten Tournament.

Now it appears to be a toss-up as the two favorites head to The Q March 15-17 to decide the national championship.

The Buckeyes outdistanced the field, winning 164.5 to 148 over secondplace Penn State. Michigan was third (118) and Iowa fourth (90.5).

Coach Tom Ryan’s team appears to be in peak form. Of his 10 wrestlers, four won titles, three others were second, and two were third. All 10 OSU wrestlers qualified for The NCAAs at The Q.

Leading the way was two-time defending NCAA heavyweight champion Kyle Snyder, who avenged his only loss of the season with 3-1 overtime win against Michigan’s Adam Coon. Other champions for the Buckeyes were Nathan Tomasello (125), Joey McKenna (141), and Kollin Moore (197). Runnersup included Luke Pletcher (133), Micah Jordan (157), and Myles Martin (184).

The Nittany Lions had three champions and nine NCAA qualifiers. The firstplace finishers were defending NCAA champion Zain Retherford (149), Mark Hall (174), and Bo Nickal (184).