The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
NCAA wrestling’s GOAT is coming to Cleveland
Ohio State heavyweight champion Kyle Snyder: ‘I think currently right now I’m the best ever’
Ohio State heavyweight champion Kyle Snyder: ‘I think currently right now I’m the best ever’.
He’s so good, and will tell you how good, but doesn’t sound cocky.
One week, he’s in Columbus; the next in Russia.
Whatever he accomplishes next in the sport of wrestling, it’s usually something great.
When this weekend is complete, there’s no telling what he might do. It will likely involve some level of ultra-competitive wrestling, but don’t rule out the WWE or UFC one day.
Kyle Snyder isn’t a household name in the world of sports, but for college wrestling,
there’s currently none better.
The Cavaliers are on a West Coast trip, and the NCAA Division I Tournament is in town beginning March 15. That means the world of college wrestling will overtake Quicken Loans Arena, and thousands will embark on downtown Cleveland for what should be an epic showdown for the national team title between Ohio State and Penn State.
The most interesting man at The Q to watch will be Snyder, the Buckeyes’ heavyweight and No. 1 attraction. Snyder is a senior, and this is the final tournament of his college career, but certainly not the final chapter.
The 22-year-old from Maryland is arguably one of the greatest college wrestlers of all-time, if not the GOAT. Snyder said so.
“I think currently right now I’m the best ever,” Snyder told The NewsHerald recently in a phone interview. “I don’t think anyone — Cael Sanderson or anyone else — and not in an arrogant way ... I’ve got three world championships and I’m still wrestling in college. No one has ever done that before. So, yeah, I think I’m the best ever. I don’t think anyone’s ever done anything like this.”
For many, the argument for college wrestling’s GOAT begins with Cael Sanderson, the current Penn State coach. As an Iowa State wrestler in the late 1990s, early 2000s, he was 159-0 and won four NCAA titles. He’s the only Division I wrestler to finish his career without a loss.
Others might argue four-time NCAA champ Logan Stieber of Ohio State. Or Iowa’s Dan Gable, who was 117-1 in his college career. Or even Wisconsin’s three-time national champ and Chardon graduate Lee Kemp, who was 143-6 in college. He lost his chance to be a national champ as a freshman by a split referee’s decision in the NCAA final. There are many others.
What Snyder has on his resume the others don’t is something unmatched for a college wrestler. At age 21, he was the NCAA, Olympic and World champion — considered the holy trinity of wrestling.
His jet-setting ways as an international competitor began after Snyder’s freshman season at OSU, when he was an NCAA runner-up with a 30-4 record.
Since then, he’s wrestled just 41 times in college — going 11-0 as a sophomore (winning the NCAA title), 17-0 as a junior (winning the NCAA title), and is 12-1 this season. His most recent international title was in January 2018, when he traveled to Russia and left as the first U.S. wrestler to win two gold medals at the prestigious Ivan Yarygin Grand Prix.
With all those accolades, Snyder — described by Flowrestling. com the best pound-forpound wrestler in the world — is human. He has a loss this season. It came against Michigan’s Adam Coon in a dual meet. The 285-pound Coon defeated Snyder, who checks in at 225 pounds, by a 3-1 score. But Snyder returned the favor against Coon two weeks ago at the Big Ten Tournament heavyweight final, 3-1, in overtime.
The loss was a shock in college wrestling circles, but Snyder took it in stride.
“I was doing great,” said Snyder about the aftermath of his first loss in three years. “I care about wrestling and love the competition. At the end of the day, it’s just a wrestling match and not the end of the world. I was mad at myself for like 20 minutes. But I got over that quickly.”
Snyder isn’t a typical college heavyweight. He’s 5-foot-11, 225 pounds. He usually gives away inches in height and as much as 60 pounds to his opponents, but makes up for it by superior conditioning, quickness and athleticism.
For those who will be at The Q or watching on TV, Snyder gave this assessment of himself: “I would tell (people watching) to expect a lot of takedowns from my feet, and expect a match to be over before the seven minutes is up.”
One who’s watched Snyder for a while is Edinboro heavyweight Billy Miller. The two-time state champ from Perry High School is 16-4 this season and an NCAA tournament qualifier for the third time. The redshirt junior is the No. 13 seed in the bracket of 34.
If Miller and Snyder win their first two matches, they would face each other in the March 16 semifinal round.
“I’d love to wrestle him,” Miller told The N-H. “You never want to count yourself out against someone who wrestles at that high of a level. But the kid’s good, and you have to give him respect for that. You better bring your A game against him. To beat him, that’s what you have to do. Adam Coon had to wrestle his best match ever to beat him. That’s the way I would have to wrestle against him. It’s just crazy there’s someone that good at my weight class. But that’s what you’ve got to do.”
Snyder is that good, but by his time next week his time as a college wrestler will be over. He said he will continue to compete internationally, but would love to guest star at future WWE events.
“Used to watch WWE all the time when I was a kid,” said Snyder.
There’s also been rumors he might one day fight in the UFC.
“I don’t think too far ahead,” said Snyder. “I just think right now.”
Right now is fast approaching at The Q, where the Snyder watch is set to begin.
Contact Podolski at MPodolski@News-Herald. com; On Twitter: @mpodo.