Ohio State goes 19-1 on Day 1 of NCAA tourney

Many wrestling coaches would jump for joy after watching his team go 19-1 in Day 1 of a tournament.

Tom Ryan won’t go there. The Ohio State coach knows there’s more to do, but 19-1 is 19-1.

“Satisfied. We held our ground,” said Ryan after nine of his wrestlers advanced to the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Division I Tournament. “We had no upsets, but at this level to simply hold your ground is big. We had a few matches where guys started slow but found a way to win. You can’t win this in the first round, but you can definitely lose it.”

The Buckeyes brought down the house on many occasions March 15 at Quicken Loans Arena with their awesome performance. Buckeye Nation was in full force at The Q, and there weren’t many dull moments.

Big names such as NCAA champions Kyle Snyder (heavyweight), Myles Martin (184) and Nathan Tomasello (125) were dominant but others such as Joey McKenna (141) and Ke-Shawn Hayes (149) also delivered big victories.

OSU, with all 10 of its wrestlers still alive in the tournament, have the Day 1 lead in the team standings with 36 points. Second-place Penn State is second with 28.5 points and Iowa is third with 27.

“We’re in a good spot,” said Ryan. “We’ve put ourselves in a good position to separate ourselves. We have to go 10-0 in the morning, and win all of (our quarterfinal) matches. We have nine guys chasing national championships.”

Snyder is three wins from closing out his career with three straight NCAA titles. He was proud of the Buckeyes’ efforts March 15.

“Excited for tomorrow, and our positions,” said Snyder. “Our positioning in every bracket looks really good. It’s going to be awesome in the morning. Hopefully we get nine in the semis. Everybody here is a self-motivated guy. Plus, we have an opportunity that few people ever have. So it’s awesome.”

A look at OSU’s dominance on March 15: • Five major decisions • Four technical falls • Two pins and an injury default

• It notched bonus points in 63 percent of their 19 Day 1 wins.

In the opening round, it was a perfect 10 for Ohio State.

The Buckeyes showed they were ready as they attempt to dethrone defending national champion Penn State by going 10-0.

Tomasello started the Buckeyes’ first-round dominance with a pin at 125 in 2 minutes, 19 seconds. Luke Pletcher (133) followed with a 2-1 win over Stanford’s Mason Pengilly, then McKenna (141) won by technical fall for 2.5 team points.

The closest call for OSU was at 149, where No. 5 seed Hayes needed overtime and the tiebreaker period to secure a comefrom-behind 6-5 win over Michigan’s unseeded Malik Amine. Hayes got a reversal in the final seconds of the extra session to get the victory. Bo Jordan also needed extra time to get a 4-2 win at 174.

The Hawkeyes were buoyed by three pins and a win by technical fall in Round 1. Those bonus points (two for a tech fall, three for a pin) were big in building an early lead.

Penn State went 7-2 in the first round.