The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
OSU, PSU ready to fight for NCAA title
Kyle Snyder said Ohio State should be the favorite this weekend at Quicken Loans Arena.
His coach, Tom Ryan, said don’t be surprised if the race for the NCAA team title between his Buckeyes and defending national champion Penn State is the greatest in the history of the sport.
Nittany Lions coach Cael Sanderson said his team is ready.
Are you ready for some wrestling? Buckeye Nation is heading to The Q for the NCAA Division I Wrestling Tournament, and Ryan said hold on tight.
“I believe in energy,” said the OSU coach. “We’re in a great state for wrestling. You can choose to feed off it or let it get to you. We expect the place to be rocking with crazy fans who love the sport. If it helps us with some tight matches, that will be nice. We will be in some tight matches. We happened to get (Penn State) two weeks ago (at the Big Ten tournament). A year ago, we didn’t get quite as many (at the NCAA tournament). We’re gonna need to win the tight ones.”
Most are expecting a two-team race between Ohio State and Penn State. The headliner for the Buckeyes is Snyder, the two-time NCAA and World champion and reigning Olympic champion who didn’t hold back on which team deserves the title of team favorite.
“Penn State won it last year, and wrestled really well,” said Snyder. “Five (national) champions and all are returning, so obviously they have the fire power to compete at a really high level. But I would say we are the favorite. Looking at the seeds, looking at our performance (at the Big Ten Tournament), if everyone competes at the best of their ability, then I think it’s our tournament to lose.”
The Buckeyes were in this position last season as Big Ten Tournament champions, but the Nittany Lions put on an awesome display at the 2017 NCAA Tournament with five national champions en route to the team title.
OSU has the fire power to win the national championship with a seeded wrestler at every weight class, including top seeds Kollin Moore at 197 and Snyder at heavyweight. No. 2 seeds include 125-pounder Nathan Tomasello, a Parma native, and Myles Martin at 184. Luke Pletcher is the No. 3 seed at 133, Joey McKenna the 4 seed at 141, and KeShawn Hayes No. 5 at 149.
Penn State won’t lack for fire power with its five returning national champions. Three — Zain Retherford (149), Mark Hall (174) and Bo Nickal (184) — are undefeated this season and Retherford and Nickal are No. 1 seeds. Hall is 28-0 and the No. 2 seed. PSU’s other returning national champs are Vincenzo Joseph (165) and Jason Nolf (157), who injured his knee during the regular season but is a go for the start of the tournament March 15.
“We’ll find out in the next three days if our team is happy to be here,” said Sanderson. “We’ve got nine kids in the tournament who can score points. It comes down to who goes out there and gets it done. Injuries or no injuries, if you want to win, you have to go out and score the most points.”
The stage is set for what could be an epic showdown for the team title. Penn State and Ohio State have either been Nos. 1 and 2, in some order, all season. The national champ might not be decided until possibly the last few championship matches March 17. As for the team that finishes as the NCAA runner-up?
“I believe by Saturday night, the second-place team will be the greatest second-place team in the history of the (NCAA tournament),” said Ryan. “Everyone in life needs that individual or group that brings them to another level, and I think Penn State has been that recently. We were happy the way we