Buckeyes seek another NCAA title in St. Louis
Fresh off a Big Ten wrestling championship, Ohio State aims for its second national title in the same city and arena where the Buckeyes earned their first, in 2015.
OSU’s quest begins today in St. Louis, where undefeated and top-seeded juniors Kyle Snyder (heavyweight) and Nathan Tomasello (133 pounds) will look to carry the Buckeyes at the Scottrade Center.
Snyder gets most of the attention as the reigning Olympic, world, and U.S. freestyle champion, as well as an NCAA and Big Ten champion. Tomasello’s resume includes three Big Ten titles and a 2015 NCAA title at 125 pounds.
Ohio State’s strength as a team, however, is in its depth across the 10 weight divisions.
“This is the most horses we’ve had,” OSU coach Tom Ryan said. “This is probably the most powerful points-scoring team we’ve had, and we’ll need points from all of them to win.”
Ohio State’s well of talent ran deep two weeks ago in winning its second Big Ten team title in three seasons. A school-record four Buckeyes — Snyder, Tomasello, junior Bo Jordan (174), and redshirt freshman Kollin Moore (197) — won individual championships.
Also contributing were sophomores Micah Jordan (149) and Myles Martin (184), who moved up a weight class this season after winning last year’s NCAA title at 174. They finished second among a school-record six participants in the finals.
In all, nine Buckeyes will be counted on in St. Louis with the main competition coming from defending champion Penn State, Oklahoma State, Iowa, Virginia Tech and Missouri.
Penn State has won five of the past six NCAA titles and was ranked No. 1 going into the Big Ten tournament before finishing 9½ points behind Ohio State.
The Nittany Lions destroyed the Buckeyes 32-12 in a Feb. 3 dual match that drew an Ohio State-record crowd of 15,338 to Value City Arena. That loss came one week after the Buckeyes fell 21-13 at Iowa.
OSU entered the conference tournament with a record of 11-3, a No. 6 national ranking and a 3-3 record in their final six dual matches.
Ryan, though, said Ohio State never had a full lineup until the Big Ten tournament because of injuries, particularly to Bo Jordan, and the occasional absence of Snyder, who has missed matches because of international freestyle competitions.
And the tournament format makes it easier for a team to score over three days.
“A superstar can score 26 points at the national tournament,” Ryan said. “He can only win one match at a dual meet. In a tournament setting, a few elite wrestlers can have a greater impact on the end results (for the team) than they can in a dual meet.”
OSU showed that at the Big Ten. Now can the Buckeyes do it again?
“If we compete to the best of our abilities, we can win the title,” Snyder said. “I feel like, and I know the team feels the same way, that we have the best athletes, the best wrestlers, in the country.”