Ohio State might not be the No. 1 wrestling team in the country right now (that distinction belongs to Iowa), but the Buckeyes do have more wrestlers at the top of their weight class than any other school in the country.
Iowa is the only other school with two No. 1 wrestlers–Spencer Lee at 125 pounds and Michael Kemerer at 174 pounds.
Kollin Moore, the talented senior who is finally looking to fulfill his goal of winning a National Championship (he has placed third, fourth, and second in his career), has been the far-and-ahead No. 1 at 197 pounds since this season started. He is undefeated on the year and has only really been close to danger in two matches.
At 141 pounds, Luke Pletcher started the year at No. 3. He beat then-No. 1 Dom Demas at the season-opening Michigan State Open, and has held on to the top spot ever since. Like Moore, he is also undefeated, and was only ever pushed to the brink by Demas and Real Woods, another Top 10 wrestler. Pletcher has earned bonus points in his last 11 matches.
Now, joining Moore and Pletcher, is Sammy Sasso. Sasso jumped to No. 2 last week with huge wins over then-No. 1 Pat Lugo and then-No.4 Baryton Lee. He was still behind Oklahoma State’s Boo Lewallen, though. Lewallen then lost to Missouri’s Brock Mauller on Saturday, which moved Sasso up to No. 1.
A total of 7 Buckeyes can be found in the national rankings this week.#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/D2XeDKv182
— Ohio State Wrestling (@wrestlingbucks) February 4, 2020
Ohio State also had four other wrestlers ranked, including a huge jump by Rocky Jordan at 184 pounds. Kaleb Romero, the No. 7 wrestler at 174 pounds, is the only other Buckeye in the Top 10 right now.
After a rough few weeks with six losses–five of them to highly-ranked wrestlers–Jordan Decatur fell out of the rankings. He is still definitely a threat to anyone in the 133 pound weight class, though.
125 and 157 pounds remain the troublesome spots for the Buckeyes, though there seem to be stronger options at 157 right now.