Ohio State wrestler Sammy Sasso fell a little short in his quest for a second-straight individual Big Ten championship.
Sasso entered the Big Ten Wrestling Championships as the No. 1 seed in the 149-pound weight class. He wrestled his way through the bracket to the final where everyone thought he would be, but he ran into a Wisconsin wrestler that has been peaking at the right time, No. 2 seed Austin Gomez.
The match started out well for Sasso with an early takedown to grab a 2-0 lead but gave a point back when Gomez escaped later in the first period. Still, Sasso had a 2-1 lead after one period of play. Things were evened up when Gomez escaped from the bottom as the second period started. He then countered with a takedown of his own and allowed Sasso to escape and suddenly it was 4-3 Gomez as the second period ended.
Sasso started on the bottom in the third period and got a quick escape to tie things up at 4-4, but couldn’t make the moves we’ve been accustomed to seeing from him late. Gomez was able to score another takedown moments later, allowed Sasso to escape for a 6-5 score, then was able to get one more takedown to win 8-5 to take the Big Ten title and relegate Sasso to runner-up status.
149 | Sasso drops to Gomez in a tight 8-5 bout.
Sasso finishes as a Big Ten Runner-Up and automatically qualifies for the NCAA tournament.#GoBucks pic.twitter.com/e2RIERpCKB
— Ohio State Wrestling (@wrestlingbucks) March 6, 2022
Despite the disappointing finish, it was a fantastic year for Sasso. He finished the year with a 22-2 record counting the loss today and will now head to nationals to try and win a national championship.
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