Tag: Gary Traub

Big Ten Wrestling Tournament: Gary Traub at Heavyweight

What does Ohio State’s heavyweight wrestler Gary Traub have to do to qualify for the NCAA Championships?

“Gas Tank” Gary Traub has been a revelation for the Ohio State wrestling team this season. Ohio State’s No. 1 overall recruit Greg Kerkvliet transferred out of the program, and potential top wrestler Chase Singletary missed almost the entire season with injury.

In stepped Gary Traub, whose string of wins with late takedowns earned him a place in Ohio State wrestling lore that far outstripped his actual accomplishments on the mat. But as the legend grew, as did Traub’s confidence and results. He’s still an undersized heavyweight, and he won’t be challenging for a national title, but he is one of the better heavyweights in the Big Ten and, with the right draw in the NCAAs, is definitely a potential All-American.

Big Ten Wrestling Championships: Heavyweight

Basic Info:

Buckeye Wrestler: Gary Traub
Seed:No. 6
Place needed to qualify: 7th

Traub is the final wrestler for the Buckeyes, and the seventh (out of ten) who doesn’t need to pull off any upsets to qualify for the NCAA Championships. What does his draw look like? And what number Buckeye will Traub be if he does qualify?

Paths to the NCAAs

In the opening round, Traub faces Michigan State’s Christian Rebottaro, who Traub beat 3-2 at the Michigan State Open to begin the season. If Traub wins that match, he will have to face Iowa’s Tony Cassioppi (unless Maryland’s Parker Robinson pulls off an unthinkable upset). Traub lost a 9-3 match against Cassioppi in January that wasn’t particularly competitive.

If Traub loses that second match, he will face the winner from the loser’s bracket in the consolation rounds. Nebraska’s David Jensen and Wisconsin’s Trent Hillger have both easily defeated Traub this year, and he wouldn’t want to face either of them in the consolation round. However, the odds of them being upset by Jake Kleimola or Jack Heyob are very low, so Traub should move through the consolation round. After that, Traub will have to win one more match to clinch seventh place–either in the next round in the consolation bracket, or the seventh-place match.

If Traub loses his opener, he will face Robinson in the first wrestleback match. After that, he will face the loser of the Jensen-Hillger match (unless one of them gets upset, which is unlikely). Traub would have to win that match to keep his NCAA hopes alive, and then win another–either in the next consolation round, or the seventh-place match.

Other Buckeyes in this series:

125 pounds: Malik Heinselman
133 pounds: Jordan Decatur
157 pounds: Elijah Cleary
165 pounds: Ethan Smith
174 pounds: Kaleb Romero
184 pounds: Rocky Jordan

Can Ohio State qualify ten wrestlers for the NCAA Championships again?

Last year, the Ohio State Buckeyes were the only team in the country to place ten wrestlers in the NCAA Championships. Can they repeat that?

Last year, the Ohio State Buckeyes were the only wrestling team in the country to place ten wrestlers in the NCAA Championships.

That record seems very unlikely to repeat this year, as the Iowa Hawkeyes will almost certainly qualify a full squad for the NCAAs. Additionally, Campbell might be able to pull off that by sweeping the SoCon, and Oklahoma State looks to be competitive in the Big 12 at every weight class, except maybe heavyweight.

However, the big question for the Buckeyes is whether Ohio State can put a full lineup in the NCAAs. And, if they can’t, just how many spots can the Buckeyes earn? Let’s go through the lineup and break it down.

The Locks

141, 149, and 197 pounds

There’s no need to get too into the weeds of the bracket and number of bids at these three weight classes. Luke Pletcher, Sammy Sasso, and Kollin Moore are going to get in the NCAA Championships. Even if all three lose early in the Big Ten Championships, they’re still getting in to the NCAAs. And while Pletcher would obviously like to avenge his loss to Penn State’s Nick Lee in the process, for our purposes right now, we know he’s done enough this season to reach the postseason.

What about the rest of the Buckeyes? Some of them, like Kaleb Romero and Rocky Jordan should have pretty easy paths to the NCAA tournament. Some–like No. 14 seed Jordan Decatur–will have a very challenging path indeed. In a series of articles over the next few days, we will break down the paths and brackets for the other seven Buckeyes in the Big Ten Championships. We will look at how many spots are available for Big Ten wrestlers, and how tough each Buckeye’s path to those spots will be.

For now, let’s just give a quick overview of where the rest of the Buckeyes stand.

Near-Locks

174 pounds: Kaleb Romero
184 pounds: Rocky Jordan

Should make it

165 pounds: Ethan Smith
Heavyweight: Gary Traub

Very difficult path

125 pounds: Malik Heinselman
133 pounds: Jordan Decatur
157 pounds: Elijah Cleary

Ohio State Wrestling bounces back with win over Cornell

The Ohio State Buckeyes wrestling team picked up a much-needed bounce-back win after losing to Virginia Tech last week.

The Ohio State Buckeyes wrestling team needed a good performance, coming off a surprising and disappointing loss against Virginia Tech two weeks ago. The team got exactly that this weekend, beating Cornell 23-9, though there is still work to be done if it wants to contend for a national title.

The Buckeyes still have two No. 1 wrestlers in their weight classes, with Luke Pletcher at 141 pounds and Kollin Moore at 197 pounds. Neither has lost yet this year, and both pulled out strong wins on Sunday, with Moore’s coming as a Major Decision. Pletcher, as he is wont to do, kept the score tight, but he was never in danger of losing to Cornell’s Noah Baughman.

Sammy Sasso bounced back from his shocking pin against Virginia Tech to dominate Hunter Richard. The final score was a very close 12-9 as it seemed like Sasso just ran out of gas in the final minutes of his match. He will likely have to work on conditioning as the season goes on, or maybe it was just a bad day. We will find out more at the Cliff Keen Invitational this coming weekend, when Sasso will likely have to face multiple talented wrestlers on the same day.

Kaleb Romero looks to have the Buckeyes established at 174 pounds, and he silenced the doubters with a big win over Top 15 foe Brandon Womach. Romero pulled out a late takedown to break a 4-4 tie and win the match. Malik Heinselman (125 pounds) and Ethan Smith (165) were both pretty impressive in wins, and used matches against weaker opponents to work on getting bonus points.

The Buckeyes still have some real holes that need to be filled, though. No one has yet stepped up at 157 or 184 pounds. There are decent options at the first, but unless Gavin Hoffman or Zach Steiner improves, 184 pounds will be a real weakness in Ohio State’s lineup this year. The Buckeyes haven’t quite had enough individuals in the National Championship hunt to take the team competition from Penn State the past few years, but have been the most competitive top-to-bottom in all ten weight classes. Unless there’s a fix at 184 pounds soon, though, that streak may come to an end.