Tag: Luke Pletcher

Six Ohio State wrestlers get All-American recognition despite canceled NCAA championships

Ohio State received All-American honors from the NWCA for six wrestlers despite the shortened NCAA Wrestling Championships.

Wrestling has a unique way of determining its All-Americans. It has absolutely nothing to do with what you accomplish during the regular season and tournament championships, and everything to do with where you finish in the NCAA Wrestling Championships at the end of the year.

Well, there’s a slight problem with that this season. Despite seeding everyone, the NCAA Wrestling Tournament got canceled like everything else as a measure to mitigate further spread of the emerging COVID-19 health crisis. Right before all the fun began.

Afterward, head wrestling coach Tom Ryan was very vocal about finding some way to still recognize those that worked so hard and had the ending of their seasons canceled for reasons beyond their control. It was especially important for those seniors that had their careers abruptly stopped.

Ryan has now gotten his wish. In lieu of All-America honors being decided at the COVID-canceled NCAA Championships, the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) has announced its 2020 All-America teams. Six Ohio State student-athletes were recognized for their ‘overall body of work through the conference tournament and up to the national championships.’

Those Buckeyes include Kollin Moore, Luke Pletcher, Kaleb Romero and Sammy Sasso as First Team honorees, while Ethan Smith was placed on the Second Team, and Rocky Jordan came in with an Honorable Mention.

It has to be especially gratifying for seniors Kollin Moore and Luke Pletcher. Without the distinction, they both would have left college without the ability to garner First Team All-American distinction. It’s Moore’s fourth time being recognized as an All-American, and Pletcher’s third.

“During difficult times there are always people who rise to the occasion and I’m proud of the action that the NWCA Division I Leadership Group in providing direction for honoring the 2020 Division I All-American team,” Mike Moyer, NWCA Executive Director, said. “It’s important that these athletes’ efforts and successes during the season are recognized. Congratulations to each this year’s honorees and National Qualifiers.”

You can get a look at the remainder of the All-Americans thanks to the list provided in the media release below.

NWCA All-America First Team

NWCA All-America Second Team

NWCA All-America Honorable Mention

Well done to Ryan as well in pushing for something like this to happen. And good on the NWCA for listening and doing what’s right in the midst of such a difficult situation.

OSU Wrestling Twitter is hosting a best Buckeye wrestler ever tournament

There are no NCAA Championships in Wrestling this year, but we can still enjoy a pretend tournament for the best Buckeye ever.

There are no NCAA Championships in Wrestling (or any other Winter and Spring sport) this year, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t still enjoy a pretend tournament.

The official Twitter account of Ohio State Wrestling (@wrestlingbucks) made a 33-person bracket–just like the NCAA Championships have–and has opened up the voting for who is the best Ohio State wrestler ever. In each match the account lists a 280-character-or-less description of the wrestler’s accolades, so you can learn about some Buckeye history while you vote.

The tournament has just completed its second round, and there have been some pretty good upsets so far. Recent wrestlers seem to overperform, which makes sense–since the voting is on Twitter, more Twitter users have likely seen recent wrestlers, while we are limited to just highlights or stat sheets for those who competed in previous decades. An excellent example of this is Joey McKenna’s first-round upset over Rex Holman. McKenna is a fan favorite, even though on paper Holman has a far superior resume.

Logan Stieber–one of the only four wrestlers in NCAA history to win four National Championships–is a prohibitive favorite to take home the title, and he definitely deserves it. Of course, the bracket has a tremendous mix of all-time greats like Kevin Randleman and Tommy Rowlands, along with recent fan favorites (and great wrestlers in their own rights) like Kollin Moore, Luke Pletcher, Myles Martin, and Micah Jordan, to name a few. And, of course, there are guys like Kyle Snyder and Nathan Tomasello–who are both recent wrestlers and all-time Buckeye greats.

The best part is that the account is treating this like a real tournament. It’s not single elimination–there are full wrestlebacks. This bracket also shows some recency bias, like Luke Pletcher’s stunning first-round upset of Dave Reinbolt.

Follow this bracket and tournament all week. We might be stuck at home, but we can have plenty of fun voting on wrestlers from our computers or phones. So make sure to check out the Twitter account, follow the tournament, and vote!

Luke Pletcher, Kollin Moore win Big Ten wrestling titles, Ohio State finishes 3rd

Ohio State finished third at the Big Ten Wrestling Tournament, but both Luke Pletcher and Kollin Moore took home individual titles.

The Ohio State wrestling team capped off Sunday with a couple of Big Ten Champions, and it was enough to seal third place in the best conference in college wrestling. Iowa ran away with first place by totaling 157.5 points, Nebraska took second with 132 points. Penn State was fourth, just behind the Buckeyes with a total of 107 team points.

But back to the Buckeye champs. One of the most exciting matches of the championship belonged to the finals at 141 pounds. Ohio State’s Luke Pletcher took on undefeated No. 1 seed Nick Lee of Penn State. It all came down to the last minute of the third period with both wrestlers tied 4-4. With opportunity winding down, Pletcher went for a leg shot and got what he needed, taking down Lee for a critical two points.

Lee was able to escape to pull to within 6-5, but Pletcher used great footwork and anticipation to steer clear of the last few desperate shots from the Penn State wrestler.

Kollin Moore had a bit of an easier time in his finals match at 197 lbs. He was the aggressor throughout against No. 8 seed Eric Schultz, winning with a business-like 4-1 score to take home the third Big Ten title of his career. Despite the low score, he was never really threatened.

Most of the OSU wrestlers are done yet either. Eight total wrestlers did enough to qualify for nationals that’ll take place in Minneapolis, Minnesota from March 19-21.

 

Big Ten Wrestling Tournament: Rocky Jordan at 184 pounds

What does Ohio State’s 184 pound wrestler Rocky Jordan have to do to qualify for the NCAA Championships?

Rocky Jordan did not begin the year as Ohio State’s starter at 184 pounds, but he sure finished there. 184 looked like a potential weak spot for the Buckeyes, but now it’s probably their strongest weight class after the three-headed monster of Luke Pletcher, Sammy Sasso, and Kollin Moore. Gavin Hoffman and Zach Steiner both took some duals at this weight, but Jordan improved throughout the first half of the season and has been the starter since January.

Big Ten Wrestling Championships: 184 pounds

Basic Info:

Buckeye Wrestler: Rocky Jordan
Seed:No. 6
Place needed to qualify: 10th

By NCAA qualification, this is the Big Ten’s strongest weight class. The conference will put ten wrestlers in the NCAA Championships, and it would be shocking if Jordan wasn’t one of them.

Paths to the NCAAs

Jordan will face Purdue’s Max Lyon in the opening round. If Jordan wins, it will be very difficult not to imagine him qualifying for the NCAAs. A win, and he will likely face Abe Assad of Iowa in the second round. (Assad will face No. 14 seed Kyle Jasenski of Maryland in the first round.) A Jordan win over Assad clinches a top four spot. A loss to Assad would put Jordan in the consolation bracket.

If Jordan wins his first match but loses the second, he will get two shots at qualifying. He will face the winner from the losers of the Billy Janzer vs Jack Jessen and Taylor Venz vs Jake Hinz matches. The only possible matchup there Romero should fear is Venz, who Jordan beat in a very close match last month. Even if Jordan loses in that match, he will get to face one of the other second-round losers in the consolation bracket for an NCAA spot.

Looking at the bracket, there’s only one real way that Jordan could be left out of the bracket (barring anything like injury). If he loses in the first round and somehow Assad is also upset by Jasenski, then Jordan could end up with an 0-2 record and miss out on the NCAAs. But that’s not happening. Among the safest of safe Buckeyes, Jordan is right up there with Pletcher, Sasso, and Moore.

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
Heavyweight: Gary Traub

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 solid in tight loss to Penn State

The Ohio State Buckeyes fell 20-16 to Penn State on Saturday night, winning five out of the ten matches against the Nittany Lions.

The Ohio State Buckeyes fell 20-16 to Penn State on Saturday night, winning five out of the ten matches against the Nittany Lions. Penn State got the win by earning five bonus points to Ohio State’s one, and because Nick Lee upset Luke Pletcher at 141 pounds.

Still, there were plenty of positives for Ohio State, especially at the beginning and end of the dual match.

The match started at 125 pounds, where Malik Heinselman pulled out a much-needed win over Brandon Meredith. Heinselman won the Greyhound Open against some lower-tier opponents last week, and that confidence seems to have bled in to this match. Jordan Decatur couldn’t get a win over No. 4 Roman Bravo-Young, though, but he looked solid in the match.

Then came the biggest match of the Day. No. 1 vs No. 2 at 141 pounds. Pletcher looked strong and in control early, but something seemed to go wrong halfway through the match. Either Pletcher tweaked something or he ran out of gas, but Lee took control from midway through the second period, and he held on for the win.

Sammy Sasso kept his No. 1 seed by winning in Sudden Victory, and Quinn Kinner picked up a much-needed win over Brady Berge with a late takedown. Kinner started the season at 133 pounds, and he finally is at his best at 157. Kinner also won the Greyhound Open last week, and that seemed to have spurred him on as well.

The next two weight classes had No. 1s and National Champions for Penn State. Ethan Smith was impressive early against Vincenzo Joseph, but Joseph took control in the second period and won by Major Decision. Then Mark Hall earned a quick pin over Kaleb Romero at 174 pounds.

Rocky Jordan couldn’t keep up with Top 10 opponent Aaron Brooks, and then Kollin Moore won by Major Decision in his match. The final match of the night saw Gary Traub pick up a huge win over Seth Nevills, also with a late takedown.

In the dual match, the Buckeyes couldn’t quite get the win. And Pletcher’s loss certainly hurt. But other than that, the Buckeyes saw plenty of positives. Heinselman and Traub seem at their best as we approach the Big Ten Tournament, and Kinner finally seems like Ohio State’s answer at 157 pounds.

The Buckeyes are improving when it matters most. We’ll see just how ready they are to be competitive nationally at the Big Ten Tournament in three weeks.

Ohio State wrestling wins season home finale against No. 8 Northwestern

The Ohio State wrestling team beat Northwestern 28-10 in a dual-meet to close out the home regular season and send the seniors out in style.

The Ohio State wrestling team finished up the home dual-meet slate on Sunday in winning fashion, beating No. 8 Northwestern 28-10. The Buckeyes took seven of ten matches and were really in no danger of dropping the matchup with the Wildcats.

Being that it was the last home meet, it was also senior day for captains Kollin Moore and Luke Pletcher. They did not disappoint and won both of their matchups to help send themselves out with a win to cap their careers in Columbus.

OSU got bonus points from Fritz Schierl (pin) at 174 lbs., Rocky Jordan (major decision) at 184 lbs., Gary Trabu (major decision) at heavyweight, Jordan Decatur (major decision) at 133 lbs., and Luke Pletcher (major decision) at 141 lbs. All three of Ohio State’s No. 1 ranked wrestlers were victorious.

Ohio State will now head to Happy Valley to take on the No. 2 ranked Penn State Nittany Lions to close out the dual-meet season. From there, it’s on to the Big Ten Championships and NCAAs.

 

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Ohio State Wrestling now has three No. 1 wrestlers

The Ohio State Buckeyes lead all wrestling programs with three wrestlers ranked No. 1 in their respective weight classes.

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.

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.

Ohio State Wrestling solid in close loss to Nebraska

The Ohio State Buckeyes lost a very tight wrestling dual against Nebraska on Sunday, but they looked strong in the process.

If the college wrestling season has taught us anything so far, it’s very likely that the top four teams in the country are all from the Big Ten. Iowa is ahead of everyone with Penn State, Nebraska, and Ohio State just behind them.

It’s no surprise, then, that the dual match between Ohio State and Nebraska went down to the wire. Don’t let the 19-14 final score deceive you. The Buckeyes were in this match until literally the final second.

The dual began at 174 pounds, where Mikey Labriola beat Ohio State’s Kaleb Romero on a last-second takedown to win the battle of Top 10 wrestlers. That match was tight as can be, but there are no ties in wrestling, and someone had to win. There’s no shame or hurt for Romero in not coming out ahead. The same is true for Nebraska’s Taylor Venz, who lost to Rocky Jordan (in another ranked matchup) on a late reversal. After two matches, each team had one win, and the margins in each were razor-thin.

The next match was not as close, as No. 1 Kollin Moore got two early takedowns against No. 10 Eric Schultz and never relinquished the lead. Schultz kept the match close enough to avoid giving bonus points, which is always important. Nebraska followed that with its second win, as Gary Traub couldn’t out-wrestle David Jensen’s size advantage over him.

Nebraska took its second lead of the dual when Malik Heinselman couldn’t make good on any of his attacks, several of which led to points the other way. 125 pounds is quickly becoming Ohio State’s most troublesome weight, as Heinselman hasn’t been able to replicate his form that saw him into the NCAA tournament last year. Jordan Decatur then lost his match at the last second as well, to No. 14 Ridge Lovett. There’s no shame in that, regardless of the team outcome.

Luke Pletcher and Sammy Sasso–who, along with Moore, are Ohio State’s three real National Champion contenders–each earned bonus points with Major Decisions, Sasso’s the courtesy of four back points with just a few seconds remaining. After Peyton Robb beat Quinn Kinner, who moved up from 133 pounds to 157 pounds, the dual would come down to its final match, as the score entering it was 14-14. (Kinner’s move up to 157 pounds is interesting and worth a longer discussion. He’s new to the weight and it showed in his match, but he also seems to have more upside than Elijah Cleary.)

The final match was a good one. Isaiah White is a Top 5 wrestler, and he was just a bit better than Ethan Smith until White injured his ankle. After that, it was a very even match. The 19-14 final score is a product of an ill-advised last-second move by Smith, that got countered into a takedown and pin (Nebraska then lost a team point for storming the mat).

All in all, it was a great dual, and a strong showing by both programs. Each wrestler competed very well against talented (and in almost all cases ranked) wrestlers of the opposition. Nebraska will move up in the rankings after a well-deserved win, but these teams are both clearly very good, and right there behind Iowa and Penn State.

Ohio State defeats Minnesota 22-13 in Top 5 wrestling bout

The No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes defeated the No. 5 Minnesota Golden Gophers in one of the most anticipated wrestling duals of the season.

The No. 4 Ohio State Buckeyes traveled to Minneapolis to take on the No. 5 Minnesota Golden Gophers in one of the most anticipated wrestling duals of the season so far, and it did not disappoint. The Buckeyes were coming off a 26-10 loss to Iowa on Friday. There’s no shame in that, though, as Iowa is far and away the No. 1 team in the country right now. The Buckeyes showed in Minneapolis on Sunday night that they are not far behind, though.

The dual meet started at 157 pounds, because the 141- and 149-pound matches were expected to be the two best of the night–a decision that obviously turned out to be the correct one. Elijah Clearly of Ohio State couldn’t find a way past the defenses of Ryan Thomas, and lost a very close match. Cleary definitely has potential at 157, though his lack of positive results so far has to be a bit concerning as the season moves on.

Following that, Ethan Smith picked up a Major Decision and a team bonus point with a late takedown, while Kaleb Romero picked up a 2-1 win over Devin Skatzka with a late takedown of his own. The Buckeye came out with an important win in a Top 10 battle, something that will definitely be a big boost to his ranking and eventual NCAA seeding.

184 pounds looked like the potential weak spot in the lineup for Ohio State early in the season, but Rocky Jordan seems to have found his place in the lineup. He lost a very tight battle to No. 18 Owen Webster of Minnesota–getting turned for two back points early in the match was just barely too much to overcome–but the way he fought against a strong ranked wrestler shows that he should be fine for Ohio State in that slot when the NCAA tournament rolls around.

Kollin Moore earned a seemingly-routine Tech Fall to give Ohio State a 12-6 team score lead, and “Gas Tank” Gary Traub managed to keep his heavyweight match against prohibitive No. 1 Gable Steveson to just a Major Decision. At the time, that was big in the team score, though later matches would show it wasn’t quite necessary.

Minnesota took the team lead after Patrick McKee defeated Malik Heinselman at 125 pounds, but the Buckeyes wouldn’t lose another match from there. Jordan Decatur picked up some much-needed momentum with a strong Major Decision victory. Decatur had lost four matches in a row–and while all four were close matches against Top 10 wrestlers, consistently losing is never good for an athlete’s psyche.

No. 1 (141 pounds) Luke Pletcher gave up an early takedown to No. 5 Mitch McKee, but the Buckeye controlled the match from there for a solid victory. And, finally, Sammy Sasso followed his Friday upset of No. 1 Pat Lugo with a victory over No. 4 Brayton Lee, capped by a late takedown for the win.

Next… Season Outlook

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