Ohio State has, more or less, rolled through the first half of its season with only token resistance. The Buckeyes are a perfect 8-0 in dual meets and 3-0 in the Big Ten, with a Cliff Keen Invitational championship, to boot.
But last weekend's business trip to the East Coast was not flawless. Of the team's projected postseason starters, two of Tom Ryan's middleweights stubbed their toes in New Jersey, with Ke-Shawn Hayes and Te'Shan Campbell both suffering upsets at the hands of ranked opponents.
Those losses, the second and third, respectively for the 149- and 165-pounders, led to minor slips in the major ranking services. Hayes, as high as fifth prior to his loss to then No. 14 Eleazar DeLuca, is now pretty much a consensus No. 6.
That Hayes didn't fall farther after such a stunning loss in the final period of the match is an indication of the respect the pollsters have for him. He is still very much a contender to finish on the podium in Cleveland come March.
Campbell, who dropped a third-period upset to No. 11 Richie Lewis, slid from 11 to 13 in most polls, from as high as No. 7 in the previous standings, summarized below. Campbell picked up his third loss of the season (he's still batting .824 through 17 matches), but the defeat came at the hands of a reigning U23 World Freestyle gold medalist, so it wasn't the worst loss in the world.
The duo will be back in action Friday night under the lights at The Schott when the Buckeyes host No. 8 Minnesota. Both men faced ranked opponents, so how they rebound at home will say a lot about their mindset heading into the most important months of the season.
| Wt | Wrestler | InterMat | Flo | Track | WIN | TOM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 125 | Nathan Tomasello | 1 (1) | 1 (1) | 1 (1) | 1 (1) | 4 (3) |
| 133 | Luke Pletcher | 2 (3) | 2 (3) | 2 (3) | 5 (7) | 2 (2) |
| 141 | Joey McKenna | 6 (6) | 6 (6) | 6 (6) | 6 (6) | 6 (6) |
| 149 | Ke-Shawn Hayes | 6 (5) | 6 (5) | 6 (5) | 7 (5) | 6 (5) |
| 157 | Micah Jordan | 6 (6) | 6 (6) | 6 (8) | 6 (6) | 7 (7) |
| 165 | Te 'Shan Campbell | 13 (11) | 13 (7) | 13 (8) | 13 (11) | 12 (9) |
| 174 | Bo Jordan | 3 (3) | 3 (3) | 3 (3) | 3 (3) | 3 (3) |
| 184 | Myles Martin | 2 (2) | 2 (2) | 2 (2) | 2 (2) | 2 (2) |
| 197 | Kollin Moore | 1 (1) | 1 (1) | 1 (1) | 1 (1) | 1 (1) |
| HWT | Kyle Snyder | 1 (1) | 1 (1) | 1 (1) | 1 (1) | 1 (1) |
| Team | Ohio State | 1 (1) | 1 (1) | 1 (1) | 1 (1) | 1 (2) |
*Prior rankings in parentheses; team rankings are tournament rankings.
I get asked occasionally about the rankings that we use on the site. In our coverage, we follow Ohio State's lead and use the individual InterMat rankings for wrestler rankings, and the NWCA/USA Today Coaches Poll for our team rankings. The latter is a dual-meet ranking, which is why you see us refer to "No. 2 Ohio State" when all of the tournament-based rankings have the Buckeyes as the top dog.
Also, the rankings above are from the sources listed; "WIN" is Wrestling Insider News and TOM is The Open Mat.
One bit of good news from the rankings: Luke Pletcher is the consensus No. 2 wrestler in the country at 133 pounds. He's a grinder, but he's undefeated and refuses to give up the decision.
