Joey McKenna is the headliner of the U.S. Open after the first session, as he piled on three straight tech falls to advance to this evening's semifinal match at 65 kg. As was pointed out via Twitter, that means McKenna hasn't given up a takedown since before the Big Ten Championships.
Also at 65 kg., Logan Stieber was on the wrong end of the biggest upset of the tournament so far: the former World Champion fell to No. 8 seed Jaydin Eierman of Missouri. The Tiger is a very fine wrester in his own right, but Stieber doesn't lose often, and definitely not when he's the No. 1 seed in the tournament.
He and brother Hunter are both wrestling in the consolation brackets yet, along with fellow Ohio State alumni Johnny DiJulius and Kenny Courts. Each had an up-and-down morning, dropping one match along the way and falling to the wrestlebacks.
But perhaps the biggest excitement of the first session was seeing how well the young Bucks performed in UWW Junior Freestyle action. Current members of the roster, including Kaleb Rombero, Brakan Mead and Kevin Snyder, were joined at the Open by Class of 2018 recruits such as Gavin Hoffman and Malik Heinselman, and even Class of 2019 commit Jordan Decatur.
And those guys had a morning, for sure.
Heinselman, at 57 kg., ripped through the field with three-consecutive 10-0 techs. Decatur, likewise, put on a show, dispatching three-straight foes via tech.
Joining them in this evenings quarterfinals are likely 2018-2019 starter Kaleb Romero, a redshirt freshman, Gavin Hoffman and Gary Traub. Heinselman, Decatur and Hoffman all have significant freestyle experience already, so it wasn't surprising to see them advance, though Hoffman had some challengers who gave him a bit of competition along the way.
Several other Buckeyes, including Mead and the younger Snyder brother, are still wrestling in the consolation brackets.
Wrestling gets underway again this evening at 6 p.m., and streaming is available via FloWrestling. You can find the information in the 11W preview of the U.S. Open here.
