Alright fellow 11 warriors, this week the Wrestling Buckeyes head to Tulsa, OK to put it all on the line and leave it all on the mat for a shot to unseat Penn State as the best wrestling program in the country and arguably the most dominant dynasty in sports right now.
The tournament starts Thursday and runs through Saturday, I know that ESPN will have 2 sessions per day, but intermat and flowrestling also have coverage.
Buckeye storylines:
Ohio State sends wrestlers to Tulsa for every weight class with the exception of 125. Starter Malik Heinselman suffered an injury late in the year that kept him out of the conference championships, and his replacement in Ann Arbor, Andre Gonzales didn't have an incredibly strong showing and did not qualify for nationals.
But every other weight class will be represented by the Ohio State wrestling team with Sammy Sasso earning the highest seed at #2 for the 149lb class. Lots to be made of his seeding given that he lost earlier in the year to Wisconsin wrestler Austin Gomez, but Sasso tore through the competition at the conference championship and Gomez is noticeably injured, had they met in the final I do believe Sass would have very effectively avenged that loss.
Sasso will look to climb the mountain and get another shot at Cornell University's resident monster at 149lbs, Yianni Diakomihalis (3x national champion, 2x team USA member, won silver at worlds... I mean whatever credentials make someone an elite wrestler, he has them).
Sasso is likely the Buckeyes best shot at a national championship, he and Yianni have wrestled previously and Sasso has not yet beat the monster from Cornell.
Jesse Mendez, true freshman at 133lbs will be another wrestler for the Buckeyes to watch. He's a bit of a wild card, he seemed to run out of gas as the conference tournament went on, and was somewhat a disappointment as a 2 seed, but he'll look to rebound at nationals for his first shot to make the podium.
Non-Buckeye storylines:
Penn State looking to continue the status quo of dominance. Penn State, in my estimation, is the most dominant sports dynasty no one really talks about. They will have 5 wrestlers ranked within the top 3 of the current wrestling rankings and will have a bevy of top overall seeds with guys like Roman Bravo-Young at 133, Carter Starocci at 174, and Aaron Brooks at 184. Other notables are Levi Haines who won the Big Ten as a freshman at 157lbs, Greg Kerkvliet who wrestles at HW and it appears he and Mason Parris of Michigan are destined to meet once again in the final, then you have Max Dean at 197 and so on... Penn State is for obvious reasons very heavily favored to win the team title.
Spencer Lee who wrestles at 125 for Iowa looks to become the 5th college wrestler in history to win 4 national championships... This is one I'll be watching very closely.
I could seriously go on and on about the national championships this week, excitement level is through the roof!
Feel free to comment below anything I didn't mention, there are a ton of other things to keep an eye on, can Daton Fix of Oklahoma State finally solve the RBY puzzle at 133? If Penn State and Iowa are locks for 1 and 2 in the team standings at the end then who comes in at 3rd?
Let's go!
