Kyle Snyder leaves Ohio State with even more accolades as he was named the Jesse Owens Big Ten Male Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive year.
Snyder becomes the first ever to repeat as the conference's male athlete of the year and becomes the sixth Buckeye to win the award.
Congrats to Kyle Snyder of @WrestlingBucks on being named #B1G Jesse Owens Male Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive year. pic.twitter.com/xk6E7U15rT
— Big Ten Conference (@bigten) June 28, 2018
This season, Snyder won his third consecutive NCAA Championship, his third consecutive Big Ten title and was named an All-American for the fourth straight season. He is the only American to ever finish college as a three-time NCAA Champion (including 2018), Olympic gold medalist and two-time world champion.
Snyder was also this year's recipient of the AAU Sullivan Award as the United States' most outstanding amateur athlete, making him just the fourth wrestler to win that award. He was named USA Wrestling's Freestyle Wrestler of the Year for 2017, marking his third-consecutive win of that honor.
During his senior campaign, Snyder posted a 17-1 mark that included nearly half (seven) of his wins coming over nationally-ranked opponents. He garnered four top-5 triumphs, capped by topping second-ranked Adam Coon of Michigan in the NCAA finals bout. He finished his collegiate career with a record of 75-5, and lost just a single match in his three years as a heavyweight.
The reigning world champion will wrestle for his fourth-consecutive world-level title this October in Budapest. Only 16 men in history have won four freestyle world titles in a row, with legendary Oklahoma State coach John Smith the only American to do so.
