On the strength of five quarterfinalists, Ohio State had a successful Day One of the 2016 NCAA Wrestling Championships, wrapping up the day within striking distance of Penn State for the team lead. Six of the eight Buckeye qualifiers won by bonus points in the opening round, with four of the six victories coming by pin.
Nathan Tomasello, Micah Jordan, Bo Jordan, Myles Martin, and Kyle Snyder all advanced to the quarterfinals on Friday morning, while Johnni DiJulius remains alive in the wrestlebacks after one day of wrestling. Jake Ryan and Kenny Courts were eliminated after two matches apiece.
Nathan Tomasello started his march toward a second consecutive NCAA title in impressive fashion with a pair of dominant performances on day one of the tournament. Tomasello opened the tournament with a 16-0 tech fall over Iowa State’s Kyle Larson in Round 1 before an 11-2 major decision over Elijah Oliver of Indiana in Round 2. Tomasello’s victory over Oliver was more dominant than the score showed, with Tomasello controlling the match from the opening whistle.
The redshirt sophomore will face #9 seed Dylan Peters of Northern Iowa in Friday morning’s quarterfinal round. Peters actually defeated Tomasello last season at the CKLV Invitational by pin, so Tomasello will need to remain focused if he is going to stay in the championship bracket. The Big Four at 125 are still mostly intact as Thomas Gilman (Iowa) advanced to the quarterfinals in Tomasello’s half of the bracket, as did Nico Megaludis (Penn State) in the bottom half. Joey Dance of Virginia Tech was upset and will need to work in the wrestlebacks to All-American.
Redshirt senior Johnni DiJulius did not begin the tournament the way that he may have hoped, but he is still alive in the consolation bracket to start Day 2 at the NCAA Championships. DiJulius, who earned the #10 seed at 133, pinned Rider’s Robert Deutsch in the opening round before falling to Nebraska’s Eric Montoya in the second round. Montoya clearly did his homework on Johnni and was prepared for DiJulius’ fireman’s carry, though JDJ nearly hit him with it on the edge of the mat. DiJulius will have to win three matches in the wrestlebacks tomorrow if he is going to earn the All-American honors that have eluded him throughout his career.
Micah Jordan made quite the splash in his first NCAA tournament, advancing to the quarterfinals with a pair of nice wins on Thursday. Seeded sixth at 141, the younger Jordan opened the tournament with a pin over Nickell of CSU-Bakersfield and then earned a second win over Minnesota’s Tommy Thorn 5-1 in the second round. Jordan will face Bryce Meredith of Wyoming on Friday morning with the winner being guaranteed an All-American finish. Meredith upset the #3 seed Kevin Jack in round 2 to earn a spot in the quarterfinals.
The Buckeyes did not qualify a wrestler at 149, but the top two seeds look to be headed for a rematch on Saturday night as Zain Retherford (Penn State) and Brandon Sorensen (Iowa) cruised on Thursday.
Jake Ryan started the tournament with a tough test in #6 seed Joe Smith of Oklahoma State. Ryan implemented a nice gameplan and used his counter attacks wisely against Smith’s offense, but it wasn’t enough to earn the win. Ryan led late in the match, but was hit for stalling (much to the surprise of his dad, whose questioning of the ref caused a team warning), which tied the match.
Smith earned a late takedown to steal the match 11-9 in sudden victory. Ryan showed some offense in the wrestlebacks, but was eliminated with a 2-0 loss to Luke Smith of Central Michigan. 157 is dominated by Isaiah Martinez of Illinois and Jason Nolf of Penn State, who are on a collision course for the finals.
Bo Jordan advanced to the quarterfinals with a pair of victories. Bo pinned Kent State’s Tyler Buckwalter in the 3rd period and poured it on late to defeat Virginia Tech’s David McFadden 8-3 to move into the quarterfinals. In Friday’s quarterfinals, Bo will face #6 seeded Steven Rodrigues of Illinois. Alex Dieringer of Oklahoma State also advanced to the quarterfinals in his pursuit of a third consecutive NCAA title at 165. Dieringer is in the top half of the bracket, but Bo’s cousin and possible semifinal opponent Isaac Jordan of Wisconsin also advanced to the quarterfinals.
Myles Martin finds himself in a favorable spot after the first day of competition, earning a trip to the quarterfinals with a pair of nice wins. Martin opened with a 12-4 major decision over Nick Wanzek of Minnesota in the opening round and used two reversals to upset #6 seed Bryce Hammond of Cal State Bakersfield.
Martin stands a great chance to earn All-American honors as a true freshman with a win in the quarterfinals against Matt Reed of Oklahoma. Reed upset #3 seeded Blaise Butler of Missouri in the opening round. Of the top four seeds at 174, only top-seeded Bo Nickal of Penn State remains in the championship bracket as the 2, 3, and 4 seeds were all upset in the first round. This plays into Martin’s favor in a big way.
Senior Kenny Courts gave himself a tough road to a return trip to the All-American podium, losing his opening match to #6 seed Blake Stauffer of Arizona State. Courts waited until the waning seconds of the match to shoot, but was countered by Stauffer for the winning points.
Courts’ career came to an end in the wrestlebacks as he fell to Bubba Scheffel of West Virginia 6-4. Courts was aggressive early on, but couldn’t get out from the bottom and dropped a tough decision. A pair of high seeds at 184 were upset early as #3 Vic Avery (Edinboro) and #4 Domenic Abounader (Michigan) were upset on day one.
Ohio State did not qualify a wrestler at 197, but the top four seeds advanced into the quarterfinals.
Kyle Snyder, world champion, advanced to the quarterfinals with two matches that will almost certainly have him under surveillance by the NYPD for the remainder of the weekend. Snyder earned his first collegiate pin (!!!) in the opening round against Franklin & Marshall’s Antonio Pelusi before putting on a takedown clinic against Wyoming’s Tanner Harms in the second round. Snyder scored 12 takedowns against Harms and will face Oregon State’s Amarveer Dhesi in Friday’s quarterfinals.
Wrestling resumes on Friday at 11 a.m. with the quarterfinals and wrestlebacks taking place. The action can be seen on ESPNU or the WatchESPN app, or as always, follow me on Twitter for updates.
