The Buckeye wrestling team conducted their official wrestle-offs on Thursday night, helping to solidify the starting lineup for the upcoming season. The wrestle-offs were open to the public at French Fieldhouse, but also streamed online on Facebook and featured a number of new faces to Buckeye wrestling fans.
| Wt | Wrestler |
|---|---|
| 125 | Jose Rodriguez |
| 133 | No. 3 Nathan Tomasello |
| 141 | No. 13 Ke-Shawn Hayes |
| 149 | No. 8 Micah Jordan |
| 157 | No. 8 Jake Ryan |
| 165 | Cody Burcher |
| 174 | No. 1 Bo Jordan |
| 184 | No. 2 Myles Martin |
| 197 | No. 16 Kollin Moore |
| HWT | No. 1 Kyle Snyder |
Jose Rodriguez started the action with a first period pin over fellow freshman Clay Ragon at 125 lbs. Rodriguez is penciled in as the Buckeye starter at 125.
Luke Pletcher introduced himself to Buckeye fans with a technical fall over Branden Fitzgerald by the score of 18-3 at 133. Pletcher will likely redshirt, with NCAA champion Nathan Tomasello moving up to compete at 133 after wrestling at 125 for his first two seasons in college. Tomasello is recuperating from a minor surgery, so he was out of the lineup on Thursday night.
Ke-Shawn Hayes scored a technical fall of his own over Mike Hozan 19-3 in the 141 lb match. Hayes had a successful redshirt season a year ago, and will contribute to the starting lineup at 141.
Micah Jordan moves up to 149 after nearly earning an All-American finish at 141 a year ago. He showed that the increase in weight won’t be much of an issue as he dispatched Blake Riley-Hawkins by 21-5 tech fall.
Jake Ryan had a stand-out season last year as a redshirt freshman, and started fast with a 16-4 major decision over Anthony DeCarlo in the 157 wrestle-off.
Cody Burcher had the unfortunate task of filling in for fan-favorite Hunter Stieber a year ago at 149, and faces another difficult job as he will likely begin the season as the starter at 165, two weights up from 149. Burcher defeated freshman Elijah Cleary 4-2 in the match at 165.
There was not a match contested at 174. Bo Jordan will be the starter at this weight, and will lay waste to much of the NCAA competition this year.
Myles Martin demonstrated that he will have little trouble moving up to 184 after winning an NCAA title last year at 174 as a true freshman. The New Jersey native controlled Jack Rozema from the opening whistle and secured a 20-6 major decision.
Though mostly unheralded as a recruit, Kollin Moore made the most of a redshirt season and working with Kyle Snyder on a daily basis as he is the likely starter at 197 for the Buckeyes. Moore controlled Josh Fox on his way to a 5-2 decision at 197.
Incumbent NCAA champion and Olympic gold medalist Kyle Snyder was training in Colorado Springs at the Olympic Training Center, so Gary Traub and Troy Caldwell mixed it up in the heavyweight match. Traub moved well for a big man and won a 7-4 decision. Snyder will wrestle an abbreviated schedule this season, similar to last year. Traub’s victory showed he may be ready to fill in for Snyder should redshirt senior Nick Tavanello be unable to wrestle.
The Buckeyes will resume the preseason at the annual NWCA All-Star Classic in Cleveland on November 5th with Myles Martin as the only Ohio State wrestler confirmed to compete (though several other names have been mentioned for the weights as yet unconfirmed). The entire team will likely be in action at the Journeymen Collegiate Classic on November 13th before kicking off the dual meet season at Arizona State on November 19th.
