The 2016-17 wrestling season kicks off on Saturday for the Buckeyes, with Tom Ryan’s team splitting to compete at two different events. While many of the younger Buckeyes will be heading north to compete in the Eastern Michigan Open, defending NCAA champion Myles Martin will compete in an exhibition match at the NWCA All-Star Classic in Cleveland.
Here’s what to expect when the WrestleBucks do their thing on Saturday.
The Eastern Michigan Open will kick off the season for many of the Buckeye underclassmen, including some starters like Jose Rodriguez, Jake Ryan, Kollin Moore, Ke-Shawn Hayes, and Micah Jordan. While half of the Buckeye starters will be registered, much of the team registered to compete are younger non-starters, which seems to be the case for many of the other teams scheduled to compete.
Also scheduled to be in attendance are wrestlers from Michigan, Michigan State, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Purdue, Ohio, Indiana, Northwestern, and Purdue along with some other smaller schools.
In addition to the starters already mentioned, Saturday should be the debut of dynamite freshman Luke Pletcher at 133 lbs.
As in years past, there will be multiple Buckeyes advancing through the bracket, but only one will be competing as a representative of Ohio State. The remaining wrestlers will compete unattached, meaning they won’t score team points for Ohio State. This also means that they will keep their redshirt intact, should the staff decide to use one this season.
The Eastern Michigan Open will take place all day Saturday.
On Saturday evening, defending champ Myles Martin will face stiff competition against two-time NCAA champion Gabe Dean of Cornell in an exhibition match at the 51st NWCA All-Star Classic on the campus of Cleveland State University. The All-Star Classic provides fans an opportunity to start the season with some star-power as it typically features a number of returning All-Americans in the lineup, in addition to some local wrestlers in the preliminary matches.
While Martin won his title at 174 last season, Dean has been one of the elites at 184 for the past three years, winning a pair of titles and finishing third as a freshman.
The lineups for the All-Star Classic are as follows:
| 125 | No. 6 Barlow McGhee (Missouri) vs No. 14 Nathan Kraisser (Campbell) |
|---|---|
| 133 | No. 2 Zane Richards (Illinois) vs No. 4 Eric Montoya (Nebraska) |
| 141 | No. 2 Bryce Meredith (Wyoming) vs No. 4 Anthony Ashnault (Rutgers) |
| 149 | No. 3 Lavion Mayes (Missouri) vs No. 4 Anthony Collica (Oklahoma State) |
| 157 | No. 4 Brian Murphy (Michigan) vs No. 5 Max Rohskopf (NC State) |
| 165 | No. 2 Isaac Jordan (Wisconsin) vs No. 3 Daniel Lewis (Missouri) |
| 174 | No. 5 Ethan Ramos (North Carolina) vs No. 9 Zac Brunson (Illinois) |
| 184 | No. 1 Gabe Dean (Cornell) vs No. 2 Myles Martin (Ohio State) |
| 197 | No. 2 Brett Pfarr (Minnesota) vs No. 4 Brett Harner (Princeton) |
| HWT | No. 2 Ty Walz (Virgina Tech) vs No. 3 Connor Medbery (Wisconsin) |
The full lineup of matches, including preliminary bouts, can be found HERE
The All-Star Classic begins at 7:00 on Saturday night and will stream live on TrackWrestling.
