Thanks to a World Championship back in December, Logan Stieber predictably joined Kyle Snyder atop the latest United World Wrestling freestyle rankings, released on Wednesday.
Stieber's ranking comes after introducing himself in a big way on the world stage at the senior level. While Stieber previously won a Junior World silver medal, he made a splash in Budapest with a title at his first senior level World Championships. Stieber is ranked No. 1 in the world by the UWW at the non-Olympic weight of 61 kg (134.4 lbs), which also features fellow American Alan Waters at No. 18. Stieber won the last of his four NCAA titles for Ohio State in 2015 at 141 lbs. At just 25 years old, Stieber is relatively young in the international wrestling community, so he will no doubt continue to make his mark on the world stage for years to come.
Snyder's top spot is thanks to his Olympic gold at 97 kg (213.8 lbs) in Rio this past summer. Though he recently lost a pair of matches at the Freestyle World Clubs Cup in Ukraine, Snyder still maintains the top spot thanks to his Olympic accomplishments. Snyder is still just a junior at Ohio State but has only wrestled a handful of matches this season due to his international wrestling schedule. He will return to action for the Buckeyes later in the current season, competing at heavyweight.
Current Buckeye assistant coach Tervel Dlagnev also earned the No. 6 ranking at 125 kg (275.6 lbs) despite battling a nagging back injury for most of the last two years. Dlagnev likely ended his competitive career with a fifth-place finish in Rio in his second trip to the Olympic Games. Working forward, Dlagnev will assist Tom Ryan with the upper weights — namely fellow Olympian Kyle Snyder.
Six other Americans joined the Buckeye trio in the rankings, including Penn State's Frank Molinaro (No. 6 at 65 kg), Nebraska's James Green (No. 8 at 70 kg) and Jordan Burroughs (No. 7 at 74 kg), and Missouri's J'Den Cox (No. 4 at 86 kg) in the Top 10 of their respective weight classes.
Snyder is not expected to be in the lineup this weekend as the Buckeyes face off against Wisconsin on Friday and Rutgers on Sunday.
