One week after overpowering a scrappy Iowa team ranked in the Top 4 in the country, the Buckeye wrestling program hits the road for something totally different: a Friday night fight versus an unranked Big Ten foe with only one conference win on the season.
Michigan State, to put it mildly, is wildly outclassed in this dual, hosting the unanimous No. 2 team in the country and fielding no ranked wrestlers to Ohio State's near-perfect 10. With Kyle Snyder on the other side of the planet competing in the Ivan Yarygin Memorial Grand Prix, Sparty will hope for an upset at heavyweight to stave off a shutout.
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| MICHIGAN STATE SPARTANS |
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5-6, 1-4 Big Ten Conference ROSTER / SCHEDULE |
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7:00 P.M. – MONDAY, JAN. 26 JENISON FIELD HOUSE EAST LANSING, MICH. |
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TELEVISION: BIG TEN NETWORK STREAMING: BTN2Go |
For the Buckeyes, they need to get used to life on the road, as that's where they'll live the rest of the season. Aside from Sunday's "home" meet versus Purdue at St. Paris Graham High School and a de facto home meet at the NCAA Tournament in Cleveland, the team travels to East Lansing, Happy Valley, Ann Arbor and Raleigh ahead of a return trip to East Lansing for the Big Ten Tournament.
The tussle with the Spartans presents an excellent chance for Nathan Tomasello and the Buckeye middleweights to brush off disappointing losses versus Iowa, and to continue pushing and growing toward the Feb. 3 showdown with the reigning national champion Nittany Lions.
Buckeye Breakdown
To date, Ohio State’s projected starting 10 for the postseason owns a combined season record of 139-14 (.908), and the team has outscored dual-meet opponents 336-69 through 10 meets - in other words, by an average margin of nearly 34-7.
Last Sunday versus Iowa, the team's upper weights went to work, dispatching their Hawkeye counterparts with relative ease, though Mitch Bowman made it interesting at 184, giving Myles Martin some strong competition. The team dropped the three matches they were supposed to lose - on paper, anyway - in the middle of the lineup, with the only surprise being Spencer Lee's upset of Tomasello to start the night.
Lee, a true freshman battling one of the strongest 125-pound champions in history, earned the biggest win of his young career on the strength of zero offensive output and an absolutely stunning second-period rideout. For his efforts, he was named NCAA and Big Ten wrestler of the week, and became the new No. 3 wrestler in the country, one spot ahead of Ohio State's senior leader.
With Tomasello falling out of the ranks of unbeaten Buckeyes, the team now fields just four starters without a loss this season: Snyder, Kollin Moore, Martin and Luke Pletcher. Martin and Pletcher lead the team in victories, each with records of 20-0.
In addition to the elder Snyder wrestling overseas, it also looks like Bo Jordan will have the night off. Tom Ryan has given him some spells when his points weren't needed for the team win, and this trip looks like one of those. Fritz Schierl will take his place, and has performed well in his matches this season.
The Michigan State Spartans
Head Coach: Roger Chandler
| Wt | OSU | MSU |
|---|---|---|
| 125 | No. 4 Nathan Tomasello (2-1) | Rayvon Foley (20-6) |
| 133 | No. 2 Luke Pletcher (20-0) | Matt Santos (4-9) |
| 141 | No. 11 Joey McKenna (7-1) |
Javier Gasca (11-7) -OR- Alex Hrisopoulos (9-5) |
| 149 | No. 7 Ke-Shawn Hayes (19-3) |
Jwan Britton (10-9) -OR- Austin Eicher (5-3) |
| 157 | No. 5 Micah Jordan (17-3) | Jake Tucker (16-11) |
| 165 | No. 13 Te'Shan Campbell (14-5) | Austin Hiles (10-13) |
| 174 | Fritz Schierl (20-3) |
Logan Ritchie (8-16) -OR- Austen Malczewski (9-10) |
| 184 | No. 2 Myles Martin (20-0) | Shwan Shadaia (7-13) |
| 197 | No. 1 Kollin Moore (16-0) | Nick May (6-15) |
| HWT | Kevin Snyder (16-8) | Christian Rebottaro (7-8) |
Chandler is in his second season as head coach of the Spartans, though he'd been on the staff 20 years prior to succeeding long-time coach Tom Minkel for the 2016-2017 campaign. A 1992 Ohio high school state champion wrestler for St. Edward's in Cleveland, Chandler went on to have a solid wrestling career at Indiana, finishing with a 134-25 record.
A three-time All-American for the Hoosiers, Chandler finished eighth at the NCAA Championships in 1995, third in 1996 and second in 1997. His only loss at the 1997 NCAA Championships came against Cary Kolat of Lock Haven, a two-time NCAA Champion and 1997 World Championship runner-up.
His first year as head coach was... less successful. The Spartans finished 5-11 overall, and just 1-8 in the conference. The season is off to a similar start, as this year's roster is 5-6 overall, with just one conference win: and 18-15 slugfest versus Indiana Jan. 19.
In matchups with Iowa and Penn State, however, the Spartans fell 49-6 and 48-3, respectively. A similar finish for the Buckeyes isn't out of the question, as only five of the team's probable wrestlers hold winning records.
In an interesting bit of trivia, Chandler and Ohio State head coach Tom Ryan know one another fairly well: Chandler was a student-athlete at Indiana when Ryan was an assistant with the Hoosiers, and the two were roommates at the time.
"I know Tom always had goals and dreams to be a Division I head coach and obviously, he's having much success," Chandler said. "I've got a lot of respect for Tom and what he's done with his program."
Match Outlook
The outlook? Pain. Look to the Spartans outings versus similarly-ranked opponents, and there is little reason to ponder how this match will shake out. Questions to ponder include how Tomasello bounces back from his first regular-season loss since his freshman campaign, how the middleweights likewise respond to their missteps last weekend, and how young Kevin Snyder acquits himself in relief of his older brother competing overseas.
Prediction? Call it 45-0.
