With a semifinal record of 2-4 Friday night in Cleveland, it's not hard to understand why Buckeye fans - and the Ohio State coaching staff - were a little glum after giving up the lead to Penn State in the team title standings.
"It sucks," was how finalist Myles Martin responded when asked how he felt about the outcome of the semifinal matches. He quickly added, however, that the team has to, "keep wrestling. We're here to compete, and we love the sport."
| Team | Points | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | PENN STATE | 120.5 |
| 2 | OHIO STATE | 109.5 |
| 3 | IOWA | 88.5 |
| 4 | MICHIGAN | 73.5 |
| 5 | NC STATE | 69.5 |
Looking beyond the disappointment of seeing wrestlers like Nathan Tomasello and Joey McKenna knocked into the consolation brackets, Ohio State accomplished two historic feats yesterday, as a school record eight wrestlers earned All America honors, and the trio of Tomasello, Kyle Snyder and Bo Jordan became the first group of three teammates in NCAA history to finish as four-time All Americans.
"We've got eight all-Americans, which is the most we've ever had, but we've got a lot of wrestling tomorrow," Tom Ryan said after the semifinals. "Mathematically I know it's not over. I think we're down by 10 or 11, but we're not out of it, and we've got some big matches in the morning."
tOSU's max possible points: 172.5
— Christian Pyles (@CPyles8) March 17, 2018
PSU's max possible points: 165
In tOSU's hands.
All eight All Americans are still wrestling in the tournament, with Snyder and Martin in Saturday night's finals, and six of their teammates fighting toward third-place matches. Only Te'Shan Campbell and Ke-Shawn Hayes were eliminated from contention, with Hayes falling one win shy of becoming an All American as well.
Ryan knows his biggest task as a coach is to make sure his men are still fighting for every point to win and advance Saturday.
"I mean, there's no reason why anyone from Ohio State should be hanging their head," he said. "We came in with a goal winning a national tournament. It's going to be hard to do tomorrow. It's still possible, but we could be a lot of other teams that aren't in the hunt."
Kyle Snyder, the two-time defending NCAA heavyweight champion, offered a similar assessment.
"We're still going to wrestle hard," he said. "It just stinks that we're losing right now. But I don't know what, maybe if Penn State doesn't win their finals tomorrow, we still have a chance."
Point scoring for all of our new wrestling fans... 1st match this morning is 3.5 pts plus bonus (2pin, 1.5tech, 1major). 2nd match is 1pt plus same bonus. NCAA final win is 4pts plus bonus. Thanks for all of the support. #positiveinfinity
— Thomas Ryan (@Buckeye158) March 17, 2018
Regardless of the mathematical implications of how that might happen, Snyder had nothing but praise for his teammates.
"I thought that we put ourselves in a really good position after the first day, and then wrestled pretty well in the quarters," he said. "We had two close matches that we dropped and then a couple other close – Joey was close, Nate and Lee, they go back and forth, and then Micah. So I'm happy with all my teammates. I love them."
Consolation-round matches start at 11 a.m. from Quicken Loans Arena. ESPN U will air coverage, and all three mats will stream live via WatchESPN or the WatchESPN app.
Saturday Morning Matches:
- 125 pound consolation semi: No. 2 Nathan Tomasello vs. No. 10 Sebastian Rivera (Northwestern)
- 133 pound consolation semi: No. 3 Luke Pletcher vs. No. 4 Kaid Brock (Oklahoma State)
- 141 pound consolation semi: No. 4 Joey McKenna vs. No. 5 Kevin Jack (N.C. State)
- 157 pound consolation semi: No. 7 Micah Jordan vs. No. 8 Tyler Berger (Nebraska)
- 174 pound consolation semi: No. 6 Bo Jordan vs. No. 5 Myles Amine (Michigan)
- 197 pound consolation semi: No. 1 Kollin Moore vs. No. 2 Ben Darmstadt (Cornell)
