Joey McKenna's first year as a Buckeye was solid, with a Big Ten title and a top-three NCAA finish to his credit. He added another accolade Monday when he was named to the U.S. Men's Freestyle World Cup team alongside training partner Logan Stieber and reigning World Champion Kyle Snyder.
This is far from McKenna's first world team experience. He won the silver medal at the 2014 Junior Championships, and took bronze last fall at the U23 World Championships.
At the 2018 NCAA Wrestling Championship in Cleveland, McKenna capped off an incredible postseason run with a third-place finish, having lost only one match during the postseason. He won the Big Ten championship without yielding a single point to his opponents, and his lone postseason loss was to top-seeded Bryce Meredith in the NCAA semifinal.
McKenna joins two fellow Buckeyes on the World Cup team, both World Champions. Stieber and McKenna are frequent training partners at the Ohio Regional Training Center, and both will wrestle at 65 kg. for Team USA; Stieber is considered the starter on the roster.
The Freestyle World Cup is the annual international dual-meet championship, and features eight of the top men's freestyle wrestling teams in the world. The University of Iowa will host the tournament April 7-8 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
Ohio State tied with Penn State for the most athletes on the Team USA roster. Frank Molinaro, David Taylor and Bo Nickal will wrestle at the World Cup; no other university has more than two competitors on the 20-man roster.
