Logan Stieber is becoming a fixture on the United States World Team.
The four-time NCAA champion for Ohio State swept fellow Buckeye Joey McKenna in two matches Saturday at Final X – State College to secure a spot on his third world team where he'll compete for a world championship at 65kg.
Stieber won a wild opening match of the best-of-three series on criteria after the wrestlers finished action tied at eight. In the second match, Stieber controlled action scoring a near technical fall on the way to an 8-0 win.
ONE. BAD. DUDE. Logan Stieber lights up the scoreboard vs. McKenna in match two. #FinalX pic.twitter.com/bplVQEVK4p
— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) June 16, 2018
Two years ago, Stieber took World Championship gold at 61kg. He'll look to repeat that feat this October in Budapest – incidentally, the city where he won gold two years ago.
“I feel really good making this World Team," Stieber said after the match. "I’ve had an up and down year, but I always believed in myself so this feels really good about it right now. I had a good focus for the last month or so and I put in two really good weeks leading up to this event, so I feel really good about it.”
Stieber joins fellow Buckeye Kyle Snyder on the Senior World Team. Ohio State has two members of its active roster on the Under-23 World Team as well, as Myles Martin and Kollin Moore each earned spots on that team.
The relationship between Stieber and McKenna was a major storyline leading up to the all-Buckeye match at Final X. The two combatants were training partners from the time McKenna transferred to Ohio State last summer.
@_LogieBear_ made @Joey_McKenna better and Mckenna brought a heightened lever of focus for Stieber. Blessed to have them leading the @wrestlingbucks. #positiveinfinity
— Thomas Ryan (@Buckeye158) June 17, 2018
Ahead of the match, Stieber said that regardless of the outcome of the match, he knew he'd spend the year ahead "training with either the No. 1 or No.2 guy in the country" at 65 kg.
McKenna echoed the sentiment, saying, "Win or lose, after the match, we're still friends and we've still got to get whoever wins ready for the world championships."
