Ohio State's No. 2-ranked wrestling team traveled to the suburbs of Baltimore for their first dual meet of the season and emerged victorious over the Midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy. The Buckeyes finished the meet with a team score of 28-9, winning 8 of 10 matches.
Squaring off inside the high school gym of senior captain Myles Martin, McDonogh School in Owings Mills, Md., Ohio State was always expected to win the meet: the Buckeyes started six ranked wrestlers, including four among the Top 5 in the country at their respective weight classes. Navy started just one ranked competitor, the No. 19 wrestler in the country at 149 lbs.
What the team was most interested in, aside from the first win of the season, was to get an idea of how some returning starters looked at new weight classes, and how new faces fit in a lineup missing a trio of four-time All Americans in Kyle Snyder, Bo Jordan and Nathan Tomasello. For the most part, the team put forth a good first impression.
Senior Leadership
Ohio State's trio of senior captains did their jobs well. Myles Martin and Micah Jordan each posted tech falls, showing why they are ranked first and second in the country at 184 and 149 lbs., respectively.
Joey McKenna, who 24 hours prior defeated No. 5 Kaid Brock at the NWCA All-Star Classic in Denver, held off a game Nicholas Gill at 141 lbs., finishing with a 3-2 decision.
Wrestling on back-to-back nights with a 1,600-mile flight in between may have taken a little starch out of McKenna, as he won on the strength of two escapes and a third-period rideout. Even so, his sound technical work versus Navy and his absolute dominance on top both versus Brock in Denver and again versus Gill was another reminder that he will almost certainly be in the hunt for an NCAA title next March.
Martin was the highlight of the evening for the hometown crown. The 2016 NCAA Champion put on a show for his friends and family, piling up five takedowns in the first period and 10 in total to seal a 21-6 tech fall.
Blistering speed from Myles Martin. pic.twitter.com/FqPjvqDkHc
— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) November 3, 2018
Jordan earned his tech with with plenty of back points in the meet's final match. Using brute strength and sound leverage, he managed to drag No. 19 Jared Prince back into the ring by one foot, and turn it into a six-point move for an 8-1 first period.
Loop, swoop, and pull. Takedown and 4 nearfall for Mickey Jordan. pic.twitter.com/2l9m6Bof6s
— FloWrestling (@FloWrestling) November 4, 2018
He then managed a takedown and another four-point near fall in the second to go up 14-1, and sealed the tech with an escape and riding time in the final frame, finishing 16-1.
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions
If there is one knock on the Buckeyes, it's that they don't pile up the bonus points at the same rate as rival Penn State. If you happen to ascribe to this criticism, you didn't see much Saturday night to change your mind, as Martin and Jordan's tech falls were the only bonus point victories of the night.
Ke'Shawn Hayes, wrestling up at 157 lbs. after Micah Jordan wrestled his way into starting at 149, took a 7-5 decision to open the meet. He had a takedown in each the second and third periods, along with a pair of escapes and the riding time bonus.
At 165, redshirt freshman Kaleb Romero couldn't muster much offense. An escape and a takedown in the last 10 seconds of the match gave him the 3-2 decision.
Kaleb Romero in his first collegiate match as an official Buckeye.
— Ohio State Wrestling (@wrestlingbucks) November 3, 2018
(Photo by Kevin Allen) pic.twitter.com/eScG33tdIG
Te'Shan Campbell moved up to 174 lbs. this season, where he seems to be a more natural fit than cutting down to 165 as he did last year. As he did frequently last year, he piled up a fair number of back points when wrestling from the top position, managing to tilt his opponent for six points in the second period, and won 8-5.
The downside is that as he did frequently last year, Campbell failed to score a takedown in the match.
Heavyweight Gary Traub may or may not be Tom Ryan's ultimate answer at heavyweight this season, but he opened the year 1-0 after a late-match takedown gave him the 3-1 decision. Two matches later, 133-pounder Luke Pletcher earned a 7-4 decision of his own, with two takedowns and a handful of escape points.
| Wt | Result | OSU | NCSt |
|---|---|---|---|
| 157 | No. 6 Ke-Shawn Hayes, decision over Connor Prince (7-5) | 3 | 0 |
| 165 | Kaleb Romero, decision over Tanner Skidgel (3-2) | 6 | 0 |
| 174 | No. 13 Te'Shan Campbell, decision over Spencer Carey (8-5) | 9 | 0 |
| 184 | No. 1 Myles Martin, victory by tech fall over Anthony Cable (21-6) | 14 | 0 |
| 197 | Joshua Roetman, victory by FALL over Kevin Snyder (3:39) | 14 | 6 |
| HWT | Gary Traub, decision over Andrew Piehl (3-1) | 17 | 6 |
| 125 | Jacob Allen, decision over Brakan Mead (5-4) | 17 | 9 |
| 133 | No. 4 Luke Pletcher, decision over Casey Cobb (7-4) | 20 | 9 |
| 141 | No. 2 Joey McKenna, decision over Nicholas Gill (3-2) | 23 | 9 |
| 149 | No. 2 Micah Jordan, victory by TECH FALL over No. 19 Jared Prince (16-1) | 28 | 9 |
Coming Up Short
Two Buckeyes failed to get in the win column in Maryland: sophomore Brakan Mead gave up a 5-4 decision at 125 and redshirt sophomore Kevin Snyder go caught in a cradle early in the second period, giving up the night's only pin.
Snyder stepped into the lineup for No. 3 Kollin Moore at 197 lbs. Moore is wrestling on the U23 World Team later this month in Romania at 97 kg., and was held out to avoid cutting 15 lbs. for the dual and then bulking back up for a run at a world title.
Martin will also wrestle for Team USA in Romania, but won't face the same cut, as he wrestles 86 kg. internationally.
Mead wrestled as the team's starter during the first half of the season last year, filling in for the injured Nathan Tomasello. This season he got the nod over true freshman Malik Heinselman because the staff won't pull Heinselman's redshirt until they are certain he can finish as an All American at the NCAA Tournament in March.
Heinselman competed alongside several "unattached" teammates at the Michigan State Open in East Lansing Saturday. Buckeye head coach Tom Ryan said the staff will evaluate his performance in such open tournaments to get a feel for how well he can handle Division I competition should they opt to put him into the lineup in place of Mead.
Michigan State Open Results
Seventeen Buckeyes wrestled at the Michigan State Open tournament Saturday. NCAA rules allow wrestlers to compete as "unattached" entrants in as many open tournaments as they like. This gives incoming freshman like Heinselman the opportunity to test the waters against other college wrestlers without burning their redshirt in a dual meet situation.
Heinselman performed as advertised, winning four straight matches to win the freshman/sophomore 125-pound bracket. He recorded a first-period pin, a 15-5 major decision, an 18-3 tech fall and a 11-6 decision over teammate Dylan Koontz en route to the championship. Koontz had a 15-0 tech fall and back-to-back decisions to wrestle his way into the championship match.
Other Champions at the open included Sammy Sasso at 149 lbs., Gavin Hoffman at 184, and Chase Singletary at heavyweight. Sasso and Hoffman are two of the most exciting members of the true freshman class, and they looked it in East Lansing, while Singletary looked to get some mojo back after losing the starting spot to Traub in the team's wrestle-offs.
Sasso earned back-to-back first-period falls, a 20-3 tech and a 10-3 decision to win his title. Hoffman, meanwhile, had a 17-6 major, a 7-2 decision and a pinfall before accepting a medical forfeit from teammate Zach Steiner, who earned his way to the final match via a first-period fall and back-to-back decisions, before finishing second to Hoffman.
Buckeyes Alex Felix and Quinn Kinner opted not to wrestle the championship match at 141 lbs. after each earning their way to the last round of the tournament. Kinner notched a decision, a pin and a major decision; Felix won by a pair of pins, a forfeit and a decision.
Braden Redlin at 164 and Ethan Smith at 174 each finished third, while Elijah Cleary finished fourth at 157 after falling short to Michigan's Alec Pantaleo in the semifinal and then dropping a 2-1 decision to Michigan State's Jake Tucker in the third place match.
What's Next
Ohio State will not compete in dual-meet action again until mid-November, when it takes a west-coast swing for meets with California Baptist in Riverside, and versus Arizona State in Tempe, Nov. 16 and 18.
Members of the team will compete at the Ohio Intercollegiate Open in Cleveland Nov. 11, and in tournament action again at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 before opening Big Ten action versus Wisconsin at St. John Arena Dec. 9.
Martin and Moore will wrestle for the stars and stripes at the U23 World Freestyle Championships Nov. 12-18, in Bucharest, Romania.
