With the equivalent of a bye week for Thanksgiving separating Sunday's dual meet from November's loss to Virginia Tech, Ohio State's wrestling team expects a resounding victory Sunday against Cornell. A year ago in Ithaca, the Buckeyes handed the Big Red a resounding 25-9 drubbing, but even with NCAA champion Yianni Diakomihalis taking an Olympic redshirt, this year's meeting could be a different story in Columbus.
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| CORNELL BIG RED |
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0-1, 0-0 EIWA ROSTER / SCHEDULE |
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2 P.M. – SUNDAY, DEC. 1 COVELLI CENTER COLUMBUS, OHIO |
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| BROADCAST: BTN Plus |
The book on Ohio State's team through three duals is that the Buckeyes have some star power in senior captains Kollin Moore and Luke Pletcher, have a budding star in Sammy Sasso, a stalwart big man in Chase Singletary, and may have a pair of returning starters coming into their own in Ethan Smith and Kaleb Romero.
Questions abound, however, at 125, 157 and 184, with head coach Tom Ryan saying after a loss to Virginia Tech in mid-November that “everything is on the table” with regard to his lineup. The Hokies came to Columbus and capitalized on a shocking pin of the highly-ranked Sasso to cruise to a comfortable upset of the then-third-ranked Buckeyes.
Ryan's comments indicated that he and his staff would consider alternatives to Malik Heinselman at 125 (like burning one of the Decatur twins' redshirts, for example), subbing senior Ke-Shawn Hayes or redshirt freshman Jaden Mattox for Elijah Cleary at 157, and alternating Gavin Hoffman and Zach Steiner at 184.
The probable matchups for Sunday's meeting don't indicate anything radical like burning a redshirt at this stage, and although Hayes' absence from the lineup remains conspicuous, he might still be bulking back up from 149, where he had hoped to wrestle this season.
This afternoon we learned in this early season battle. This team is close and hungry. We all watched Ethan do what hes capable of. He battled a great opponent every second. Grateful for this amazing facility and crowd. https://t.co/XiFddsm403
— Thomas Ryan (@Buckeye158) November 17, 2019
Ryan's biggest message to his team after the loss to the Hokies was the critical importance of wrestling with intensity for a full seven minutes. Romero said Tuesday that practices over the past two weeks have been just that: intense.
“It's been pretty rough,” Romero said with a chuckle. “We've been going hard, working on a lot of positions and refining a few things for all the guys, but it's been a really good two weeks.”
Romero said the team has made “a lot of progress” since facing Virginia Tech: “We're excited to see how we compete Sunday. I think it's going to be a really good one.”
Welcome back @LancePalmer as the honorary team captain at 2pm today against Cornell. 4x state champ, 4x AA, Big 10 OW & NCAA finalist is preparing to defend world title on New Years Eve! pic.twitter.com/tnDG3HDKZt
— Thomas Ryan (@Buckeye158) December 1, 2019
The Cornell Big Red
Head Coach: Rob Kroll
| Wt | OSU | Cornell |
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| 125 | Malik Heinselman (5-4, So.) | Dom LaJoie (8-3, So.) |
| 133 | No. 18 Quinn Kinner (5-4, r-Fr.) | No. 6 Chas Tucker (6-0, Sr.) |
| 141 | No. 1 Luke Pletcher (8-0, Sr.) | Noah Baughman (9-1, Sr.) |
| 149 | No. 10 Sammy Sasso (7-1, r-Fr.) | Hunter Richard (8-1, Jr.) |
| 157 | Elijah Cleary (6-4, r-Jr.) | Colton Yapoujian (10-1, Fr.) |
| 165 | No. 14 Ethan Smith (6-3, r-So.) | Milik Dawkins (5-0, Sr.) |
| 174 | No. 13 Kaleb Romero (7-0, r-So.) | No. 11 Brandon Womack (4-1, Sr.) |
| 184 | Gavin Hoffman (8-3, r-Fr.) | No. 4 Ben Darmstadt (7-2, Jr.) |
| 197 | No. 1 Kollin Moore (8-0, r-Sr.) | Jonathan Loew (10-1, Fr.) |
| HWT |
No. 8 Chase Singletary (2-0, r-So.) -OR- Gary Traub (10-1, r-Jr.) |
Brendan Furman (9-2, So.) |
Cornell is one of the best wrestling programs in the sport. Rob Koll has led his team to nine top-five finishes in the NCAA Division I wrestling tournament over his 23 years at the helm, including second-place finishes in 2010 and 2011 – the best ever for an Ivy League team.
Cornell has won the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association championship 25 times, including 11 consecutive titles between 2007 and 2017. They are consistently among the top mid-major programs in the country, and Kroll and his assistants won seven NCAA titles among them as collegiate wrestlers (Kyle Dake was the third man in history to win four, a feat Ohio State's own Logan Steiber would achieve two years later).
The Buckeyes have wrestled Cornell 15 times over the past 90 years; at the moment, the series is split right down the middle, 7-7-1. After Ohio State's 25-9 victory last season, Cornell would love to repay the favor Sunday afternoon, especially after dropping their season opener to No. 9 North Carolina State by another 25-9 score the Saturday prior to Thanksgiving.
Although Cornell doesn't feature as many ranked wrestlers as the Buckeyes, their roster is littered with experienced guys who have won more matches than they've lost in early-season tournaments. The meet will be another good test for the newer members of Tom Ryan's starting lineup.
Notable Matches
133 pounds: No. 18 Quinn Kinner vs. No. 6 Chas Tucker
Quinn Kinner is a highly-touted recruit who opted to drop down to 133 after losing the 141 spot to Luke Pletcher, who is currently the No. 1 man in the country at that weight. Kinner started the season off strong, but in his loss to Virginia Tech's Collin Gerardi, the young Buck simply couldn't manage any offense.
In his last outing, Tucker defeated No. 14 Jarrett Trombley in a 4-1 decision at North Carolina State. The Cornell senior won with an escape, a takedown in the waning seconds of the match, and the riding time bonus.
174 pounds: No. 13 Kaleb Romero vs. No. 11 Brandon Womack
Kaleb Romero has been a breath of fresh air this season; after an up-and-down debut season a year ago at 165 pounds, the redshirt sophomore appears to be feeling his oats and finding some confidence at a new weight.
He said Tuesday that his mindset has been the biggest difference, and that he's working hard to not let the pressure of expectations get in his way.
“Last year I lost confidence in myself, I didn't really believe in myself,” he admitted. “This year I'm just going out with nothing to lose, just going out and wrestling and trying to make things happen.”
The undefeated Buckeye faces senior Brandon Womack, fresh off Womack's loss to No. 17 Daniel Bullard in a 5-4 decision. Womack is a three-time NCAA qualifier, and will be a good test of how far Romero has come in his development from a year ago.
Buckeye Breakdown
With a standing-room-only crowd and MMA champion Lance Palmer cheering them on, the Buckeyes expect to get back in the win column. Pletcher and Moore will roll, and both will be looking to extend their streaks of bonus-point victories.
Pletcher has earned bonus in six of his eight matches, and faced top-20 opponents in five consecutive bouts, outscoring the competition by a combined score of 56-21 in those matches. Moore has recorded bonus points in seven of hist first eight bouts, including four major decisions, two tech falls and a pin.
The Buckeyes should win this meet, but as the Hokies proved, anything can happen. It's been a wild season of dual-meet wrestling so far, with the Buckeyes, Oklahoma State and even the seemingly unbeatable Penn State Nittany Lions dropping meets already.
Ohio State announced the match against Cornell officially became a sellout two weeks in advance when the 4,177th ticket was purchased. With ‘standing room only’ space also available, the attendance is expected to reach Covelli Center capacity at more than 4,400.
