NCAA DIV. I WRESTLING Can Ohio State repeat?
by Richard Immel After a 94-year wait, the Ohio State Buckeyes captured the program’s first-ever NCAA championship last season in one of the most intense team races in recent memory. Led by four-time NCAA champion Logan Stieber, five Buckeye wrestlers secured All-American status, scoring 102 total team points, 18 points ahead of the second place Iowa Hawkeyes. Stieber, alongside freshman Nathan Tomasello, came away
NCAA individual champions in St. Louis. Stieber took home the 141-pound title by defeating Mitchell Port of Edinboro, 11-5, while Tomasello stormed to the 125-pound title by taking out the wildly entertaining Zeke Moisey of West Virginia, 9-5. Team captains Kyle Snyder and Bo Jordan earned high All- American honors but both came up shy of the top prize. Snyder lost in the 197-pound finals against Kyven Gadson of Iowa State and Jordan finished in third place finish at 165 pounds. Unseeded Kenny Courts wrestled extremely well in St. Louis, navigating his way to a fifth place finish at 184 pounds for Ohio State. “We just believed,” said Ohio State Head Coach Tom Ryan.
“We had some highly-driven people that love to compete. There is no question we felt all along we had the people to win a national championship. This was a long time coming for Ohio State.”
This year the Buckeyes will be without one of the greatest col- lege wrestlers of all-time in Stieber, but the team will be blessed with talent across the board. Tomasello, Jordan and Courts will return to the Buckeye line- up. In addition, two-time All-American Hunter Stieber is expect- ed to return as a top contender at 149 pounds after undergoing successful elbow surgeries during the offseason. Jordan is projected to move up to a cleared out 174-pound weight class where he is currently ranked preseason No. 1 by Flowrestling.
One major hit to the Buckeyes repeat chances comes with Kyle Snyder opting to take an Olympic redshirt this season. Snyder won the World Championships at 97 kg/213 lbs. in Las Vegas, Nev. in September.
The performance of senior 133 pounder Johnni DiJulius could make all the difference for Ohio State. DiJulius is a three-time NCAA qualifier and entered the 2015 NCAA Championships as the No. 4 seed, but was unable to claim All-American honors. “It will always be hard to win. That’s what makes it so spe- cial,” Ryan said. “We are focused on embracing the challenges that the sport brings to everyone that competes in it. We want to win, but so does everyone else.” Ohio State begins its repeat quest ranked No. 5 in the presea- son NWCA Division I Coaches Poll.
The top-ranked team coming in to this season, Oklahoma
State, returns five All-Americans on their roster with two-time NCAA champion Alex Dieringer topping the list. "Obviously, we have the possibility of only three seniors start- ing on this team, so we're just looking for some of that leader- ship out of some of those seniors and I think it would be a pretty big boost as we go through a tough schedule this year,” said Oklahoma State Head Coach John Smith.
8 USA Wrestler
NCAA champion Nathan Tomasello hopes to help lead Ohio State to a second straight NCAA team title. Photo by Austin Bernard.
Dieringer is shooting for his third NCAA title and fourth All- American honors this season at 165 pounds. The senior is on a 50-match win streak and hopes to finish his Cowboy career sec- ond in all-time wins for the prestigious program. “The drive to dominate is what separates me from a lot of people. If I’m not dominating it eats away at me,” Dieringer said. “If [winning the team title] happens, it’s hard to describe how excited I would be for myself and my team.” The last time Oklahoma State won the NCAA team title was in 2006, coincidentally the last time the Cowboys crowned a three- time NCAA champion in Jake Rosholt. Dieringer and the Cowboys are seeking a similar result in 2016. “For Alex, it's about doing something only a handful of guys have ever done,” Smith said. “His win-loss record is pretty impressive. He ranks up there in possibly the top-5 all-time in Oklahoma State's history. Definitely a big year for him to put his name in the record books." Two Cowboys, Dean Heil and Kyle Crutchmer, have the dis- tinction of being the highest returning place winner from the NCAA Championships last year. Heil finished in fourth place at 141 pounds and Crutchmer came in fifth at 174 pounds. Both men are expected to have banner seasons for the orange and black.
Eddie Klimara and Austin Marsden round out the past All- Americans that will compete for Oklahoma State this year. Two major players in the NCAA team race for the Cowboys
are Anthony Collica and Chance Marstellar. Collica has made the round of 12 at the NCAA tournament the past two seasons, but sporadic weight jumps have hindered
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