NCAA Championships Recap

The Buckeyes put together one of the most memorable performances in NCAA History over the last three days in St. Louis, Missouri. The Iowa Hawkeyes, who everyone thought would run away with the NCAA Title, were behind the Buckeyes the whole tournament until the finals began. Even during the finals, it looked like Goliath would fall at any time. This was especially evident after the Hawkeyes Goliath himself, Brent Metcalf at 149 pounds, was slaughtered in the finals by Darrion Caldwell of North Carolina State. Ohio State put three wrestlers in the NCAA finals in Reece Humphrey at 133 pounds, J. Jaggers at 141 pounds and Mike Pucillo at 184 pounds. Reece and Pucillo, however, fell in the finals in close bouts. Humphrey lost a Big Ten Tournament final rematch with Frank Gomez of Michigan State. Pucillo lost to Big Ten champion and Hodge Trophy winner Jake Herbert of Northwestern. Jaggers repeated his national champion performance of a season ago and he did it in memorable fashion. Jaggers avenged an early season loss to Gallick of Iowa State, by pinning Gallick in the first period with his trademark cradle. He then repeated this in the semi-finals by pinning Chris Drouin of Arizona State with the same cradle in 4:27. The finals saw J. Jaggers defeat 8th seeded Ryan Williams for his second consecutive national title. Lance Palmer finished in 4th place at 149 pounds for his third consecutive All-American performance.

We couldn't have asked for more from the wrestling Buckeyes. Each Buckeye wrestler won at least one match at the national tournament. Colt Sponseller lost two consecutive nail biter matches at 165 pounds to miss All-American status by one match. One of those matches was a 4-2 overtime heartbreaking defeat to 2nd seeded Ryan Morningstar of Iowa. The Buckeyes finished as national runner-ups for the second year in a row, this time only 4 points out of the top spot to the Iowa Hawkeyes. Congratulations Buckeyes!!

Big Ten Tournament Recap

The buckeyes had a disappointing sixth place finish at the Big Ten Championships this season at University Park, Pennsylvania. Reece Humphrey was the highest Buckeye placer, finishing as the Big Ten Runner-up at 133 pounds. J. Jaggers finished in 3rd place at 141 pounds for the second year in a row, defeating third ranked Alex Tsirtsis of Iowa 4-3 in his final match of the day. Lance Palmer also finished in 3rd place at 149 pounds defeating Jake Patascil of Purdue 12-3 to finish his day. Colt Sponseller and David Rella each finished in 4th and 5th place of their respective weight classes. Mike Pucillo had his 44 match win streak stopped early in the Big Ten Tournament, but rebounded strong with big victories to finish 3rd place at 184 pounds. The Buckeyes finished the season two weeks later at the NCAA Championships in St. Louis, Missouri.

Buckeyes 4-0 in last 4 Duals

The Buckeyes finished the final two weeks of the regular season a perfect 4-0 in duals, all against ranked teams. The Buckeyes defeated #17 Michigan 26-17, #8 Illinois 26-13, #19 Northwestern 23-18 and #16 Wisconsin 24-18. The Michigan, which was at Michigan, looked to be in jeapordy until sophomore 125 pound wrestler Nikko Triggas secured a huge fall against #17 Michael Watts. It was a match changing fall for Triggas, who now has a team leading 11 pins on the season. The Buckeyes came home on Sunday for the final home dual of the season and easily handled #8 Illinois 26-13. One week later the Buckeyes defeated both Northwestern and Wisconsin on the road to finish the regular season 13-2 and 7-1 in the Big Ten. Head Coach Tom Ryan also picked up his 150th career coaching victory against Illinois. He now has a winning percentage of .609 in his coaching career. The Buckeyes will return to action March 7 and 8 at Penn State in the Big Ten wrestling tournament.

#5 Ohio State hosts #25 Purdue

Ohio State returned home to St. John's Arena Sunday 2/8 to host the Purdue Boilermakers. Ohio State was coming off a thrashing of Penn State just two days earlier and looked at a tough match with Purdue (11-2). Ohio State jumped out to an early 10-0 lead after three matches and never looked back, crushing the Boilermakers 28-10. Ohio State was led by a Lance Palmer victory over #7 Jake Patascil. Colt Sponseller had a 3-1 victory over #17 Luke Manuel. Nikko Triggas turned in a fall at 125 pounds. The Buckeyes look to be turning the corner and preparing for another deep post season run. Full results are below.

149: No. 4 Lance Palmer (OSU) dec. No. 7 Jake Patacsil (Purdue); 8-5, 3-0
157: No. 17 Jason Johnstone mdec. Colton Salazar (Purdue); 14-3, 7-0
165: No. 2 Colt Sponseller (OSU) dec. No. 16 Luke Manuel (Purdue); 3-1, 10-0
174: Nick Corpe (Purdue) dec. Dave Rella (OSU); 6-4, 10-3
184: No. 2 Mike Pucillo (OSU) forfeit (Purdue); 6-0, 16-3
197: No. 13 Logan Brown (Purdue) dec. Jason Cook (OSU); 5-4, 16-6
285: Corey Morrison (OSU) dec. Chris Kasten (Purdue); 3-1, 19-6
125: Nikko Triggas (OSU) pin Akif Eren (Purdue); 6-0, 26-6
133: Carson Beebe (Purdue) mdec. Owen Schaefer (OSU); 9-0, 25-10
141: No. 14 J Jaggers (OSU) dec. Matt Hemry (Purdue); 8-4, 28-1

#Ohio State at Penn State

The Ohio State Wrestling Buckeyes traveled to State College, Pennsylvania on Friday 2/6 to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions. Ohio State was coming off a stunning defeat to the Minnesota Golden Gophers just five days earlier. Penn State was going to be a tough opponent and had been in and out of the rankings all season long. However, the Buckeyes jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, crushing the Nittany Lions 33-7! It was a huge victory in Nittany Lion territory and showed why Ohio State is ranked #5 in the nation. Penn State was without undefeated returning national finalist Bubba Jenkins at 149 pounds, but that would not have made a difference. Falls were turned in by Lance Palmer, J Jaggers and Mike Pucillo. Ohio State returns to action Sunday at home against the #25 Purdue Boilermakers. Full results are below.
157 – No. 17 Jason Johnstone (OSU) DEC Tim Darling (PSU), 9-4
165 – No. 2 Colt Sponseller (OSU) DEC No. 20 Dan Vallimont (PSU), 8-3
174 – No. 16 Quentin Wright (PSU) DEC Dave Rella (OSU), 3-2
184 – No. 2 Mike Pucillo (OSU) PIN Matt Dodds (PSU), 1:35 1st
197 – Cody Gardner (OSU) DEC Jack Decker (PSU), 6-3
285 – Corey Morrison (OSU) DEC Stefan Tighe (PSU), 6-4
125 – No. 13 Brad Pataky (PSU) MAJ DEC Nikko Triggas (OSU), 14-3
133 – No. 2 Reese Humphrey (OSU) DEC No. 9 Jake Strayer (PSU), 8-3
141 – No. 14 J Jaggers (OSU) PIN Frank Molinaro (PSU), 3:38 2nd
149 – No. 4 Lance Palmer (OSU) PIN Colby Pisani (PSU), 2:56 1s

#5 Ohio State vs. #10 Minnesota

Today at the Schottenstein Center on the campus of Ohio State University, I was in attendance to witness a rematch of the fifth place match of the NWCA duals in which Ohio State beat Minnesota 21-12. However, today was much different. The Buckeyes lost some close matches that had went their way in the dual meet and lost to the Golden Gophers 18-16. The Buckeyes were winning 16-6 with four matches left in the dual, and lost by decision in each of the four matches ending the dual behind 18-16. With a 16-15 lead going into the final match of the evening undefeated and top ranked Buckeye Reece Humphrey took on fifth ranked Jayson Ness at 133 pounds. Ness dominated the bout this time around winning 5-0 and taking the win for the Golden Gophers.
The atmosphere at the match was unbelievable. To make things better, myself and the group I attended the dual with were sitting next to legendary Buckeye football player, and the only two time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin. A win would have made it that much better. The Buckeyes return to action next Sunday, February 8th at 5pm against Purdue at St. John's Arena.

125: No. 5 Zach Sanders (MINN) dec. Nikko Triggas (OSU), 13-7; 16-15
133: No. 5 Jayson Ness (MINN) dec. No. 1 Reece Humphrey, 5-0; 16-18
141: No. 8 Mike Thorn (MINN) dec. No. 12 J Jaggers (OSU), 6-4; 0-3
149: No. 4 Lance Palmer (OSU) dec. Joe Grygelko (MINN), 7-0; 3-3
157: No. 14 Tyler Safratowich (MINN) dec. Sean Nemec (OSU), 8-5; 3-6
165: No. 2 Colt Sponseller (OSU) mdec. No. 16 Scott Glasser (MINN), 12-4; 7-6
174: Dave Rella (OSU) mdec. Matt Everson (MINN), 12-5; 11-6
184: No.2 Mike Pucillo (OSU) tech. fall Sonny Yohn (MINN), 21-4; 16-6
197: Gordon Bierschenk (MINN) dec. Cody Gardner (OSU), 5-2; 16-9
285: No. 18 Ben Berhow (MINN) dec. No. 17 Corey Morrison, 6-2; 16-12

Ohio State vs. Indiana

Friday, January 30 at St. John Arena in Columbus, Ohio, the Ohio State Wrestling team took on the very tough Indiana Hoosiers. The Hoosiers were eager for action, coming off a close loss to the Penn State Nittany Lions. The match was much closer then expected, but the Buckeyes showed true poise and why they are ranked #5 in the country. The Buckeyes were without #1 ranked 133 pounder Reece Humphrey, but battled to a 18-16 home victory. The match was 16-15 coming into the final bout of the evening, and sophomore 165 pounder Colt Sponseller scored a 7-2 decision to seal the match for the Buckeyes. Ohio State returns to action Sunday at 11am when they take on #12 Minnesota in Columbus, Ohio. Full match results are below.

174: Dave Rella (OSU) dec. No. 15 Trevor Perry (IU), 6-4; 3-0
184: No.2 Mike Pucillo (OSU) pinned Eric Cameron (IU), 6-0; 9-0
197: Matt Powless (IU) dec. Cody Gardner (OSU) 11-4; 9-3
285: Nate Everhart (IU) dec. No. 17 Corey Morrison 4-3; 9-6
125: No. 6 Angel Escobedo (IU) dec. Nikko Triggas (OSU) 7-1; 9-9
133: Matt Ortega (IU) mdec. Pat Harrington, 12-4, 9-13
141: No. 12 J Jaggers (OSU) dec. Andrae Hernandez (IU) 9-6; 12-13
149: No. 4 Lance Palmer (OSU) dec. Nick Walpole (IU), 8-2; 15-13
157: No. 12 Kurt Kinser (IU) dec. Sean Nemec (OSU), 4-2; 15-16
165: No. 2 Colt Sponseller (OSU) dec. Paul Young (IU), 7-2; 18-16