COVER STORY
Tough times merely fuel the fire for Sponseller
Thursday, December 10, 2009
By Tom Reed
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
POINT TAKEN: OSU's Colt Sponseller, right, tangles with Moza Fay for Northern Iowa in last season's Cliff Keen National Duals meet. Despite a solid effort, Sponseller said he let the team down in the 2009 NCAA tournament, where the Buckeyes narrowly missed winning a national title. (Rick Tibbott, The Waterloo (Iowa) Courier )
Ohio State wrestler Colt Sponseller revels in the struggle, the mettle-testing times that shape lives and reveal character. He has pictures to prove it.
Every time he opens his laptop computer, Sponseller sees a wallpaper image of himself in the grips of Iowa's Ryan Morningstar at last season's NCAA Tournament. Sponseller is upright and grimacing, his forehead bandaged to cover the stitches above his right eye.
If he had broken Morningstar's hold in the final seconds of regulation, he would have won the quarterfinal match and the Buckeyes eventually would have earned enough points to become national champions. Instead, the bout went to overtime, he lost and Ohio State fell 41/2 points short of the Hawkeyes.
"I use it as motivation," Sponseller said. "It was a pretty intense moment. I have a Latin phrase underneath the photo: aut vincere aut mori, which means 'either to conquer or to die.'"
The 21-year-old junior enjoys the fight, having been in one from the day he was born. He has pictures to prove it.
The first photos Sue and Randy Sponseller have of their youngest child were taken in Akron Children's Hospital. The face of the baby boy, born seven weeks premature, his lungs underdeveloped, is obscured by tubes connected to his nose.
"Colt always has had to be a battler," Ohio State assistant wrestling coach Joe Heskett said. "It's what sets him apart."
Driven by adversity, Sponseller is trying to help the Buckeyes win an NCAA championship after consecutive runner-up finishes.
The 165-pounder is ranked seventh nationally, owning a 10-2 record, his only losses coming to Jarrod King of Edinboro and Andrew Howe of Wisconsin - the two wrestlers who met in the NCAA title match a season ago.
Sponseller's uncommon work ethic - which at times has been a hindrance - and quest for redemption make him a compelling figure inside OSU's Steelwood Training Facility. Coach Tom Ryan would like nothing more than to have Sponseller's life-size image added to the Buckeyes' wall of national champions in the wrestling room.
"Colt is one of the hardest workers we've had," Ryan said. "When the body aches and the heart pounds, he likes it. It's almost a little demented.
"It will be a great day for me and this university when Colt Sponseller wins a national title."
