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Ohio State Wrestling: Jesse Mendez claims OSU’s first national title since 2018, team takes 8th at the NCAA Wrestling Championships
Josh Dooley via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Evert Nelson/NCAA Photos via Getty Images
Mendez, Rocco Welsh and Nick Feldman led the way for Tom Ryan’s Buckeyes, each earning All-American status.
Last Thursday, seven of the nine Ohio State wrestlers who competed at this year’s NCAA Wrestling Championships won their first match of the tournament, hinting at a potentially big and prosperous weekend ahead.
This was in stark contrast to the beginning of the Big Ten Championships, where OSU stumbled out of the gate, ultimately leading to a fifth-place finish — just the second time since 2011-12 that Tom Ryan’s squad did not finish among the top four.
Unfortunately, a top-tier finish in Kansas City never came to fruition. Only three Buckeyes were left standing by the last day of competition, as the Penn State Nittany Lions ran away with yet another team championship — their 11th in the last 13 seasons.
Ohio State finished eighth, more than 100 points back of PSU. But unlike the team’s B1G finish, taking eighth at the NCAAs was actually a very positive result. And a good-to-great sign of things to come.
Primarily because all nine of OSU’s NCAA qualifiers are eligible to come back and wrestle for the Buckeyes next season if they indeed choose to do so. Only two upperclassmen (Dylan D’Emilio and Isaac Wilcox) made the trip, and both have the “Covid year” in their back pocket.
Six of the remaining seven competed as true or redshirt freshman, and Jesse Mendez rounded out the group as its only sophomore. That’s called a youth movement, folks. A damn good one, too.
Additionally, there was a trio of young Buckeyes that not only competed in KC, but truly excelled, earning All-American status and even some hardware. Said group was led by 141-pounder Jesse Mendez, who won Ohio State’s first individual NCAA title since 2018 and created/contributed to one hell of an internet meme.
Also earning All-American status were true freshman Rocco Welsh (174) and redshirt freshman Nick Feldman (HWT), both in their first year of competing for the Scarlet and Gray. Welsh made it all the way to the championship match before dropping a close decision to 4x champ Carter Starocci of Penn State, while Feldman wrestled back into contention via the “blood round” and finished the tournament with five victories.
While OSU finished with five All-Americans in 2023, four of those were upperclassmen. The other was Mendez, who has already cemented a legacy and appears to be on his way to becoming one of the program’s most accomplished grapplers. Regardless, three freshman and/or sophomore All-Americans in a rebuilding year is a heck of an accomplishment for the entire program.
Overall, six Buckeyes won at least two matches at the NCAA Championships. This includes the trio of All-Americans, another redshirt freshman in Nic Bouzakis, and both D’Emilio and Wilcox. The former now has 10 wins in four NCAA appearances, while the latter deserves a ton of credit for going from versatile super sub to 22-match winner and NCAA qualifier in his fourth season.
Now onto the offseason, which will be an interesting one for Ohio State. Not only are all nine NCAA qualifiers eligible to return, but so are Paddy Gallagher, Carson Kharchla, and others, several of whom figured into the plans for this season. There is also the possibility of Sammy Sasso’s return, which would be a tremendous story.
All in all, the 2023-24 season proved to be a solid transitional campaign for the Buckeyes. They lost several veteran leaders, NCAA qualifiers, and All-Americans from last year’s squad, and then watched guys like Gallagher and Kharchla suffer season-ending injuries. Yet despite fielding one of the youngest lineups in the sport’s toughest conference, OSU found a way to finish in the top-10 nationally.
Led by Mendez, this Ohio State squad should be right back in the championship conversation again next year. Sure, Penn State will seemingly always be lurking as the favorite, but Ryan’s squad is loaded with young talent. And now most of those young wrestlers have a full or near-full season of collegiate (specifically Big Ten) experience under their belt(s).
So expect more of the same, and starting counting down the days until next season’s wrestle-offs.
Continue reading...
Josh Dooley via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
Visit their fantastic blog and read the full article (and so much more) here
Photo by Evert Nelson/NCAA Photos via Getty Images
Mendez, Rocco Welsh and Nick Feldman led the way for Tom Ryan’s Buckeyes, each earning All-American status.
Last Thursday, seven of the nine Ohio State wrestlers who competed at this year’s NCAA Wrestling Championships won their first match of the tournament, hinting at a potentially big and prosperous weekend ahead.
This was in stark contrast to the beginning of the Big Ten Championships, where OSU stumbled out of the gate, ultimately leading to a fifth-place finish — just the second time since 2011-12 that Tom Ryan’s squad did not finish among the top four.
Unfortunately, a top-tier finish in Kansas City never came to fruition. Only three Buckeyes were left standing by the last day of competition, as the Penn State Nittany Lions ran away with yet another team championship — their 11th in the last 13 seasons.
Ohio State finished eighth, more than 100 points back of PSU. But unlike the team’s B1G finish, taking eighth at the NCAAs was actually a very positive result. And a good-to-great sign of things to come.
Primarily because all nine of OSU’s NCAA qualifiers are eligible to come back and wrestle for the Buckeyes next season if they indeed choose to do so. Only two upperclassmen (Dylan D’Emilio and Isaac Wilcox) made the trip, and both have the “Covid year” in their back pocket.
Six of the remaining seven competed as true or redshirt freshman, and Jesse Mendez rounded out the group as its only sophomore. That’s called a youth movement, folks. A damn good one, too.
Additionally, there was a trio of young Buckeyes that not only competed in KC, but truly excelled, earning All-American status and even some hardware. Said group was led by 141-pounder Jesse Mendez, who won Ohio State’s first individual NCAA title since 2018 and created/contributed to one hell of an internet meme.
Also earning All-American status were true freshman Rocco Welsh (174) and redshirt freshman Nick Feldman (HWT), both in their first year of competing for the Scarlet and Gray. Welsh made it all the way to the championship match before dropping a close decision to 4x champ Carter Starocci of Penn State, while Feldman wrestled back into contention via the “blood round” and finished the tournament with five victories.
While OSU finished with five All-Americans in 2023, four of those were upperclassmen. The other was Mendez, who has already cemented a legacy and appears to be on his way to becoming one of the program’s most accomplished grapplers. Regardless, three freshman and/or sophomore All-Americans in a rebuilding year is a heck of an accomplishment for the entire program.
All-Americans
Head Coach
— Ohio State Wrestling (@wrestlingbucks) March 27, 2024
Overall, six Buckeyes won at least two matches at the NCAA Championships. This includes the trio of All-Americans, another redshirt freshman in Nic Bouzakis, and both D’Emilio and Wilcox. The former now has 10 wins in four NCAA appearances, while the latter deserves a ton of credit for going from versatile super sub to 22-match winner and NCAA qualifier in his fourth season.
Now onto the offseason, which will be an interesting one for Ohio State. Not only are all nine NCAA qualifiers eligible to return, but so are Paddy Gallagher, Carson Kharchla, and others, several of whom figured into the plans for this season. There is also the possibility of Sammy Sasso’s return, which would be a tremendous story.
All in all, the 2023-24 season proved to be a solid transitional campaign for the Buckeyes. They lost several veteran leaders, NCAA qualifiers, and All-Americans from last year’s squad, and then watched guys like Gallagher and Kharchla suffer season-ending injuries. Yet despite fielding one of the youngest lineups in the sport’s toughest conference, OSU found a way to finish in the top-10 nationally.
Led by Mendez, this Ohio State squad should be right back in the championship conversation again next year. Sure, Penn State will seemingly always be lurking as the favorite, but Ryan’s squad is loaded with young talent. And now most of those young wrestlers have a full or near-full season of collegiate (specifically Big Ten) experience under their belt(s).
So expect more of the same, and starting counting down the days until next season’s wrestle-offs.
Continue reading...