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Tommy Rowlands (2 time NCAA wrestling champion)

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Rowlands still has a few steps to climb
Years of hard work close to bearing fruit in wrestling qualifier
Sunday, June 15, 2008
By Jim Massie
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Ohio Stadium is empty, more or less, on the days that Tommy Rowlands runs the 2,300 steps of A-Deck.

Up, down, up, down and around the workout silently unfolds in a storied place that pulses with the energy of 105,000 fans on a football Saturday in the fall. Rowlands, the most decorated wrestler in Ohio State history, has run the route alone for eight years to the measured sounds of his own breathing and beating heart.

Fame, of course, is relative. Rowlands wrestles in Las Vegas today in the best-of-three final for the freestyle heavyweight berth on the U.S. Olympic team. He is a two-time national champion, a two-time NCAA champion and the third-ranked heavyweight wrestler in the world.

A superstar in the American wrestling community, the 27-year-old Rowlands can walk around Columbus without being surrounded by packs of autograph seekers. James Laurinaitis, he isn't.

"He is at the pinnacle of wrestling," said Lou Rosselli, Rowlands' freestyle coach. "What separates him is about $10 million. If he made $10 million, people would know him. But it's not about money for what he is doing. It's about a dream. It's a dream since you're 8 years old."

Human nature would seem to beg for more attention. Rowlands is human but realistic.

"Wrestling is a small brotherhood of people," he said. "It doesn't really bother me. I think maybe when I was younger it did. You don't train the way I train, or the way anyone who is trying to be an elite athlete trains, for fame. If you do, it's going to be a short-lived career.

"And really, the only difference between my sport and football, basketball, baseball or soccer is entertainment value. For whatever reason, the general public picks up on football more easily than they do wrestling. But the commitment level is the same."
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BuckeyeXtra - The Columbus Dispatch : Olympics: Rowlands still has a few steps to climb
 
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Is anyone else able to follow the results online or on TV? If I understand correctly, Tommy has split the finals with nemesis Steve Mocco 1-1. It will come down to the rubber match, best of three, for the Olympic berth. You da man, Tommy!! Go Bucks!!
:osu:
 
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Dispatch

Wrestling | Olympic Trials: Rowlands' Olympic dream ends with loss to rival

Monday, June 16, 2008 3:14 AM
By Jim Massie


THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
In his heart, Tommy Rowlands probably knew that the wrestling road to Beijing and the 2008 Summer Olympics would have to pass through the formidable frame of longtime rival Steve Mocco. The two met in the freestyle heavyweight final at the U.S. Olympic Trials last night in Las Vegas and the second-seeded Mocco wrenched the Olympic berth and dream from top-seeded Rowlands by capturing the first and third rounds of the best-of-three format by identical 1-0, 1-0 scores.
"It was a hard battle," Rowlands said. "I'm done (wrestling). Hopefully I learn something from this that makes me a better person."
The match was the 16th career encounter between the two in a rivalry that dated to college when Rowlands starred for Ohio State and Mocco wrestled for first Iowa and then Oklahoma State.
Cont..
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"It was a hard battle," Rowlands said. "I'm done (wrestling). Hopefully I learn something from this that makes me a better person."

If Tommy is in fact done wrestling, it's a shame he was stopped on the doorstep of his ultimate goal. No one has worked harder than he did. No worries, however, about whether it has made him a better person.

Thanks for the memories.

:osu:
 
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Wrestling: OSU national champion Jaggers will replace assistant coach
Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Ohio State wrestling assistant coach Tommy Rowlands has resigned, and two-time national champion J Jaggers will replace him.

Rowlands, a Bishop Ready graduate, was coach Tom Ryan's assistant for three years. He will pursue a business career and remain executive director of the Ohio Region Wrestling Training Center.
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BuckeyeXtra - The Columbus Dispatch : Wrestling: OSU national champion Jaggers will replace assistant coach
 
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Former Ready and Ohio State wrestling standout Tommy Rowlands is making a comeback April 22-25 at the U.S. Open Championships in Cleveland. Rowlands, 29, was fifth in the 2007 world championships, then called it quits after losing to Steve Mocco in the 264.5-pound finals at the Olympic Trials.

Rowlands, a two-time NCAA champion, hopes to earn a spot on the U.S. team for the 2012 Olympics in London. He is director of the Ohio Regional Training Center in Columbus and is in training there.
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Bob Hunter commentary: Rumblings | BuckeyeXtra
 
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Tommy Rowlands named TheMat.com Wrestler of the Week for November 23-29.
By Craig Sesker USA Wrestling 11/29/2010

RowlandsMug.jpg


Tommy Rowlands (Columbus, Ohio/Sunkist Kids) has been named TheMat.com Wrestler of the Week for November 23-29.

Each week, TheMat.com will select an Athlete of the Week, based upon performance within wrestling for that week. The selection committee will consider any level of wrestling, from youth programs through the Senior level.

Rowlands earned a win for the U.S. freestyle team during its dual meet against Russia on Saturday in Troy, N.Y.

Rowlands wrestled with control in a two-period win over Kirill Gotovtsev, 2-0, 3-2, at 120 kg/264.5 lbs. Rowlands placed fifth in the 2007 World Championships.

Rowlands has had a strong season. He won the Sunkist Kids International Open and Hargobind International, and placed second in the New York AC International Open.

He trains at the Ohio Regional Training Center in Columbus.
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http://themat.com/section.php?section_id=3&page=showarticle&ArticleID=22798
 
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Rob Oller commentary: Delayed Olympic dream keeps wrestler Rowlands on mat at 3
Sunday April 15, 2012

The stranger?s leery look is no carelessly cast fishhook that happens to snag Tommy Rowlands on the way by. The wrestler ? yes, he continues to wrestle at age 30 ? feels the sting of the visual barbs often enough to know he is the intended target.

Maybe the next time, it will be an older man who strikes up a conversation with Rowlands, the former Ohio State heavyweight from Hilliard who won two NCAA championships with the Buckeyes (2002 and 2004). On Saturday, he will be the oldest wrestler in his weight class ? by three years ? to compete at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Iowa City, Iowa.

The man will ask Rowlands what he is doing these days.

Rowlands will answer: ?Still wrestling.?

Then comes the look, the one that says, silently, ?Isn?t it time to get on with your life??

?You get those looks and questions from people almost all the time,? Rowlands said, with no trace of bitterness, no clenching of his hands as they surround a coffee cup over breakfast. ?Not from your closest friends and family, because they understand you, that you?re not one of those lost souls trying to find themselves. You get the looks from people who don?t know you. It?s humbling.?

cont...
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http://www.buckeyextra.com/content/...eam-keeps-wrestler-rowlands-on-mat-at-30.html
 
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Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame Class of 2013 Announced

Group includes 14 inductees, with 12 former student-athletes and two coaches

June 13, 2013

Tommy Rowlands
Wrestling 2001-04
The first four-time All-American in Ohio State wrestling history, Tommy Rowlands, a native of Hilliard, Ohio, was a two-time NCAA heavyweight champion in 2002 and 2004 under head coach Russ Hellickson. Lettering for the Buckeyes from 2001-04, Rowlands won a pair of Big Ten titles in 2002 and 2004. The two-time All-Big Ten honoree (2002 and 2004) immediately showed promise on the collegiate level when he was recognized as the 2011 Big Ten Freshman of the Year. During all four years of his collegiate career, Rowlands competed in the prestigious NWCA All-Star event, which pitted the No. 1 and No. 2 wrestlers in each weight class against each other. Rowlands was undefeated in the event. All-time, Rowlands' 44 victories at the conclusion of his senior season places him fourth on the Ohio State season wins list. During that same season, Rowlands finished his campaign with a .977 win percentage after posting a 44-1 record. His 203.5 team points compiled in 2004 remain an Ohio State best, while his 228 takedowns in his final year also is tops in Buckeye history. In the career ranks, Rowlands' 164 total wins is the best in program annals. Rowlands' career team points (702) and takedowns (705) continues to be the pinnacle of success in Ohio State history, while his career win percentage of .921 places him in the Top 4. Following his collegiate career at Ohio State, Rowlands had a successful international run as a six-time member of the U.S. National Team and was a two-time Olympic alternate in 2008 and 2012.
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http://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com/sports/m-wrestl/spec-rel/061313aaa.html
 
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