The Ohio State Buckeyes wrestling team kicked off its competitive season in impressive fashion on Saturday, with five individual Buckeyes winning titles at the Michigan State Open.
The Michigan State Open is only an individual competition, so there were no team scores. 17 schools brought full teams. And while Ohio State was clearly the top team competing (with no teams like Penn State, Oklahoma State, or Iowa), the manner in which the Buckeyes won, at multiple weight classes, is encouraging for this year.
The Buckeyes came in second last year at the NCAA tournament, once again falling short of Penn State, but lost numerous All-Americans this year–including NCAA runners-up Joey McKenna (141 lbs) and Micah Jordan (149 lbs), along with third-place finisher Myles Martin (184 lbs). Ohio State did bring in the No. 1 recruiting class, but you never know how much that means until competition — especially seeing how the nation’s No. 1 recruit just entered the transfer portal late last week.
Well, the first competition came, and the Buckeyes exceeded all expectations. The Buckeyes brought a total of 21 wrestlers to the tournament. Five won their weight classes, and another six Buckeyes managed to finish in the top eight of their respective tournaments.
Next… Meet the five Buckeyes who won titles
Luke Pletcher, 141 lbs
Pletcher came in third in the NCAAs at 133 lbs last year, but he moved up to 141 for his senior year. Any concerns about his ability to compete at this weight were allayed immediately, as he reached the final via two Falls (pins) and two Major Decisions (wins by 8+ points). In the final, he defeated preseason No. 1 Dom Demas of Oklahoma. With this win, Pletcher should shortly become the top-ranked wrestler in this weight class.
Sammy Sasso, 149 lbs
If there was any small concern over Sasso’s ability to replace Micah Jordan, it’s gone now. The redshirt freshman obliterated his competition, winning all five matches with either a Fall or a Tech Fall (leading by 15+ points). He’ll meet tougher competition as the season goes on, but for now he already looks like a potential favorite in this weight class, and he’s only competed once at the college level.
Carson Kharchla, 165 lbs
The freshman from Powell, Ohio was perfect in his first collegiate competition. He won his first three matches by Fall or Tech Fall, then took out Cameron Amine of Michigan in the semifinals. Amine, also a freshman, came in this year as the No. 2 recruit at this weight class according to FloWrestling. Kharchla won that match 3-2, and then took out Purdue’s Emil Soehnlen in the final.
Kaleb Romero, 174 lbs
The Buckeyes have an embarrassment of riches at 174 pounds. Rocky Jordan finished in sixth. Ethan Smith, ranked No. 13 in this weight class in the preseason according to InterMat, actually competed at 165 lbs and wrestled his way all the way back to third after losing his opening match. Neither of those compare to Romero, who won several tight matches to make his way to becoming the fourth Buckeye atop the podium.
Kollin Moore, 197 lbs
Is it possible to win a title and be disappointing? Not really, and maybe this is a little too harsh on Moore. With no Bo Nickal in his way, Moore is the prohibitive No. 1 in this weight class to take home the NCAA title at the end of the year. He was untroubled in his first four matches, but needed Sudden Victory extra time to beat Oklahoma’s Jake Woodley in the final. Woodley is a preseason Top 20 wrestler himself, but Moore isn’t expected to be troubled by anyone this year, except for maybe Penn State’s Kyle Conel (who beat Moore in the NCAAs in 2018).
Next… How did other Buckeyes fare?
I mentioned a few above, but let’s quickly go through the weight classes to run down how the Buckeyes did.
125 lbs
Sophomore Malik Heinselman was the starter last year, and looks to have improved for this year. He is not quite an elite wrestler yet, but he is solid, and came in sixth place at the Michigan State Open. Assuming he continues to do well this year, he should be a reliable starter for the Buckeyes in this weight class, and should be a threat to reach the NCAAs again. Redshirt junior Hunter Lucas also competed and went 2-2.
133 lbs
With Pletcher moving up to 141, who do the Buckeyes have at this weight? Quinn Kinner looks like a very good option. The redshirt freshman lost a tight quarterfinal match to No. 4 Micky Phillippi of Pitt, and wrestled his way back to a fourth-place finish. Redshirt sophomore Dylan Koontz also competed, going 1-2.
141 lbs
Pletcher was the only Ohio State competitor in this weight class and won.
149 lbs
In addition to Sasso, Ke-Shawn Hayes came in sixth place. The redshirt senior was given a preseason Top 10 ranking at 157 lbs, but he is starting the year competing down at 149. With Sasso the likely starter at 149 moving forward, it might make sense for Hayes to move back to 157, but we’ll see how the season goes on. Clay Ragon and Trey Grenier also competed, going 1-2 and 2-2, respectively.
157 lbs
Three Buckeyes competed at this weight class, but none stood out. Elijah Cleary went 1-2 while Aaron Rehfeldt went 0-2. Redshirt freshman Jaden Mattox reached the quarterfinals, where he lost to Top 10 wrestler Anthony Artalona of Penn. Mattox has definite potential, but the Buckeyes didn’t have a wrestler place at this weight class.
165 lbs
Kharchla and Smith, discussed above, were Ohio State’s only two wrestlers in this weight class.
174 lbs
In addition to Romero’s victory, Rocky Jordan finished in sixth place. Fritz Shierl also competed, finishing 3-2.
184 lbs
184 might be Ohio State’s biggest weakness to start this season, looking to replace the irreplaceable Myles Martin. Gavin Hoffman was the only Buckeye to compete, finishing 1-2.
197 lbs
Kollin Moore was the only Buckeye to compete at this weight.
285 lbs
Gary Traub competed for the Buckeyes at heavyweight, finishing in fourth place. He was impressive, as his only loss came to Top 10 Demetrius Thomas of Pitt. Additionally, the Buckeyes have nationally-ranked Chase Singletary, who didn’t compete at the Michigan State Open. Singletary was recently in Budapest at the U23 wrestling world championships.
