Logan Stieber Headlines The All-Decade Team For The Ohio State Buckeyes
Logan Stieber Headlines The All-Decade Team For The Ohio State Buckeyes
Ohio State had a very good decade. To prove it, we put a list of the best wrestlers for the Buckeyes at each weight class over the last 10 years.
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The 2010s were pretty good to the Ohio State wrestling program. Tom Ryan’s teams captured the 2015 NCAA championship and finished as national runner-up in 2017, 2018, and 2019, capping a five-year streak of top-three finishes at the tournament.
With four Buckeyes winning a combined nine individual NCAA titles and five finishing as four-time All-Americans over the past 10 years, we took a look at what an all-decade team might look like for the men of the scarlet and gray. A few spots — like 125 and heavyweight — were pretty easy to determine; others, not so much.
What do you do with a guy like Myles Martin, for example? MyMar won his NCAA title at 174 in his freshman season but finished in the top five at 184 in each of his three final seasons. Or what about Nick Heflin, who finished fifth twice at 174 before making the leap to 197, where he finished second in 2014? With an eye toward putting together the best possible Buckeye roster, tough choices were made, and the lineup is set.
125 pounds: Nathan Tomasello
This was one of the two easiest weights to pick for the Buckeyes. NaTo wrestled three of his four years as the anchor at the lightweight end of the lineup, winning the NCAA championship his debut season. Pound-for-pound one of the strongest guys in the room, Tomasello finished as a four-time All American, never placing worse than third at the tournament.
133 pounds: Luke Pletcher
There is an argument to be made that Logan Stieber should fill this spot, as he won two NCAA titles here before bumping up to 141, but we’ll get to Logie Bear in a moment. The current No. 1 at 141 spent three of his four years at 133 before moving up this season, finishing fourth there in 2018 and 2019. Pletcher is stout, hard to take down, and was a two-time finalist at the Big Ten tournament.
141 pounds: Logan Stieber
More men have walked on the moon than have won four NCAA wrestling championships. Steiber went four-for-four at the big dance, winning a pair each at 133 and 141. Stieber is one of the greatest athletes in Ohio State history, on the Buckeye Mount Rushmore alongside greats like Jesse Owens, Archie Griffin, and Jack Nicklaus. Known for his lethal arm-bar series, Stieber is the prototype of exceptional folkstyle wrestling.
Again, there is a perfectly cogent argument to be made for Stieber at 133. The Buckeyes have had a number of outstanding 141-pounders, including two-time All American Hunter Stieber and three-timer Joey McKenna, but the 2015 Hodge Trophy was won by Logie Bear at 141, and that sealed the deal in our minds.
149 pounds: Micah Jordan
The Mongoose is one of the four three-time All-Americans minted during the 2010s, finishing as NCAA runner-up in his senior season. Jordan spent one year at 157 but moved back down for his best finish at the NCAA tournament.
157 pounds: Choose Your Own Adventure
Picking this spot is a microcosm of Ohio State’s current challenges at 157. Micah Jordan actually had the best season of any Buckeye at this weight over the past decade, finishing sixth there in 2018. It felt like cheating to tab 2010 NCAA finalist Lance Palmer at 149, however, since he really belongs to the 2000s and not the ‘10s. In recent memory ’57 has felt like the weight of last resort for Ohio State’s middleweights, as with Jordan and Ke-Shawn Hayes, each of whom wrestled there because the team needed them to, not because they really wanted to move up.
This season Elijah Cleary has been the guy more often than not, though Jaden Mattox took a shot at the Cliff Keen and fans speculated early that newcomer Anthony Echemendia might take the job, though he ended that speculation some weeks ago via Instagram saying he would wrestle 141/149. Redshirt senior Hayes could still be in the mix for the Buckeyes at ’57 this season, provided he wants the job and gets healthy down the stretch.
165 pounds: Bo Jordan
The elder Jordan split his four years between 165 and 174, becoming one of Tom Ryan’s five four-time All-Americans this decade. Although he never won an NCAA title, he finished no worse than fifth at the tournament, and won the third-place match at 165 in both 2015 and 2016.
174 pounds: Nick Heflin
Ohio State has become known for its freestyle wrestlers, and Heflin is certainly one of the standouts. The three-time All-American for the Buckeyes and 2014 NCAA runner-up at 197 pounds was a two-time All-American at 174 before moving up for his senior campaign, finishing fifth at the NCAA tournament both years.
This was one of the tougher calls, because Myles Martin won his NCAA wrestling title at 174 in his freshman year, but only spent one year in the class.
184 pounds: Myles Martin
MyMar is another four-timer, never finishing worse than fifth at the NCAA tournament. The 2016 champ at 174 moved up in his sophomore season and was one of the most electrifying wrestlers of the decade. He won the Big Ten championship in his senior campaign and continues to impress on the freestyle stage, finishing second at Senior Nationals and earning a spot at the Olympic trials.
197 pounds: Kollin Moore
Currently No. 1 in the country, Moore has held this spot for the Buckeyes his entire career . . . and has yet to finish worse than fourth at the NCAA tournament. The three-time All-American and senior captain is a takedown artist, regularly playing catch-and-release en route to tech fall after tech fall. Although Heflin and Kyle Snyder both finished as NCAA runners-up at this weight, the all-decade spot at 197 is all about the two-time Big Ten champ and current favorite to win it all.
285: Kyle Snyder
By far the easiest choice on the list, Captain America was the heavyweight of the decade for the Buckeyes. The final four-time All American on the list, Snyder went three-for-three in the NCAA finals at 285 and won three Big Ten titles along the way. He was a three-time Ohio State Male Athlete of the Year and received the 2018 Big Ten Medal of Honor for his accomplishments.
It’s been an incredible decade for the Buckeyes, up and down the lineup. Ohio State’s 2019-20 roster is one of the younger lineups in recent memory, but senior captains Luke Pletcher and Kollin Moore are on track for their best finishes yet. With top recruits continuing to pledge their talents to Tom Ryan’s program, the future looks to hold more success in the decade to come.
Andy Vance is a Columbus-based journalist who covers the Ohio State University wrestling program for Eleven Warriors, the largest independent sports site on the internet for Ohio State news, analysis, and community. He is co-host of the site’s Eleven Dubcast podcast. Follow him on Twitter @AndyVance