Kyle Snyder Makes Ohio State Debut in Style as One of Four Buckeyes to Claim Titles at Michigan State Open

By Curt Heinrichs on November 3, 2014 at 7:10 am
15 Comments

A number of Buckeyes kicked off the 2014-15 campaign at the annual Michigan State Open Sunday in an event that not only serves as an excellent measuring stick for veteran wrestlers, but also allows younger wrestlers to get valuable mat time at the next level.

While several of Ohio State's expected starters sat out of action this weekend, including Logan Stieber (who was a last-minute scratch from Saturday's All-Star Classic), Johnni DiJulius, Hunter Stieber, and Kenny Courts, those who did participate got off to strong starts to the season.

True freshman Kyle Snyder (194), considered by many to be the top prospect in the 2014 class, captured the first of what should be many titles, joining Nathan Tomasello (125), Josh Demas (157) and Bo Jordan (164) as champions at the event.

Mark Martin (174) placed second, Jake Ryan (149) sixth, Randy Languis (157) sixth, Justin Kresevic (165) seventh, and Nick Tavanello (HWT) fifth, all earned a spot on the podium in the Open division.

Snyder was simply dominant in his first action as a Buckeye grappler. After receiving an opening round bye, he defeated Jake Smith of West Virginia, 21-7 and then followed that up with an 8-2 win over Michigan State's Nick McDiarmid in the quarterfinals. Max Huntley (Michigan) was his next victim, with Snyder advancing to the finals 10-5. In the championship match, Snyder had no trouble with Phillip Wellington (Ohio), cruising to an 11-4 victory.

Tomasello earned his second Michigan State Open title in as many years with handful of dominant wins. Tomasello used a tech fall in the opening round, followed by  a trio of major decisions to find himself alone atop the podium. In the semifinals, Tomassello knocked off West Virginia’s Zeke Moisey, who is on the radar of many in the wrestling world as one to watch. That Tomasello handled Moisey with ease has got to be a good omen moving forward. In the finals, Tomasello put on a scoring clinic against highly-touted Stevan Micic of Northwestern en route to an 11-2 major victory. 

Josh Demas rebounded nicely after sitting out last season to earn his first MSU Open crown. While Tomasello racked up points by the truckload, Demas seemed content to prove that he is able to win the close matches, earning all four victories by two points or fewer. Demas notched wins over Doug Welch of Purdue and a pair of wrestlers from Ohio University’s program (Andrew Romanchik and Spartak Chino) before locking horns with Brian Murphy of Michigan in the finals. With a 2-1 decision, Demas took home the title at 157.

Also competing at 157 was Demas’ teammate, Randy Languis, who stepped in to the starting lineup last season in Demas’ absence. Languis dropped a decision to Murphy in the quarterfinals, but bounced back to defeat Roger Wildmo (Michigan State) and Jake Salazar (Michigan) to earn a spot in the 5th place match where he dropped a tight match in sudden victory to Romanchik.

Bo Jordan kept his collegiate career record unblemished and took what could be the first of many battles against a tough rival in Michigan’s Taylor Massa on his way to his second Open title. With the exception to his finals match against Massa, Jordan racked up bonus points in each of his matches with a pair of pins, a tech fall, and a dominating major decision over a tough Peyton Walsh of Navy in the semifinals. Jordan was the top rated recruit in the Class of 2013, and earned a nice 4-1 victory over Massa, who was the second ranked recruit in the Class of 2012.

Mark Martin advanced to the finals, but defaulted out of the final due to injury. Along the way, he beat Big Ten opponents in three out of his four victories before defaulting to Ohio’s Cody Walters. After losing by fall to Walters in the opening round, Jacob Bresciani nearly placed the hard way by coming all the way back through the wrestlebacks, but fell a victory short of placement. Also nearly placing under similar circumstances was Dominic Prezzia, who lost in the TB2 period by a score of 4-3.

15 Comments
View 15 Comments