It is difficult to score an upset against a wrestler like Logan Stieber – doing it twice is something else entirely. Missouri's Jaydin Eierman knocked the four-time NCAA and 2016 World champion out of the U.S. Open in Las Vegas earlier this month, but Stieber repaid the favor with interest Sunday in Rochester, Minn., at the U.S. Senior Men's Freestyle World Team Trials Challenge Tournament.
Stieber's win in the best-of-three finals earned him a bid to Final X, the series of matches that will determine the roster for the Senior Men's Freestyle World Team that will represent the U.S. at the World Championships this October in Budapest, Hungary.
One thing is certain: a Buckeye will wrestle for Team USA at 65 kg.
Joey McKenna punched his ticket to Final X by winning the U.S. Open. Eierman upset the top-seeded Stieber with 6-5 decision in the Open quarterfinals, but McKenna controlled the final match from the outset, winning 7-3.
Since Stieber and Eierman finished in the top three at the Open, they earned the top two seeds in the Challenge Tournament, setting up their rematch in the finals Sunday.
If Eierman had any confidence that history could repeat itself, it was misplaced. Stieber won the first match 10-5, and the second 7-1, putting him in position to wrestle his training partner at the Ohio Regional Training Center for the spot on the World Team roster.
McKenna, the reigning U23 World Bronze Medalist, awaits Stieber at Final X in State College, Penn., June 16. McKenna made the (tongue in cheek) point that it makes more sense to move the event to Columbus now.
Although that isn't happening, Ohio State fans will eagerly await the battle of the Buckeyes. Joey McKenna's transfer to Ohio State was one of the highlights of last offseason, as the two-time Pac12 champ won a world medal, a Big Ten title, and third place at the NCAA tournament all in his first season in Columbus.
Training alongside a wrestler with Stieber's talent, drive and mechanics has certainly been to McKenna's advantage.
Meanwhile, Stieber and McKenna aren't the only Buckeyes fighting for a spot on the world team. Reigning 97 kg world champion Kyle Snyder will wrestle 2014 NCAA Kyven Gadson at Final X in Lincoln, Neb., June 9.
Snyder, as a reigning world champ, earned an automatic bid to Final X. Gadson won the World Team Trials Challenge Tournament; the two also met up in last year’s best-of-three finals in the World Team Trials.