Dreams come true for Stieber and the Ohio State Buckeyes
ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Dreams to come true … even for those wrestlers — like Ohio State’s Logan Stieber — whose college life has already been a dream.
For while the 141-pound Stieber completed his task of becoming the sport’s fourth four-time champion, the senior also got a chance to see the Buckeyes claim a first-ever team title, Saturday night in the Scottrade Center.
“For the team, it’s something I dreamed of ever since I came to Ohio,” said Stieber the former four-year state champ from Monroeville, Ohio. “I dreamed of doing it in my senior year of high school. We did it and I’ve been dreaming of it for four years here at Ohio State and to finally do it, unbelievable.”
NCAA DI Wrestling Final Scores and Brackets
In the end, both Stieber and freshman teammate Nathan Tomasello (125 pounds) recorded championships, to cap of the Buckeye’s first team title with 102 points. Stieber capped of his career with an 11-5 win over Edinboro’s Mitchell Port, which helped him join Pat Smith (Oklahoma State), Cael Sanderson (Iowa State) and Kyle Dake (Cornell) as the sport’s only four time champions, while Tomasello defeated fellow freshman Zeke Moisey of West Virginia, 9-5.
“Coming in, if someone would have said that this team would have won the NCAA Championships with the amount of points we had, I would have been skeptical,” said head coach Tom Ryan, who thought his team would need over 120 points in order to become the 12th different school to win a team championship. “But things happen.”
Stieber became one of three individuals to repeat as champions. The others were Oklahoma State’s Alex Dieringer, who defeated Indiana’s Taylor Walsh, 14-7, for the 165-pound title; one year after the Cowboy captured the 157-pound championship. Later North Carolina State heavyweight Nick Gwiazdowski edged Michigan’s Adam Coon, 7-6, for his second straight title.
The following is a breakdown of the 2015 Championship Match Highlights”
125 pounds
#4 Nathan Tomasello (Ohio State) dec. US Zeke Moisey (West Virginia), 9-5
Tomasello put takedowns on the board in each of the three periods and pretty much controlled the hard-fought match. However, Moisey hit a cement mixer for a reversal at the 1:18 mark of third period and nearly had near-fall points. The reversal evened the scored 6-4. Tomasello gave himself some breathing room though 17 seconds later with a takedown and added a riding-time point for the win.
133 pounds
#13 Cody Brewer (Oklahoma) dec. #3 Cory Clark (Iowa), 11-8
Brewer was relentless on his feet rolling up five takedowns; two in the first period and three in the second period. Clark got his first takedown at the :42 mark to pull to within 11-7. Brewer was hit with a couple stalling calls in the final 30 seconds of the match, but got the three-point win. The emotional Brewer ran to the corner and jumped into the arms of Sooner assistant Michael Lightner, he a former NCAA champ.
141 pounds
#1 Logan Stieber (Ohio State) dec. #2 Mitchell Port (Edinboro), 11-5
Stieber had no trouble rolling to his fourth title with four takedowns, two in the first and one in each of the latter two periods. Port got a takedown with :39 left in the match off an ankle pick. Stieber’s nearly two minutes of riding time gave him the win in his last collegiate bout and the last match of the NCAAs.
149 pounds
#1 Drake Houdashelt (Missouri) dec. #3 David Habat (Edinboro), 3-1 sv
Host Missouri got a national champ to start the night when Houdashelt broke a 1-1 tie with a takedown 31 seconds into sudden victory with a throw-by. The elated Tiger ran and jumped into the arms of Brian Smith as the partisan crowd went wild to start the night on a drama-filled high note with the overtime win.
157 pounds
#1 Isaiah Martinez (Illinois) major dec. #2 Brian Realbuto (Cornell), 10-2
Martinez dominated the bout from start to finish. Martinez put takedowns on the board in each of the three periods and added a two-point near fall to start the third to open up a 7-1 lead. Two of Martinez’s takedowns came after switching off from high crotches to double. His 1:37 in riding time gave him the major decision capping an undefeated 38-0 season. Martinez’s dad came down to give him a hug after winning the title before he did his television interview.
165 pounds
#1 Alex Dieringer (Oklahoma State) dec. #6 Taylor Walsh (Indiana), 14-7
Dieringer overpowered the taller, lanky Walsh the whole match. Dieringer scored on six takedowns. The Cowboy’s fifth takedown came off a double 14 seconds into the final period and the final double coming with 13 seconds left in the match in the 14-7 win.
174 pounds
#2 Matt Brown (Penn State) dec. #8 Tyler Wilps (Pittsburgh), 5-4
In one of the wildest endings to an NCAA final in recent memory, Matt Brown won off two penalty points in the final three seconds. Wilps was hit with stalling after hanging onto the Brown’s leg down by the ankle as he tried to escape for five seconds. Then as time expired, it appeared Wilps was locking hands on top and Brown motioned to the official to make the call. No call was made initially, but after Penn State protested the call, the locked-hands call was made. Despite Pitt protesting the call if time was left on the clock, Brown was awarded the penalty point that there was in fact time left on the clock.
Wilps was first warned for stalling with :58 left in the second. Brown scored the first offensive points in the match with an inside single halfway through the third. After escaping, Wilps responded with a takedown of his own with a double with :24 left in the match to lead 4-3 leading into the wild ending which gave the Nittany Lion his first title after two trips to the finals.
184 pounds
#1 Gabe Dean (Cornell) dec. #7 Nathaniel Brown (Lehigh), 6-2
Dean cut the corner on a double midway through the second period, and then added a double with 17 seconds left in the match to take a 5-2 lead. 1:25 in riding time gave him his four-point win for his first NCAA title.
197 pounds
#3 Kyven Gadson (Iowa State) pinned #4 Kyle Snyder (Ohio State), 4:24
Gadson brought the Scottrade crowd to their feet with 36 seconds left in the second period when he tripped the Ohio State freshman on his left side out from an “over under”. The excited Cyclone senior just kept jumping up and down looking in disbelief how quickly he got the pin. The only scoring up to that point came on a Snyder escape to start the second period.
Heavyweight
#1 Nick Gwiazdowski (NC State) dec. #6 Adam Coon (Michigan), 7-6
In the highest-scoring heavyweight match since 1988, Gwiazdowski took Coon down twice and reversed him to start the third period for the win. Coon got his first offensive points of the match by switching off from a single to a double with :25 left in the third period to tie the match 6-6. But the defending champ escaped nine seconds later and held off the pursuing Wolverine until the final buzzer for his second title.
