From the student paper at Ohio State
OSU wrestling faces tough road
By Christopher A. Buerkle The Lantern
Columbus, OH (U-WIRE) — The seasoned veterans of the Ohio State wrestling team that finished third in the nation last season — the highest finish in program history — have been replaced with an array of young faces.
Russ Hellickson, in his 19th season as head coach, only has the luxury of one returning starter from last year’s stellar squad.
“This is the youngest team I have ever put on a mat, “Hellickson said. “When a team is young, even though they have a lot of talent they are going to make mistakes.”
As a result of those mistakes, OSO dropped three of its first four duels.
But after going 4-0 at St. John Arena on Saturday, OSU (5-3) seems to be back on track. OSU dismantled Cleveland State and Drexel, 33-7 and 21-10, respectively, and edged out Kent State and Bloomsburg, 23-16 and 18-17, respectively.
Sophomore J.D. Bergman (197 pounds), the only returning All-American from last season, and redshirt freshman T.J. Enright (133 pounds), both went undefeated in the tournament.
Hellickson said he was pleased with his team’s performance.
“We are wrestling with more intensity now then we were a month ago, “Hellickson said. “If we would have wrestled on Saturday like we did a month ago, we could have easily lost a couple of the duels.”
OSU has had the unenviable task of filling the void left by four-time All-American and two-time national champion Tommy Rowlands. Even though he will not be wrestling for OSU this season, the scarlet and gray have not lost him completely: Rowlands is serving as an assistant coach.
“You’d like to have him on the mat, but Rowlands is a pretty intense leader as a coach, “Hellickson said.
Enright agrees that having Rowlands around another year has had a positive impact on the team.
“Tommy will do anything to help us, “Enright said.
Though OSU may be young, Bergman feels his team is ready to take on the challenges awaiting them.
“In Division I wrestling you’re wrestling good guys every match, “Bergman said. “Sometimes young guys start to wonder how good they really are, but our guys are all handling it pretty well.”
Among those guys “handling it well “is true freshman heavyweight Kirk Nails. The Hilliard native went 3-1 on Saturday.
“(Nails) is really stepping it up, “Bergman said of his teammate.
This weekend has OSU traveling to Pittsburgh tomorrow and Cornell on Sunday.
Brian Baldridge (165 pounds), will not be among the OSU wrestlers taking to the mat this weekend. Baldridge suffered a dislocated elbow while practicing Monday and is expected to be out 6-8 weeks.
Though Hellickson says no one match carries more importance than another, a win over Pittsburgh’s Drew Headlee would be extra sweet for Enright. Enright lost a major decision to Headlee earlier this season.
“I look forward to trying to avenge the loss, “Enright said.
OSU’s schedule will get tougher as it approaches the Big Ten season. Almost every one of OSU’s remaining opponents is nationally ranked.
“On paper these teams coming up are better than us, “Bergman said. “We are going to have to come out wrestling hard.”
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