Tom Ryan believes losses have the potential to serve as wake-up calls — lessons his wrestlers would prefer learning differently.

As such, Ryan wasn’t overly concerned about his team’s first dual meet defeat of the season when the Buckeyes (7-1) fell to Pittsburgh on Dec. 10. 

It appears that setback fueled Ohio State’s performance Dec. 19 in Nashville at the Collegiate Duals. The Buckeyes defeated Northern Iowa (26-7), Lock Haven (28-9), and second-ranked NC State (21-20) to bring home the title.

“There’s something searing about a loss,” Ryan said. “You inspect things more deeply and I think that happened with our team after Pitt.” 

Did winning the title in Nashville provide balm to any doubts the loss to Pittsburgh may have inflicted?

“Of course, we were happy with the end result, but I still don’t think we wrestled incredibly well,” Ryan said. “There were some really strong performances and there were some head-scratchers. The team as a whole is still young, and still learning.

“In high school, performing at 80-percent capacity for most of these guys didn’t give them a whole lot of struggle. At this level, they’ll learn that 80-percent capacity will find them on the tail end of a lot of losses.”

Ryan cited habits beyond the walls of the practice room as a possible culprit when his relatively young team falters. 

“Those types of dual losses force you to examine the areas in which you have to look in the mirror,” he said. “If it’s technique, well OK, improving on technique takes a little longer. But a lot of it might be the need for them to ask themselves, ‘Where can I improve? Is it my weight management? Is it my sleeping habits?’ Typically, it’s habits outside the wrestling room that can make the difference, like how much (they’re) over (weight) five days before, four days before, the day before. 

“When you’re winning, you’re not necessarily completely aware of your system or your routine. When you have a dual where you seem to have less energy, it forces you to take a look at the controllables you can improve upon.”

According to Ryan, a longtime proponent of placing greater emphasis on collegiate dual competition, the tournament’s dual format in Nashville and the one-point differential in the Ohio State-NC State match was a win for college wrestling.

The Buckeyes registered pins in their first three matches. Brandon McCrone decked then-#1 Jakob Camacho at 125, Nic Bouzakis pinned #5 Kai Orine at 133 and Jesse Mendez flattened #4 Ryan Jack at 141 to Ohio State an 18-0 lead. 

“We were able to witness the beauty of the dual meet, the excitement and uniqueness of a college dual meet,” he said. “There’s nothing like it. They’re fantastic.”

McCrone Earns 125 Spot

In the last edition of Buckeye Insider, Ryan mentioned that the 125-, 165- and 184-pound weight classes were still up for grabs. Moving parts and injuries still have 165 and 184 undecided in terms of a regular starter, but redshirt freshman Brendan McCrone’s performances have earned him the starting 125 slot. 

“McCrone has beaten a #1 (Camacho) and #4 (Virginia Tech’s Eddie Ventresca), but like sometimes freshmen do, he’s lost some he probably shouldn’t have,” Ryan said. “There are a lot of good guys and (different wrestling) styles matter and if you’re not feeling great maybe you don’t have your best, but overall, McCrone has really done a nice job for us. He’s a dangerous wrestler, he’s got some things that are really unique, and it makes sense for now that McCrone has the spot. He’s earned it.”  

Up Next

The Buckeyes play host to Cornell on Jan. 5. The Big Red has four wrestlers ranked in the top 10 — Vito Arujau (#2 at 133), Julian Ramirez (#4 at 165), Chris Foca (#7 at 184) and Jacob Cardenas (#8 at 197).  

Ryan is well aware of the Big Red’s 27-13 win over Pittsburgh at the Collegiate Duals.

“Cornell has a really strong team,” Ryan said. “Against NC State we opened up with three pins in a row against Top 5 opponents. We’re gonna need guys to step up in the same way against Cornell. We’ll need as many bonus points as we can get. 

“Against NC State, we did a good job of remembering not to put a ranked wrestler on a pedestal. McCrone did an excellent job. (Nic) Bouzakis and (Jesse) Mendez got after it. We need the same output and mentality against Cornell. We can’t overemphasize the ranking of our opponents. Just go out there and compete.

“It’s gonna be a great dual. Cornell is the best team we will have met yet from a number of athletes who are highly ranked standpoint. We’re going to have to wrestle hard. We’re excited about this match.”