Barring a couple injuries and a few too many ounces, Ohio could have sent twice as many wrestlers to the NCAA Championships as it did.
The upside of the Bobcats’ year is that senior Erik Schuth, redshirt junior Nick Purdue and redshirt freshman Jeremy Johnson all earned automatic bids to the national tournament, which is one more than the total number of Bobcats who qualified between 2006 and 2009.
But compared to last season, when Ohio sent five wrestlers to Nationals, three wrestlers going seems paltry.
“I think so (it was a disappointment),” coach Joel Greenlee said. “Obviously, we should’ve had at least four. If you had four, now you’re on a little bit of a roll, and you get five.”
The initial letdown came on the first day of the Mid-American Conference Championships. Ohio’s senior All-American, Germane Lindsey, came in less than a pound over the max of 141 at the morning weigh-in.
The extra ounces ended Lindsey’s career early and cost the Bobcats what likely would have been a MAC title at 141 pounds and another automatic bid to Nationals.
More disappointment arrived Wednesday, when the NCAA revealed the brackets to the NCAA Championships and the wrestlers who received at-large bids to the tournament.
The team was hoping that redshirt sophomore Gabe Ramos or freshman Brad Squire would get wildcard bids, but only the names of the three Bobcats who earned automatic bids were announced.
“I thought (Ramos) had a good chance,” Greenlee said. “I don’t know how they decide those (at-large bids), I really don’t. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of rhyme or reason.”
Greenlee was baffled that wrestlers who performed poorly at their conference tournaments, such as one Pac-10 wrestler who placed fifth, received bids. Ramos finished second at 125 pounds.
Both Ramos and Squire were hurt by the fact that they missed a chunk of the season with injuries. Ramos didn’t wrestle in any of the premier tournaments Ohio competed in over winter break.
Squire beat Buffalo’s Desi Green, who is seeded in the national tournament, at the Reno Tournament of Champions on Dec. 19.
“(Squire) was on a roll and that’s when he got hurt,” Greenlee said. “It is what it is. Doesn’t matter what I do, I can’t really affect that too much.”