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Early Lineup Look: 2025-26 Ohio State Buckeyes – FloWrestling

Published

9 months ago

May 21, 2025

Early Lineup Look: 2025-26 Ohio State Buckeyes – FloWrestling

Ohio State returns four All-Americans and 13 national qualifiers to a team that finished fifth at the 2025 NCAA Championships. Head coach Tom Ryan hit the portal in the off-season, securing Ethan Stiles (Oregon State), Cody Chittum (Iowa State), and Dylan Fishback (NC State) to a seasoned squad.

“This is the first time we’ve done this, going to the portal,” Ryan said. “We picked up three guys in the portal. It’s not something we’ve done in the past because we haven’t needed to. In order to field a team that has a shot at winning it, we had no option with this team and the holes we had. We had to fix them fast, and that’s how you fix them fast.”

Ryan has plenty of options, with roster battles at 125, 133, 157, 165, and 197. Some of the team’s best wrestlers may move weights depending on wrestle-off results. The competition is especially fierce at 133, where two-time NCAA qualifier Nic Bouzakis battles Ben Davino for the spot.

“It’s a good line-up,” Ryan said. “We feel everyone can get on the podium and fight for a championship so it’s up to us to get them believing and have a great performance in Cleveland.

“We’re in a really good spot. We have really good depth. There’s no longer a cap on 9.9 so Ohio State gave us a few more scholarships so we have more money to recruit with. It gives us a chance for some more depth. We feel like every weight class has someone who can step in and do the job for us, either the starter or the backup. I’m excited about the season.”

Watch highlights from Mendez’s 12-9 win in the 2025 NCAA Championship finals

2025-26 Ohio State Overview

Head coach: Tom Ryan (20th season)

Assistants: J Jaggers, Bo Jordan, Logan Stieber

2025 NCAA tournament finish: T-5th

2025 NCAA tournament record: 20-18

2025 NCAA tournament points: 51.5

2025 Big Ten tournament finish: 6th

2025 dual record: 13-3 (5-3 conference)

Returning national qualifiers: 13 (Brendan McCrone, Nic Bouzakis, Jesse Mendez, Ethan Stiles, Brandon Cannon, Cody Chittum, Paddy Gallagher, Carson Kharchla, Dylan Fishback, Ryder Rogotzke, Seth Shumate, Luke Geog, Nick Feldman)

Returning All-Americans: 4 (Jesse Mendez, Ethan Stiles, Carson Kharchla, Nick Feldman)

Returning NCAA champion: 1 (Jesse Mendez)

Last NCAA champion: Jesse Mendez (2025)

Highest NCAA team finish: 1st (2015)

Highest NCAA team finish under Ryan: 1st (2015)

Most national placers in a season under Ryan: 8 (2018)

Probable Ohio State Line-up

125: Brendan McCrone, JR, 23-11 or Vinny Kilkeary, SO, 5-1
McCrone is a two-time NCAA qualifier who is 2-4 at nationals. He battles Kilkeary, who is 1-2 in varsity duals over the past two seasons.

Ryan on 125: “They’re drastically different wrestlers. One is great in one position — the top position — and has had a lot of success there. The other is stingier on his feet and not as dominant in one position, but he’s steady. It’s a clash of styles.”

133: Ben Davino, FR, 19-1 or Nic Bouzakis, JR, 24-9
Davino is the favorite after a solid true freshman campaign. He went 4-0 in varsity duals and notched a 5-3 win over Bouzakis at the Clarion Open. Bouzakis is a two-time national qualifier who reached the Round of 12 at the 2025 NCAA Championships.

Ryan on 133: “You have a unique situation, particularly in this era, where you have two people willing to stay and could leave easily and get a lot more NIL money. With Jesse (Mendez) graduating (next season), Nic could always go up next year and have one year left.

“This is a very noble decision by a student-athlete. I think it brings you back to the Jessie Whitmer days, where people stuck it out for four or five years. There’s something to be said for that. They both love it here. They both do well in school, so there’s more to consider than just wrestling. They’re happy.

“Whoever loses the wrestle-off will be the back-up at 133 and 141 for the year and will move up to 141 next year.”

141: Jesse Mendez, SR, 30-3
Mendez won his second NCAA title after finishing sixth as a freshman. He could finish his college career as the third three-time NCAA champion in program history (Logan Steiber, 4, and Kyle Snyder, 3).

149: Ethan Stiles, SO, 19-8
This is Stiles’s third program in three seasons after stints at Nebraska and Oregon State. The Chicago, Illinois, native finished sixth at the 2025 NCAA Championships for the Beavers during his redshirt freshman season.

Ryan on 149: “Ethan is a gamer. When you place at the nationals as a freshman, that shows a great deal of maturity and mental strength to have success at a younger age, particularly as competitive as this sport is right now. He has a nice little shot and he’s tough on top. He’s a hard guy to wrestle. We’re excited about him.

“We like that we have him for three more years. He’s not a one-and-done. He has a chance to really grow with us and be a part of the program.”

157: Brandon Cannon, SO, 24-5 or Cody Chittum, JR, 20-8
This weight has question marks. Cannon qualified for the 2025 NCAA Championships but may have outgrown the weight. Chittum is a two-time national qualifier who might redshirt.

Ryan on 157: “Cannon is growing, so we have lots of issues there. Paddy (Gallagher) is big and strong and likes 165. e’Than Birden is at 165 and Cannon may be growing into 165. Chittum has a redshirt and two years left, so we’ll watch Chittum closely. We might put him in if he’s wrestling well and feels like he can win it at 157 this year. It depends on size and how big some of these guys get, and if they can make 157. We’re not sure if Cannon can maintain the weight anymore. He’s growing like a weed.”

165: Paddy Gallagher, SR, 17-10 or e’Then Birden, FR, 9-6 or Brandon Cannon
Gallagher is the front-runner after two appearances at the NCAA Championships. Much depends on Cannon’s weight and his decision to change classes.

Ryan on 165: “One will likely drop to 157 if we feel like the best thing is for Chittum to redshirt.”

174: Carson Kharchla, SR, 14-5
Kharchla finished seventh at the 2022 NCAA Championships and is a three-time national qualifier.

Ryan on 174: “Kharchla might get challenged by a guy who doesn’t win the wrestle-off at 165.”

184: Dylan Fishback, JR, 16-8
Ohio State thought they had returning national finalist Rocco Welsh, but he transferred to Penn State in the off-season. Ryan picked up Fishback from the portal, a two-time Round of 12 finisher for NC State.

Ryan on 184: “This was a tough situation for us. Rocco committed to a multi-year NIL deal. I’m not sure what happened there, but we’re super excited about Fishback and bringing him back home to Ohio.

“I would be lying if I didn’t say that Rocco leaving isn’t painful. We had a relationship with him. He was here for two years and we did everything right by him. At the same time, he has to go with what he feels is best for him in his life. I wish it went differently but freedom is important. Good luck to him, but we love who we have.

“Fishback is really athletic, he’s versatile, he loves the sport, and he’s from Ohio. We’re excited about bringing him home. He’s a great guy. He’s reported here and he’s a good person to be around.”

197: Seth Shumate, JR, 20-17 or Luke Geog, JR, 8-2 or Ryder Rogotzke, JR, 10-11
This fierce three-way battle should keep everyone guessing. All three are NCAA qualifiers, with Shumate qualifying at 197 in 2025 and Geog in 2024. Rogotzke is a two-time 184-pound qualifier who is likely moving up. He also has a redshirt season to use.

Ryan on 197: “Shumate could make 184, but he feels much better at 197, and Rogotzke has outgrown 184. We have three guys battling it out at 197. I could maybe see Shumate coming down if he loses (the wrestle-off), but I think the other two can’t make it. Ryder is way too big. He struggled this past year at 184. His first year, he was good, but became an issue for him last season.”

285: Nick Feldman, JR, 20-8
Feldman finished fifth at the 2024 NCAA Championships as a redshirt freshman and reached the Round of 12 in 2025.

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Ohio

Ohio woman sentenced in $775,000 Medicaid scheme

Published

52 minutes ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

COLUMBUS — A Lake County woman was sentenced this morning to jail time and ordered to pay $775,000 in restitution for fraudulently billing Medicaid, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced. “She inflated her earnings through brazen fraud, but her scheme burst wide open when our investigators got the case,” Yost said. “Cheating taxpayers comes with […]

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‘Catastrophic’ Ohio farm fire kills 6,000 hogs and pigs, officials say

Published

13 hours ago

February 27, 2026

Press Room

‘Catastrophic’ Ohio farm fire kills 6,000 hogs and pigs, officials say

A wind-swept blaze at an Ohio hog farm complex caused “catastrophic” damage and left thousands of pigs dead, fire officials said, marking another devastating barn inferno contributing to the deaths of millions of animals in recent years.

The massive fire occurred on Wednesday, Feb. 25, at Fine Oak Farms in Union Township, Madison County, located west of Ohio’s capital of Columbus, according to the Central Townships Joint Fire District. Fire crews received a report of a barn fire shortly before 12 p.m. local time.

The incident was later upgraded to a commercial structure fire after Chief Brian Bennington observed a “large column of smoke visible from a distance” and requested additional resources. Multiple local fire departments, along with several other emergency agencies, were called to the scene.

“What our crews encountered upon arrival was a very difficult and heartbreaking incident,” Bennington said in a statement on Feb. 26.

The fire chief described the facility as a large farm complex used for hog production consisting of five large agricultural buildings, including four that housed about 7,500 hogs. When crews arrived at the scene, they found two of the barns engulfed in flames, Bennington said.

Crews were challenged by windy conditions that significantly impacted fire suppression efforts, according to Bennington. Three barns were destroyed in the fire, and about 6,000 hogs and pigs were killed.

Firefighters saved one barn and about 1,500 hogs, the fire chief added. No injuries were reported in the incident.

Bennington highlighted the assistance of the farming community throughout Madison and Clark counties, as multiple farmers responded with water trucks to help with water supply efforts. “Rural Ohio’s agricultural community is tight-knit, and they truly step up when one of their own is in need,” he said.

The incident remains under investigation, and the Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office will determine the fire’s cause and origin. Bennington said there is no suspicion of arson and no ongoing threat to the public at this time.

‘Rapidly changing fire behavior conditions’

Heavy smoke from the fire could be seen for miles, and Bennington said first-arriving units were met with fire conditions coming from the opposite side of the hog farm complex.

The fire chief noted that the incident required extensive water-shuttle operations due to rural water-supply limitations in the area. Crews attempted to cut the fire off by deploying multiple handlines and using an aerial device, but “faced extremely challenging conditions throughout the incident,” according to Bennington.

Sustained winds of about 20 mph with gusts up to 35 mph accelerated the fire’s spread, Bennington said. The high winds made it “extremely difficult” to contain forward fire progression and created “rapidly changing fire behavior conditions” across the agricultural complex, he added.

After about four to five hours, the fire was contained by fire personnel from four different counties, according to the fire chief.

“Unfortunately, the fire resulted in catastrophic damage to the business,” Bennington said in an earlier statement on Feb. 25. “A significant portion of the agricultural structures were destroyed.”

Latest major fire to impact an Ohio hog farm

The incident at Fine Oak Farms is the latest major fire to cause significant damage to an Ohio hog farm in recent years.

In August 2024, about 1,100 pigs were killed in Versailles, a village about 50 miles northwest of Dayton, Ohio, according to data from the nonprofit Animal Welfare Institute. In March 2022, about 2,000 hogs died in a barn fire at Kenneth Scholl Hog Farm in Brown Township, just west of Columbus.

Before the fire at Fine Oak Farms, the Animal Welfare Institute reported that other barn fires in Ohio this year killed 162 sheep, horses, cows, chickens, and other animals.

Hundreds of thousands of animals killed in barn fires each year

Data from the Animal Welfare Institute shows that hundreds of thousands of animals are killed in barn fires across the country each year. Since 2013, over 9 million farm animals have been killed in barn fires, according to the organization.

As of Feb. 26, the Animal Welfare Institute reported that 118,738 farm animals have died in U.S. barn fires this year, including the incident at Fine Oak Farms. The majority of farm animals killed were chickens in separate incidents in North Carolina and Georgia in January, and another incident in Missouri earlier this month.

“Most fatal barn fires occurred in colder states, particularly the Upper Midwest and the Northeast. New York, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Illinois had the highest number of barn fires, respectively,” according to the organization. “The amount of cold weather a state experienced appeared to be a greater factor in the prevalence of barn fires than the intensity of a state’s animal agriculture production.”

In an updated report on farm animal deaths due to barn fires in 2025, the Animal Welfare Institute said more than 2.53 million farm animals were killed in barn fires from 2022 to 2024. The organization noted that the high death toll was “driven primarily” by fires at large operations that housed several thousand to over 1 million farm animals.

The majority of deaths in these incidents during that period, over 98%, were farmed birds, such as chickens and turkeys, according to the Animal Welfare Institute. But in 2023, a massive fire at a west Texas dairy farm became the single deadliest event involving livestock in the state’s history and the deadliest cattle fire in America in at least a decade.

18,000 head of cattle perished in the fire at the South Fork Dairy farm near Dimmitt, Texas. At the time, Roger Malone, who is the former mayor of Dimmitt, called the incident “mind-boggling.”

“I don’t think it’s ever happened before around here. It’s a real tragedy,” Malone said.

Contributing: Rick Jervis, USA TODAY; Shahid Meighan, Columbus Dispatch

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Ohio’s LaRose pushes back on voter fraud critics, Democrats

Published

1 day ago

February 26, 2026

Press Room

Ohio’s LaRose pushes back on voter fraud critics, Democrats

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose discussed voter fraud and Ohio’s efforts to prevent it during a recent radio appearance.

LaRose appeared on “The Bill Cunningham” radio show, where he defended the state’s efforts to minimize voter fraud. A clip posted on X shows audio of LaRose arguing that policies aimed at preventing voter fraud are necessary even though cases are rare.

Here’s what to know.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose says voter fraud in Ohio is rare, compares prevention efforts to TSA security

In the clip, LaRose says that Democrats claim voter fraud is rare, and should be ignored.

“The left claims that voter fraud is rare, so we should just ignore it,” he said. “Well, airplane hijackings are also rare — we don’t abolish the TSA. The reason why we keep voter fraud rare in states like Ohio because we do these very things that they’re trying to take away from me.”

LaRose announced the inaugural meeting of the new Ohio Election Integrity Commission, which replaces what he called the flawed Ohio Elections Commission, in January 2026. The new committee, he says, will be used in “enforcing Ohio’s election laws, reviewing alleged violations, and ensuring accountability in matters relating to voting.”

In October 2025, LaRose said that he forwarded more than 1,000 cases of voter fraud to the U.S. Department of Justice. The cases involved 1,084 noncitizen individuals who appear to have registered to vote unlawfully in Ohio, and 167 noncitizens who appear to have also cast a ballot in a federal election since 2018.

In February 2026, President Donald Trump said Republicans should “nationalize” elections. He also accused Democrats of bringing migrants into the United States to illegally vote, a claim that is not backed by evidence, USA TODAY reports.

Voter fraud in the U.S. is considered rare nationwide, according to NPR, but there are still debates from both political sides on how frequently it occurs.

What is voter fraud?

Electoral fraud is defined as illegally interfering with the process of an election, according to Ballotpedia. This includes in-person voter fraud, absentee or mail ballots and illegal voter suppression.

Criminal penalties can include fines or imprisonment for up to five years, according to U.S. code. In Ohio, election interference can carry a felony of the fourth degree, according to Ohio Code.

Voter fraud is often a topic of debate among Democrats and Republicans, where organizations such as the conservative Heritage Foundation maintains a database claiming to show nearly 1,500 cases of election fraud since the year 2000.

Meanwhile, research by law professor Justin Leavitt published in 2014 found 31 cases of in-person voter fraud among billions of ballots cast from 2000–2014, according to Ballotpedia.

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