After a down year by Tom Ryan standards in 2022, the Buckeyes rebounded in 2023 by bringing home a team trophy from NCAAs. Despite losing valuable senior leadership from Malik Heinselman, Ethan Smith, Kaleb Romero, and Tate Orndorff, Ohio State is in a good position to bring home another trophy this year. While Jesse Mendez is planning to Olympic redshirt, this will be the debut season for a lot of the loaded 2022 #1 overall recruiting class.

Overview

Head Coach: Kevin Dresser

Assistants: Brent Metcalf, Derek St. John, Fernando Villaescusa, Sam Schuyler

2023 NCAA Tournament Finish: 11th

2023 NCAA Tournament team points: 47

2023 Big 12 Tournament finish: 3rd

2023 Dual Record: 16-3

Returning national qualifiers: 8 (Kysen Terukina, Zach Redding, Casey Swiderski, Paniro Johnson, Jason Kraisser, David Carr, Will Feldkamp, Yonger Bastida)

Returning All-Americans: 4 (David Carr, Will Feldkamp, Yonger Bastida)

Last NCAA champion: David Carr (2022)

Last 10 NCAA Championships:

2013: 11th

2014: 12th

2015: T18th

2016: 12th

2017: T57th

2018: T45th

2019: 16th

2020: Canceled (COVID)

2021: T13th

2022: 17th

2023: 11th

125: #18 Kysen Terukina

After being sidelined last season with an injury, Kysen Terukina will likely return to the lineup at the leadoff spot. He was an NCAA qualifier for the Cyclones in both 2021 and 2022 as a true freshman and sophomore. He notched a nice win over 2X All-American Eric Barnett last season in one of his few matches before getting injured while wrestling at the NWCA All-Star event in November.

Other Options: Ethan Perryman, Caleb Fuessley, Blake Gioimo

133: Garrett Grice

Iowa State picked up a decent transfer from Virginia in freshman Garrett Grice. A native of Omaha, Nebraska, he was the #56 overall recruit coming out of high school in 2022. As a redshirt at Virginia last season he went 13-2 including 5-1 in duals. 

Grice could be a contested roster battle with Corey Cabanban. Cabanban spent the first five years of his career at 125 where he started in the occasional dual before getting to wrestle at Big 12s last year when Terukina went down. Unfortunately for Cyclone fans, 2022 national qualifier Ramazan Attasauov is no longer on the roster.

Other Options: Corey Cabanban, Damon Huston

Watch Garrett Grice beat Emilio Ysaguirre at the 2022 US Open below.

141: #8 (133) Zach Redding

133 was no cakewalk for Zach Redding. So, with Grice coming in and 2023 141 starter Casey Swiderski moving up, Redding will be moving up as well. Redding qualified for NCAAs in both 2021 and 2023 while competing at 133. In between he took a redshirt and competed at 141 where he went 7-2. Last season Redding bumped up for the Collegiate Duals and beat Oregon State NCAA qualifier Cleveland Belton 6-5. Redding will likely enter the 141 lb rankings in the teens.

Other Options: Evan Frost, Jacob Frost

149: #11 (141) Casey Swiderski

Paniro Johnson’s current status is uncertain, but what is certain is that, no matter what happens Johnson’s eligibility, he is likely redshirting this season. His first year on campus was technically a greyshirt, so this will be his first and only traditional redshirt. Last year’s 141 NCAA qualifier Swiderski will be moving up to take over the starting 149 lb position.

Swiderski had his up and downs as a true freshman last season, but ended it with a 3-2 performance at the NCAA tournament. Despite Swiderski’s down moments last season, the coaching staff is still very high on him as they should be. A lot of his season was hampered by a shoulder injury that should be healed up now. Not having to make 141 week in and out will hopefully be beneficial for him as well. We, unfortunately, won’t get to see a Swiderski – Real Woods rematch with Swiderski moving up, but new Hawkeye transfer Victor Voinovich will be a fun matchup as well.

Other Options: Anthony Echemendia, Carter Fousek

157: Cody Chittum

In one of the biggest “transfers” of the off season, Cody Chittum left Iowa to join Iowa State. Transfers is in quotes because although Chittum had been living and training in Iowa City all of last season, he was greyshirting and never enrolled at Iowa. This means that he still has four years of eligibility plus a redshirt to use at Iowa State.

The #1 overall recruit coming out of high school, Chittum holds an impressive list of credentials. He’s won Who’s Number One, Super 32, a junior freestyle Fargo title, and most recently competed on the senior level this year winning medals in three different events – Bill Farrell (silver), Henri Deglane (bronze), and Egypt Ranking Series (bronze). His style of wrestling is hard-nosed, very exciting, and is already translating excellent to the next level.

Other Options: Jason Kraisser, Andrew Huddleston, Logan Stotts, Christian Stanek

165: #2 David Carr

Everybody knows 2022 NCAA champion David Carr. He will be looking to once again get back to the top of the NCAA podium after finishing runner-up to Missouri’s Keegan O’Toole last year. The Carr – O’Toole rivalry is arguably the best in college wrestling at the moment. Both are NCAA champions and 3X All-Americans. Carr won in the dual and at the Big 12 tournament last year while O’Toole won at the NCAAs. The two will likely see each other again this season at least three times.

Other Options: Manny Rojas, Ben Monroe

Watch David Carr take out Keegan O’Toole in last season’s dual below.

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174: MJ Gaitan

Iowa State fans got a brief glimpse of MJ Gaitan last season when he started in five duals for the Cyclones as a true freshman. He went just 2-3 in those duals but against solid competition. His biggest win of the year came against UNI’s Lance Runyon. Gaitan is a “throw the kitchen sink” type of guy that isn’t afraid to go for the big move or give up some points to score some points. If he can really tone that up, he can be an impact competitor moving forward.

Other Options: Carter Schmidt

184: #4 Will Feldkamp

The Clones had a big-time hole to fill this season at 184 with the loss of 2X All-American Marcus Coleman. But Dresser went out and made a splash by picking up transfer Will Feldkamp. Feldkamp spent the first four years of his career at Northern Illinois before transferring to Clarion for two years. At Clarion Feldkamp was a 2X national qualifier and finished in 7th place last season while going 29-6. 

Other Options: Tate Naaktgeboren, Caleb Helgeson, Cole Carlucci

197: Julien Broderson

Coach Dresser has confirmed that Yonger Bastida will be moving up to heavyweight, so it will be a new face at 197. Not an unfamiliar one, however, as after spending the last three years at 174 lbs, Julien Broderson is making the big jump to 197 lbs. While at 174 lbs, Broderson went 39-25 and started to for two years.

Another option could be McCrae Hagarty. The Waverly-Shell Rock product was a 2X state champion and the #89 overall recruit coming out of high school. I expect we’ll at least see him in a dual or two this season while he redshirts.

Other Options: McCrae Hagarty, Fernando Villaescusa

285: #10 Yonger Bastida

If you have any doubts about how Bastida will do bumping up to heavyweight, you can leave them at the door. Bastida bumped up for the Cornell dual last season and beat bloodround participant Lewis Fernandes. If he can do that while weight 197, he’ll be solid on feel feed at around 230 lbs. Making 197 was hard on Bastida last season and likely led to him not peaking in the postseason. His athleticism should give him an advantage over most D1 heavyweights.

Other Options: Jacob Cates, Xavier Bruening