Before the team boarded the plane on Tuesday, Ohio had made history.
A program-record six wrestlers received individual berths into the 2014 NCAA Championships, as each will attempt to become an All-American or national champion competitor.
Three Bobcats earned seeding in the tournament, as redshirt sophomores Cody Walters (174) and Phil Wellington (197) were each named No. 8 seeds. Heavyweight redshirt senior Jeremy Johnson is a No. 10 seed, while junior Tywan Claxton (149), redshirt sophomore Spartak Chino (157) and redshirt junior Harrison Hightower (165) round out the list of Bobcats wrestling in the tournament.
“I remember being a true freshman and (coach Joel Greenlee) said ‘This is a special group,’ ” Walters said. “Now, to be here two years later and taking the most guys that OU has ever taken to the national tournament is pretty exciting. After all the hard work that we put in, all the standards that have been placed in front of us, I think it’s pretty incredible. And we’ve got a lot of room to improve and go further.”
Ohio will enter the tournament with two former All-Americans in Walters and Johnson, who are also the Bobcats’ lone 2014 Mid-American Conference champions. Walters earned an eighth-place finish at last year’s national tournament, good enough to secure an All-American spot for the redshirt freshman. Johnson finished seventh in his sophomore season, and will be making his fourth tournament trip of his career.
Chino and Wellington are each making their second NCAA appearances, after finishing last season’s tournament with record of 1-2 and 2-2, respectively.
“We haven’t talked about winning and losing or expectations for any one particular guy all year long, and I don’t think we start now,” Greenlee said. “We talk about the one match in front of you, and wrestling as hard as you possibly can for seven minutes. ... If you wrestle your hardest for seven minutes, you’ve got nothing to hang your head about.”
Ohio left the MAC Championships two weeks ago with five NCAA qualifiers, but Claxton was added to the list later as one of four wild cards in the 149-pound bracket. His top-15 ranking, as well as his RPI standing and his strength of schedule were factors in him being chosen.
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