Thursday, Ohio will send three wrestlers to compete in the annual NCAA Championships hosted in St. Louis. Sophomore Shakur Laney, redshirt sophomore Zack Parker and redshirt junior Noah Forrider are competing.
Laney will represent Ohio in the 125 lbs. bracket as newly-crowned Mid-American Conference champion. Laney hasn’t been a stranger to the limelight this season, as he posted a 23-6 regular season and as the number one seed in the MAC Championships.
With his MAC title in hand, Laney earned the 13th seed out of 16. Pacific-12 Conference champion, Sean Nickell, a redshirt sophomore, won the 125 lbs. weight class in the PAC-12 Conference Championship. Nickell attends California State Bakersfield.
This is not Laney’s first NCAA Championship appearance, however. As a freshman, he earned an at-large bid after placing fifth at the MAC Championships.
Forrider and Parker, both upperclassmen, went a combined 44-14 on the year in the regular season and often were heavily relied on for leadership due to being on such a young team in the midst of a rebuilding season.
Parker, a heavyweight, went 20-10, often played the backbone for Ohio this season. In the dual against Clarion, with the Bobcats leading by one point heading into the final match, it was on Parker’s shoulders to secure the win and he did just that.
The following weekend against conference foe Old Dominion, Ohio was down three points as it again looked to Parker for a win. While earning the personal win, it wasn’t enough as Ohio ultimately lost by way of match points.
Forrider and Parker both had strong MAC Championship bouts, with Forrider finding his way into the championship match at 141 lbs. He ultimately placed third as opposed to second due to an irregularity in not facing an opponent in the earlier rounds. As the number one seed in the heavyweight bracket, Parker mostly dominated the tournament, yet came up short for once as he placed fourth.
Due to both regular and postseason success, the two earned at-large bids to the annual NCAA Championships. Forrider will wrestle Nebraska’s Colton McCrystal. McCrystal, who is the ninth seed in the 141 lbs. bracket, placed third in the Big Ten Conference Championship on March 5.
Parker will be wrestling in what’s known as the “pigtail” match against Lehigh’s Doug Vollaro. Similar to the NCAA Basketball Tournament with its “First Four” games where the winner is in the tournament and the loser is not, Parker will wrestle against the third-place finalist in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association.
The three-day tournament will span from March 16-18 in St. Louis, Missouri, where a few Bobcats will look to stake a claim in making history.
