by Connor Brady ‘17

A lot of hype led up to the wrestling match between Ohio State and Maryland, quickly turning to excitement in the parking lot of Good Counsel. I was somehow able to find a parking space, which felt like finding a needle in a haystack. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that the event had sold out two weeks prior to match day meaning I had to resort to watching Facebook live at my house. The huge crowd resulted from the fact that the U.S. Olympic team had their number one wrestler, Kyle Snyder, in attendance wrestling for Ohio State, who had graduated from Good Counsel in 2013.

As the youngest Olympic gold medalist and champion in American wrestling history, Snyder went 179-0 in his three years for Good Counsel. One day at practice, Snyder asked Coach Ryan, the head coach of the Ohio wrestling team, if the team could one day make a trip to Good Counsel for a match. Ryan agreed.

The people walking into the building from the parking lot talked about how they were going to see Snyder dominate everyone he’d face. Simultaneously, security guards directed them to the main gym. Looking into Good Counsel’s gym, one could see fans wearing U.S. shirts as well at t-shirts that read “Kyle Snyder is #1!” The gym was packed with fans who were ready to get the show on the road. Many people were waving the American flag and talking about their chance to see one of the most dominant athletes on the planet show what he is all about. Everyone was eager to start the matches but a spokesperson opened the event with a speech introducing the two teams. After that ended, the crowd started cheering and the matches got straight underway.

Snyder didn’t disappoint in his homecoming, with nine takedowns to defeat Maryland’s Youssif Hemida, by a score of 22-7. Snyder wasn’t a one-man show, however; other wrestlers provided wins in their matches as well. Sophomore Myles Martin, redshirt junior Nathan Tomasello and freshman Kollin Moore also provided key bonus points as Ohio State won eight of nine matches. The only win from Maryland came from sophomore Justin Alexander who was barely able to hold off Jake Ryan as the clock hit zero.

Ohio were the heavy favorites to win the match and despite home field advantage, Maryland lost with a final score of 30-12. Snyder received a standing ovation after all of the matches in front of his home town crowd. Currently ranked No. 4 nationally, Ohio State remains as only one of three teams left undefeated in the nation.