Simply the Best- Amazing Schlatter wins first NCAA Title: and makes it Look Easy!

He’s not the first. 

Nor will he be the last. 

While in the history of collegiate wrestling at least five other true freshman have been crowned as NCAA Champions, it is a virtual certainty that none have been quite as dominating as Dustin Schlatter in winning his first.  Schlatter’s scores for the weekend:  8-0, 14-1, 8-0 over Eric Tannenbaum, 5-1 over Matt Storniolo, and 4-0 over Ty Eustice.  That’s right- the true freshman yielded only two escapes despite a rugged draw.  Indeed, no one can say Schlatter had an easy road- knocking off three straight returning All-Americans- though he did, at times, make it look easy. 

No Weakness

At this point it is hard to imagine Schlatter losing.  Simply put, he has no weakness.  His positioning is amazing- making the task for his opponents comparable to attacking a fortress.  His defense is so solid that once he secured the first takedown in the finals against Eustice, I felt not 99% confident, but rather 100% confident he would win.  Former NCAA Division II All-American Zach Davis of Ashland University put it well: “he is so low to the ground, yet always moving forward.”  His shot and duck-under are lightning fast.  He is perhaps the best on “re-shots” after his opponent’s shot that I have ever seen.  On the mat, Schlatter is devastating on top with his tilts, almost impossible to get away from, and virtually unrideable.  Want to go upperbody with him?   NCAA Champ Zach Esposito learned the hard way the folly of that idea, as Schlatter twice took him to his back from upper-body situations (Schlatter won three Greco-Roman national titles in “Fargo” in three attempts). 

Wrestling analyst Andrew Hipps of www.revwrestling.com has seen a lot of Schlatter’s matches this year, and had this to say about his talents: “He's a legend in the making. He won the NCAA title while wrestling like a fifth-year senior, not a 19-year-old true freshman. His poise and confidence level are through the roof. This might be a bit premature, and I hate making statements like this, but based on what I've seen, it's hard to imagine Dustin Schlatter not joining Pat Smith and Cael Sanderson as the next four-time NCAA champion in Division I."

Indeed, at this point, it seems that Schlatter is in the process of becoming one of the all-time greats.  In High School, he never lost a match where the final championship was on the line- winning not only four state titles, but seven out of seven nationals titles he competed for, over not only the highly-decorated Brent Metcalf but also older stars such as Ryan Lang, Alex Tsirtsis, and Dan Friskhorn.  Now, a year out of college, he is perhaps a poor strategic decision (i.e. his coaches advising him to choose neutral instead of the down position in his loss to Mark Disalvo) from being on his way to becoming the second undefeated wrestler in college history, and this without the benefit of a redshirt. 

Historical Perspective

At this point, a comparison of the greatness of Schlatter seems to be in order.   Consider: wrestling in a weight class loaded with six returning All-Americans, Schlatter lost just once, a 1-0 loss to Mark Disalvo (an Ohio native) that he later avenged.  He defeated the returning National Champion (Zach Esposito) twice, by a score of 11-2 the second time.  He won three matches against the returning third and fourth place finishers (Jon Masa, Eric Tannenbaum) by a combined 20-0.  

It’s worth comparing Dustin Schlatter’s freshman season then to three greatest middleweights of the 1990’s:  Lincoln McIlravy, Cary Kolat, and Joe Williams. This groups combined for eight NCAA titles, and seven world or Olympic medals (and counting).

Cary Kolat is widely regarded as the greatest high school wrestler of all-time. Yet, one year out of high school, Kolat was beaten five times, including in the national finals.

Lincoln McIlravy was beaten twice as a true freshman, and needed a heroic comeback to win the NCAA’s over Gerry Abas that year- a far cry from the sheer dominance of Schlatter.

Joe Williams placed 7th at NCAA’s as a true freshman, a season that saw him get pinned (by Ohio native Aaron Moran) and technical falled (by Pat Smith). 

Even the incomparable Cael Sanderson, on paper, does not compare well to Schlatter at a similar point in his career.  Sanderson was defeated that year in an open tournament by a wrestler who did not place at NCAA’s (the late Paul Jenn). 

In summary, a plausible argument can be made that Dustin Schlatter is as good, possibly better one year out of high school than any wrestler has ever been at that point in their career.  There is truly no limit to what he might achieve.

Tough Weekend for Ohio Wrestlers

On the whole, I regret to say that it was one of the poorest showings by former Buckeye state wrestlers that I can recall.  Things looked particularly bleak going into the semis.  At that point, almost inconceivably, Ohio had only one of the forty semifinalists.  A good run in the consolations lead to a still-lower than normal seven All-Americans.  What happened?  Several things.  First, two of Ohio’s all-time high school greats, Kyle Ott and C.P. Schlatter, fizzled.  2x NCAA Runner-up Ott has been an inspiration, overcoming approximately 15 f knee surgeries to reach the NCAA finals twice, but this year, the injuries just seemed to take their toll.  Nonetheless, it is difficult to have anything but tremendous respect for what Ott has overcome.  As for C.P. Schlatter, it just wasn’t his weekend.  Schlatter came in as the champion of the ridiculously loaded Big Ten and the #2 seed (and had split with the #1 seed), but inexplicably managed just a 2-2 weekend.

Moreover, what that has hurt Ohio wrestling is our high school stars not competing in college.  Four years ago, Ohio’s three best seniors were Hetag Pliev, Joey Pflug, and Matt McIntyre.   Pliev was has gone back to mother Russia, Pflug dropped out of Ohio State (though he returned to win the Division III National Title for Heidelberg this year) and McIntyre gave up wrestling to pursue a music career.  There is no telling how things might have turned out, but it is interesting to note that McIntyre defeated this year’s 157 lb. NCAA Runner-up, Brian Stith, as well as 2x NCAA All-American Andy Simmons at national tournaments in high school.  Pflug took Stith to double overtime at senior nationals- and won easily over Deonte Penn (NCAA 4th this year) in the state finals.  Pliev dominated NCAA Runner-up Roger Kish in wining cadet nationals.  The best wrestler the prior year (who would now be a 5th year senior) was arguably Harry Lester.  Lester twice defeated now two-time NCAA champ/3x finalist Teyon Ware in freestyle in high school, and technical falled NCAA 2nd/3rd placer Shawn Bunch.   However, Lester gave up collegiate wrestling to pursue a Greco-Roman career- and is now the #1 rated wrestler in the United States in that style.  

Another great example is Jason Hackett, a 2003 grad who won Senior Nationals that year over a guy who has went on to do pretty well for himself, Jake Herbert (NCAA 3rd and 2nd his first two years).  Hackett initially went to Arizona State University but never wrestled a match in college. 

Other former Ohio wrestler that would have done well are Ohio State Buckeyes JD Bergman (redshirting, but 3rd at NCAA’s in 2004 as a true freshman) and Jeff Jaggers, who likely would have been an All-American if not for a late-season knee injury. 

In summary, the majority of the elite talent that has come out of the Buckeye State over the past five years was not competing at the 2006 NCAA tournament!

Ohio Highlights

That said, there were several great stories besides Schlatter.  Ryan Lang overcame a series of injuries and a mid-season slump to place 4th in a loaded weight class.  Along the way he defeated Big Ten archrivals - Alex Tsirtsis (7-1) and Andy Simmons (3-0).  Northwestern Assistant Coach Drew Pariano was understandably very proud of Lang, exclaiming “it was great, we beat guys he lost to earlier in the year.  Even when he lost (twice to Cory Cooperman of Lehigh), we always believed he was one move away from winning at any time- Lang is capable of anything.”   Pariano also pointed out that Lang will start next season ranked #1 in the nation- as the highest returning place finisher.

For wrestlers who lose in the first round of NCAA’s, the road back through the consolations is daunting to say the least.  In fact, of the 154 wrestlers who lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, just four came back to make All-American.  One of these was John Velez of Kings High School and now Northwestern University.  Velez, a senior, refused to quite after losing a 6-5 heartbreaker to Kent State’s Chad Sportelli in the first round-  battling back to win four straight and make All-American with a seventh place finish.   Coach Pariano had this to say about Velez:  “We couldn’t be happier.  He came here as a walk-on, now people fear him.  It took a lot of character to come back- he’s one of the great success stories of the tournament.” 

Perhaps the biggest surprise of former Ohio wrestlers was junior Deonte Penn of Edinboro University and Solon High School.  In a first round stunner, Penn came back from being double-grapevined and nearly pinned to stun returning NCAA 3rd place finisher Matt Nagel of the University of Minnesota.  He followed that up with an overtime fall over Will Durkee of Northwestern.  After suffering a quarterfinal pin against much-heralded Russian transplant Muzaffar Abdurakmanov (a.k.a. “Moose”), Penn tallied three straight decisive wins before forfeiting his 3rd place match due to injury.

Another unlikely success story from the Buckeye state was CB Dolloway.  Dolloway hails from tiny Galion Northmor High School.  While he did win two Division III state titles in high school, Dolloway was barely noticed in an era that included upperweight stars such as Hetag Pliev, Matt Kallai, JD Bergman, Jared Villers, Matt Delguyd, Jeff Clemens, and Matt Koz.  That all changed when he placed 4th at Senior Nationals, and Dolloway has just continued to get better, culminating his career as a 5th place NCAA finisher for Arizona State University.  Along the way he defeated former All-Americans Kurt Backes, Paul Bradley, and Ben Wissel (the #3 seed) and lost only to the top two seeds.

Securing his second NCAA All-American honors was Mark Disalvo of Central Michigan University and Dayton Carroll High School at 149 lbs.  Disalvo has the distinction of being the only wrestler to defeat Schlatter this year- and simply never loses a match he is supposed to win.  Disalvo is another somewhat unlikely success story- as he never won an Ohio state title and finished his career at 119 lbs.

Kirk Nail gave Ohio State Buckeye fans something to smile about finishing 8th place, good for All-American status.  Unseeded after finishing just 7th place at the Big Ten, Nail opened by upsetting two seeded wrestlers.  After losing a 9-1 decision to rugged Cain Velasquez of Arizona State University, he gutted out a 4-2 overtime win in the All-American round to reach the podium for the first time.   Nail has two years left in the scarlet and gray.   

What is interesting about the Ohio All-Americans is that other than Schlatter and Lang, there isn’t a single wrestler in the group most would have predicted any to achieve NCAA All-American status in college- they are truly a “blue-collar” group, a testament to what can be achieved by a less-acclaimed wrestler who doesn’t give up on their dream- Ohio Wrestling Site extends congratulations to them and all who competed at the NCAA tournament! 

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OhioWrestlingSite.com 2005