Bergman, Ratliff and Rowlands Gain Bids to U.S. Olympic Trials – Ohio State Buckeyes
4/12/2004 12:00:00 AM | General, Wrestling
Tommy Rowlands, who capped the most decorated career in Ohio State Wrestling with his second NCAA heavyweight title in March, continued his push toward the 2004 Olympic games in Athens, Greece with a fourth-place finish in the 211-pound freestyle division last weekend at the United States Open Championships in Las Vegas, Nev. With his fourth-place standing, Rowlands earned an invitation to the 2004 United States Olympic Trials May 21-23 in Indianapolis, Indiana. Rowlands will be joined at the trials by current and former Buckeyes in 2004 All-Americans J.D. Bergman and Jeff Ratliff, while 2002 All-American Nick Preston (1998-2002)and Sean Salmon also claimed qualifying finishes for the Olympic trials.
Ratliff most recently joined the group after qualifying at the 2004 Olympic Team Trial East Regional in Brockport, N.Y. April 16. Ratlif gained the bid after winning the 145.5-pound class with four shutouts and a fall in his six victories, including a 5-0 decision over Matt Kocher of the Pittsbugh wrestling club in the finals.
Despite dropping his first-round match to No. 1-seeded and eventual division champion Dan Cormier of Gator Wrestling by a 5-1 score, Rowlands rallied in the consolation bracket and rolled to seven straight wins to claim a spot in the third-place match against fellow two-time national champion Damion Hahn, who won the 2003 and 2004 NCAA titles for Minnesota at 197 pounds.
Rowlands (Hilliard, Ohio/ Bishop Ready) combined a decision, a fall and a major decision in each of his first three wrestbacks before bouncing Dominic Black, wrestling for the U.S. Army, from the bracket with a 3-2 decision in overtime in consolation bout No. 4. Next, Rowlands recorded a pair of shutout, 4-0 victories over Jon Trenge of the New York Athletic Club and Wes Hand of Sunkist to gain a berth in the third-place match against Hahn. Rowlands and Hahn, who wrestled with the Minnesota Storm, battled through a 2-2 draw at the end of regulation in the third-place bout before the former Golden Gopher scored the deciding escape to claim third-place via a 3-2 decision.
On the Greco side, Bergmam (Oak Harbor, Ohio/ Oak Harbor) claimed a qualifying bid by placing eight at the 211-pound class. The third-place finisher at 197 pounds at the 2004 NCAA Championships won his first and second-round matches by decision before falling to consolations following a 6-0 loss to No. 2 seed Justin Ruiz of the New York Athletic Club in the third round. In the wrestlebacks, Bergman landed a win via fall before succumbing to a fall himself in the consolation quarterfinals, sending Bergman to the seventh-place bout. Bergman again found the same fate in the seventh-place bout, going down via fall, but earned a berth to the Olympic trials with his No. 8 finish.
At 184 freestyle, Preston won his first three bouts without allowing a point, which included a first-round fall just 36 seconds into the match and a 12-0 technical fall in round two. Preston’s run ended in the fourth-round with a 4-2 loss at the hands of Muhammad Lawal of Gator wrestling. Following the defeat, Preston dropped into wrestleback contention, where he advanced to the third-place match with three decision wins before dropping another tight bout to Lawal for third via a 4-0 tally. In addition to Rowlands and Preston, Rex Holman, also a former Buckeye and 1993 national champion at 190 pounds, wrestled in the 211 bracket, but missed a bid to the trials with a loss in the wrestlebacks.
Rowlands, who eventually will vie for a spot on the U.S. Olympic squad in freestyle at 211 pounds, finished his Ohio State career as the only Buckeye to claim four All-American honors, while also topping the OSU annals in career wins, takedowns, team points and season takedowns and team points. In addition, Rowlands’ 2004 NCAA HWT championship helped put the finishing touches on the finest showing by Ohio State at the national tournament in the history of the program as the Buckeyes tallied third and sent an all-time program-high of five wrestlers to the Parade of All-Americans.
Further information on the 2004 U.S. Olympic Trials in Indianapolis may be found at www.indianasportscorp.com.
