The Maryland wrestling team fell 45-3 to No. 2 Ohio State on Friday night, and to be honest, that was pretty much the expected result.
The Buckeyes completely overmatch the Terps in every weight class, except for heavyweight, in which No. 10 Youssif Hemida (Maryland) was scheduled to go up against No. 1 Kyle Snyder (Ohio State).
Hemida, who was 15-1 this season coming into the match, has practically carried the Terps on his back. Snyder, on the other hand, is a reigning Olympic gold medalist. That’s right, he won gold for Team USA at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
But instead of giving everyone the matchup they wanted to see, the Buckeyes sent Snyder’s younger brother, redshirt freshman Kevin Snyder, to the mat to face Hemida. Of course Youssif made quick work of the Woodbine, Maryland, native, defeating the younger Snyder 8-1 to salvage three points for the Terps in the final bout of the night.
That left us with this question: Is the best wrestler in the country afraid of Youssif Hemida?
Snyder appears to be in good health — according to Eleven Warriors, he spent the day training in Colorado with the U.S. World Team. And sure enough, he arrived in New Jersey on Saturday to face Rutgers the next day:
Olympic Champ @Snyder_man45 has landed in NJ rejoining team for the Rutgers dual at Noon! pic.twitter.com/M6JvzzFn2b
— Ohio State Wrestling (@wrestlingbucks) January 7, 2018
Was Snyder just trying to make sure he didn’t get hurt? Or was he worried he couldn’t take on Hemida?
I guess we’ll never know, but I know what conclusion I’m going to draw.