Echemendia Officially a Buckeye

Earlier today, Coach Tom Ryan posted a tweet announcing Anthony Echemendia will officially become a Buckeye in May. Echemendia was supposed to enroll at OSU in January but there were some reported difficulties in the enrollment process. I am glad Ohio State could get this young man enrolled because he is a first-class wrestler and young man.

Anthony Echemendia is from Cuba where he won a record 6 Cuban National Championships at the Cadet and Junior levels. In 2018, Echemendia defected from Cuba while at a training camp in Guatemala. In late 2018, he moved to the United States to live with his uncle who enrolled him into Sunnyside High School located in Tucson, Arizona. Prior to attending school in the United States, Echmendia did not wrestle folk style but won the Arizona State title in the 152-pound weight class with a 22-0 record. Afterwards, he traveled to the USMC Junior National Championships in Fargo, North Dakota and won both Greco and freestyle in the 145-pound weight class. Echemendia stated that his goal is to win multiple World Titles for the United States.

Joining Ohio State’s program will assist him in attaining his goals because it is also home to the Ohio RTC. Ohio RTC is short for the Ohio regional training center which provides training to world class wrestlers that aspire to win Olympic medals and World titles. Current Ohio RTC athletes include; J’Den Cox, Nathan Tomasello, Luke Pletcher, Myles Martin, and Kollin Moore. Ohio State Greats J Jaggers, Bo Jordan, and Logan Stieber are on the coaching staff.

Echemendia has kept himself busy while waiting to be accepted into Ohio State. He has been traveling to different Regional Training Center’s to learn from many different coaches along with practicing with Coach Tom Ryan himself. He has also been spotted at Planet Fitness putting in some extra work to ensure his body is in peak form.

Echemendia will be joining a very talented room when he joins Ohio State in May. Ohio State will be losing Luke Pletcher and Kollin Moore but they return Jordan Decatur at 133/141, Sammy Sasso at 149, Ethan Smith at 165, Kaleb Romero at 174, Rocky Jordan at 184, Chase Singletary at 197/HWT, and Gary Traub at HWT. Carson Kharchla is coming off an impressive redshirt year where he went 16-0. I believe Echemendia will wrestle at 157 pounds for Ohio State next season and have an immediate impact.

Written by: Brandon Dodson

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Photo Credit given to @wrestlingbucks