Former Graham High School four-time state champ Bo Jordan broke more through more than one wall Friday night at the Division I NCAA wrestling tournament at the Scott Trade Center in St. Louis.
The Ohio State 174-pounder advanced to tonight’s finals to be aired on ESPN at 8 with a come-from-behind 11-7 win against second seed Brian Realbuto of Cornell in Friday night’s semifinals.
Jordan had twice lost in the semis en route to third-place finishes before securing his first final with a win against the lone wrestler to beat him this year.
Realbuto had defeated Jordan 3-2 in a dual on Feb. 19.
“It means a lot,” Jordan told the Ohio State University website. “As much as we talked about effort and doing the right thing, it’s also nice to win them, too. It’s nice to be in the finals this year, just not to go in the morning and then wrestle back. So it’ll be exciting.”
Jordan trailed 7-3 entering the third period before getting an escape and a stalling call to cut the deficit to 7-5. He clinched the win with a six-point move to give him the final margin with 30 seconds remaining.
Jordan will face Penn State freshman Mark Hall for the title in a rematch of the Big Ten tournament finals.
Jordan recorded a takedown to take a 6-4 win in sudden victory over Hall for his first Big Ten title.
“I’ve got Mark Hall. He’s really good. He was all over my legs last time, too,” Jordan said. “I’m sure he was working to get better, and I’ve been, too, so it’ll be really fun to compete against him and get after it, so I’m sure he’s looking forward to it as well.”
Jordan will be joined in the finals by Olympic gold medalist Kyle Snyder at 285.
Ohio State will have six All-Americans as they try to chase down Penn State in the team race.
Penn State leads the team race with 121 points. The Buckeyes sit in second with 89.5.
One of the Buckeyes who will join Jordan as an All-American is brother Micah Jordan.
Micah dropped his quarterfinal match before winning two straight to get into the consolation semis at 149.
Isaac Jordan, who was runner-up last year for Wisconsin, will wrestle in the consolation semis after dropping a 2-1 decision to top-seed Isaiah Martinez of Illinois in the semis.
Former Miami Valley School state champ Matthew Kolodzik will wrestle for seventh at 141 for Princeton.
Former Centerville state runner-up Conan Jennings missed All-American status by one match at 285 for Northwestern and former Beavercreek wrestler Nick Corba finished 2-2.
Dayton Christian four-time champ Jacob Danishek dropped a pair of matches to seeded wrestlers for Indiana at 157.