Written by Ryan Lance

The 2016 Ohio Tournament of Champions will take place this Saturday as more than 2,400 wrestlers from across the country will compete in the “Largest One-Day Wrestling Tournament in the World.” The event will take place at the Columbus Convention Center in Columbus, Ohio and featured up to 30 mats of action.
Wrestlers from as far away as California, Florida, Georgia, and Missouri will compete in this weekend’s event. It’ll also feature a number of state and national champions who will be looking to add another notable title to their wrestling resumes.

Below we Below we are going to take a look at a handful of wrestlers and weight class to keep an eye on as the action heats up this weekend.

Defending Champions:
There will be a pair of Schoolboy wrestlers who will be looking to defend their 2015 Ohio Tournament of Champions title from a season ago. Stevo Poulin from New York will look to win his second TOC title in as many years as he was the winner of the 68-pound division a season ago. 

The other wrestler who is looking to defend his title will be Ryan Crookham from Pennsylvania. Crookham is the defending 72-pound champion and he'll most likely compete in the 80 division this weekend. 

Looking to Improve:
A handful of wrestlers are back this year and looking to improve upon their finishes from a season ago.

Kurtis Phipps from Pennsylvania will look to capture a Tournament of Champions title after falling just short a season ago. Phipps dropped the championship bout to Cole Skinner from Ohio. 

Nasir Wilkinson is another wrestler who will look to improve upon his silver medal finish from a season ago. He lost the title bout last year to defending champion Stevo Poulin from New York. 


Finally, Nolan Springer from Wisconsin will look to win his first Tournament of Champions title as he'll look to improve upon his second place finish from last year. Springer took home the silver in the 110-pound Junior division. 

Others to Watch:
A handful of other wrestlers to watch this weekend are Illinois State Champion Vinny Zerban and Pennsylvania's Ryan Howard. Others to keep an eye on include Andrew Donahue from Ohio, Austin Skinner from Ohio, and Chase Schultz from Maryland. 


You can follow the action all day long on Saturday right here on FloWrestling.com. 

Be sure to check back next week as we’ll have a recap of the championships rounds.