Luke Pletcher is the latest in a long line of elite talent to wrestle at 141 pounds for the Ohio State Buckeyes. Since the turn of the century, the 141-pounder in Scarlet and Gray has finished as an All-American 12 of 19 times. J Jaggers and Logan Stieber each won a pair of national titles for OSU at the weight.

Pletcher may be following a long tradition, but he’s quickly established that he’s his own man with his own style. Since moving up to ’41 from 133 pounds, the two-time All-American appears to be hitting stride and wrestling as well as he’s ever wrestled.

The senior captain from Latrobe, PA, opened his campaign with a bang at the Michigan State Open in November, reeling off five victories including wins over a pair of ranked opponents, including then-No. 1 Dom Demas of Oklahoma. Pletcher took care of business versus Demas in the championship match with an escape and a ride-out in the tie-breaker rounds, securing the 2-1 win and the tournament title. 

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That win reshuffled the national standings at 141, moving him from No. 3 to No. 1 in the rankings — a position he holds heading into a weekend where he’ll face a pair of ranked Big Ten opponents: No. 4 Tristan Moran of Wisconsin and No. 12 Dylan Duncan of Illinois, the latter of which will be streamed on Flo.

Through 16 matches Pletcher is not only undefeated, he has only really been challenged once since the close match with Demas — a 3-1 win over Stanford’s Real Woods in Sudden Victory. Against seven top-25 opponents this season, he’s outscored the competition by a combined score of 103-41. In other words, he’s just a quarter-point per win shy of averaging a major decision vs nationally-ranked wrestlers.

He is hitting bonus in better than 62 percent of his matches, with a pair of pins, a pair of tech falls, and a half-dozen major decisions to his credit. That’s better than double his career average bonus rate of less than 28 percent; not worrying about the cut to ’33 has paid major dividends.

He’ll have his first major test of 2020 when he lands in Madison on Friday night for a tilt with the Wisconsin Badgers. Moran rocketed into the top five after scoring a 9-4 decision against then-No. 6 Chad Red Jr. in the Badgers dual vs Nebraska last week. Pletcher beat Red at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in an 11-3 major decision on his way to winning the tournament.

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Presuming No. 1 holds serve on the road this weekend, it’ll be the latest reminder that Pletcher is the man to beat at 141 this season.

Paving The Way

It’s not quite an unbroken string of world-beaters at 141 for the Buckeyes this century, but it’s close. Robert Sessley finished seventh at the weight in 2001 and improved to fourth in 2002. Then J Jaggers arrived at Ohio State and raised the bar, finishing seventh in 2007 before winning back-to-back NCAA titles in 2008 and 2009.

Jaggers cradle series is the stuff of legends, and with him on the sidelines, it’s little wonder the Buckeyes continue to have success in his old weight class:

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After Jaggers graduated and picked up a whistle, teammate Reece Humphrey moved up a class and finished third at the 2010 NCAA tournament, becoming a two-time All-American in the process.

Then the Stieber brothers arrived on campus in Columbus, finishing on the podium four years straight at 141: Hunter in 2012 and 2013, and Logan in 2014 and 2015. Logan Stieber is one of Ohio State’s all-time greatest athletes of any sport, winning four consecutive NCAA individual titles and the 2015 Hodge Trophy.

It was no surprise that the younger Stieber highlighted our Buckeye All-Decade team.

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Following a living legend like Stieber is a tall order. Ohio State went to the West Coast and recruited Stanford standout Joey McKenna, who joined the lineup in 2018 and finished third at the tournament in his first year as a Buckeye and came a hair’s breadth from winning the title a year later.

Luke Pletcher is a different beast from any of the six multi-year All-Americans to wrestle at his weight since 2001, but with two of those men still in the room in one capacity or another, he’s got plenty of wisdom and experience to guide him down the stretch. And the way he’s wrestling this season, it looks like he’s well on his way to joining them as the latest Buckeye great at 141.

Andy Vance is a Columbus-based journalist who covers the Ohio State University wrestling program for Eleven Warriors, the largest independent sports site on the internet for Ohio State news, analysis, and community. He is co-host of the site’s Eleven Dubcast podcast. Follow him on Twitter @AndyVance