Bode Grabs All-American Nod

Some successes come as a surprise, but others are expected.

At the NCAA Wrestling Championships, freshman Andrew Flanagan provided the surprise, and junior tri-captain Bode Ogunwole’s All-American performance came as a sure thing.

Ogunwole, as a result of a 4-0 Friday run through the tournament’s consolation bracket, earned a sixth-place showing, giving him All-America status for the year. He is only the 17th Harvard All-American in the wrestling program’s history.

“I feel pretty happy to make All-American,” Ogunwole said. “Overall, I wrestled the best I could over the weekend.”

That Ogunwole, the fifth ranked heavyweight entering the Championship, was expected to succeed does not detract from his effort to place.

His path there was not an easy one.

After losing his first match to Ohio State’s Kirk Nail, 4-3, on Thursday, Ogunwole had to win his next four matches Friday to secure All-America status. He dominated his first two opponents, 6-3, before facing the sixth- and seventh-seeded heavyweights to reach the round of six.

“He ended up getting upset because of a takedown in the last five seconds of that opening match,” Harvard coach Jay Weiss said. “Once you lose early, it’s a lot harder to place, but then he bounced back.”

His comeback began as Ogunwole defeated Navy’s Tanner Garrett. And in his final match of the night, he took out Oklahoma’s Jake Hager in an overtime thriller to complete the comeback and ensure his sixth-place finish.

Ogunwole could place no higher as a result of two close losses in the round of six on Saturday, punctuated by a hard-fought, double-overtime defeat to eight-seeded Michael Faust of Virginia Tech.

“When he won the round of 12, that was such a big match,” Weiss said. “He lost two tough bouts in the final round of 6, but there is no way you can take anything away from his effort.”

While Ogunwole was expected to take out the big seeds, the same could not be said for Flanagan.

In the surprise match of the Crimson’s NCAA run, Flanagan upset the No. 2 seed C.P. Schlatter of Minnesota to advance to the quarterfinals in his 157-pound division. And even more surprising, he did it with a broken hand.

During the match, Flanagan fractured his hand but still came up with the victory. And he continued to fight through the injury during his final two matches of the tournament in the quarterfinals and consolation bracket.

“We’re all really happy for [Flanagan]’s success,” Ogunwole said. “It shows he’s got a lot of heart and can do big things in the future.”

Although a surprise to many, Weiss saw Flanagan’s performance as more of a vindication of his talent.

“That match shows he has the ability to knock off the top guys,” Weiss said. ”He wrestled a great match.”

Harvard also sent juniors Max Meltzer and Robbie Preston, who each lost tough matches on Thursday to end their respective runs.

But for every wrestler, the tournament gave plenty of confidence for future success. All four competitors will return next season with their recent national exposure in hand.

“All four now have a lot of good experience,” Weiss said. “Everyone here can use it as a spring board for next year, and with everyone coming back, it’s really exciting.”

—Staff writer Walter E. Howell can be reached at the wehowell@fas.harvard.edu.