U23 World medal among positive results for Ohio State’s Joey McKenna

Joey McKenna has made some major changes recently, and those changes have brought about some incredible positives in his world.  

One of those is his most recent outing at the U23 Worlds Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, where McKenna battled back for a bronze medal. It’s the second World medal of his young career as he also owns a 2014 Junior World silver.

The tournament was the first of its kind, taking place Nov. 21-26 and featuring athletes from 18-23 years old in all three Olympic styles: men’s freestyle, women’s freestyle and Greco-Roman. McKenna represented the U.S. in men’s freestyle at 65 kg/143 lbs.

He got off to a fast start with an 11-0 technical fall win over 2012 Cadet European bronze medalist Patryk Olenczyn of Poland. Then he ran into two-time World Military gold medalist Nachyin Kuular of Russia, who pulled out a 10-0 tech fall, leaving McKenna to wait and watch as the Russian decided his fate.

“I got caught in a four-point move early, so I was playing catch up and chasing him down,” McKenna said. “But obviously it didn’t turn out too well. After that, I just had to cheer him on.”

Kuular advanced to the 65 kg finals, pulling McKenna back into the repechage, where he had two tough matches to get the chance to wrestle for bronze.  

He first defeated 2016 Junior Balkans champion Maxim Sacultan of Moldova, who led 6-0 at the break. McKenna was able to push past the deficit for a 9-6 win and then battled 2015 Cadet Asian champion Tulga Tumur-ochir of Mongolia, who he defeated 6-1 to move on to the third-place match.  

Later that night, in the bronze-medal bout, McKenna led Heorhi Kaliyeu of Belarus,1-0, with less than a minute left. Suddenly he was put on the shot clock, which threatened his lead and his medal.

“Honestly, I was surprised but I wasn’t surprised. I didn’t think they would put me on the clock with 50 seconds left,” McKenna said. “Once I saw it go under a minute, I just told myself that I have to stay in my stance, get a good score and win this thing. They put me on the clock and the pressure was on. It was a medal or don’t medal situation, so I had to get out there and score. I got a hold of his leg and just started driving.”

McKenna scored on a step out with seconds left on the shot clock, ultimately securing a U23 World bronze medal.

He was one of three Americans to bring home a medal from the event. The other two medalists also came from men’s freestyle, with former Virginia Tech heavyweight and three-time All-American Ty Walz winning bronze and long-time friend and Rutgers senior Richie Lewis winning a World title in his international debut.

McKenna and Lewis are both New Jersey natives and have a long history. They were also roommates on the trip.

“I’ve known Richie since middle school,” McKenna said. “It’s fun to see guys make big jumps. Back then, he wasn’t that great of a wrestler, but he never stopped working. He put his mind to it and he’s one of the best in the country right now. I’m excited to watch him wrestle for Rutgers. He’s got a great mindset and a great approach to the sport. I think that’s why he’s doing so well.”

McKenna, a 2016 All-American who recently transferred to Ohio State from Stanford, also had some familiarity in his corner with Ohio State assistant coach and World medalist Tervel Dlagnev coaching him up.

The two became close after McKenna’s decision to join the Buckeyes for the last two years of his collegiate career. It was another major change that is reaping benefits.

It was a hot topic of the summer in wrestling circles as many were speculating where McKenna would take his talent after deciding to leave Stanford. He made his announcement in mid-August.  

McKenna had to go through the recruiting process all over again. This time, he said, he was wiser about what he listened to.

“It was interesting. It’s always fun to see different place and what they’re offering,” McKenna said. “This time around, it was different because I knew that a lot of the time, what they feed you is BS, so I was able to sift through it and take it for what it was actually worth, rather than what was being said. Having already had a couple of years under my belt, I’ve seen, from a competitor’s standpoint, what these programs do and how they operate. That was helpful. It was a little draining toward the end. It wasn’t so much about them convincing me, but it was about me convincing myself.”

It was a tough decision for McKenna, who was looking at Ohio State, Penn State and Lehigh. He sought advice from a family friend, who gave him something to think about.

“He told me that I had to make the decision with my mind, my heart and my gut. You can’t make it with just one of them. You have to make it with all three,” McKenna said. “After he told me that, that was the moment I knew that I had to come to Ohio State. There was a strong feeling inside of me that was telling me that was the best place for me, and I couldn’t be any happier with my decision.”

As a part of Ohio State’s program, McKenna helps push the team into NCAA team title contention. The Buckeyes have a loaded roster, including two-time NCAA champion, 2016 Olympic champion and two-time World champion Kyle Snyder, 2015 NCAA champion Nathan Tomasello, 2016 NCAA champion Myles Martin and All-Americans Bo Jordan, Micah Jordan and Kollin Moore, who also won a Junior World bronze medal this summer.

With their talented lineup, the Buckeyes aim to knock off perennial power Penn State, which has won six of the last seven NCAA team titles. The squad stopping them from seven-for-seven? Ohio State, which won the 2015 honor.

This year’s NCAAs will take place in Cleveland, Ohio, only two hours away from Columbus.

“I haven’t had the chance to wrestle for a team national title since high school when I was at Blair Academy, so it’s exciting,” McKenna said. “Penn State is the team to beat, and I think with me and Te’Shan (Campbell) transferring in (from Pitt), it really gives us a shot at it. I think if we all go out there, do our part and wrestle to the best of our abilities then we can make something special happen in Cleveland.”

In addition to having a shot at reaching his full potential in folkstyle, McKenna gets to train with some of the best freestylers in the world on a regular basis with guys like Snyder, Dlagnev and 2016 World champion Logan Stieber in the room.

After a little rest time following U23 Worlds, McKenna said he’s excited to get back on the mat and pick up the folkstyle season, suited up as a Buckeye junior.

Because his training schedule has been so different and one that’s focused on freestyle, McKenna thinks that will give him an advantage going into the rest of the NCAA season.

“I think I got a little different perspective. I’ve been out for the first part of the season and everybody knows that the college season is a grind,” he said. “Honestly, I think it’s going to fare well for me because I’ll be jumping in at the tail end of when things start picking up. I think I’m going to be more fresh because of this. I’ve been on a different training plan, and it’s been really fun, but I’m ready to get back into it. It’s a whole different experience when you have your teammates by your side, so I’m excited to get back to Columbus.”