Tommy Rowlands

American wrestler (born 1981) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tommy Rowlands (born June 3, 1981) is a former American freestyle and folkstyle wrestler.

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Tommy Rowlands
Personal information
Born (1981-06-03) June 3, 1981 (age 43)
Columbus, Ohio, U.S.
Height6 ft 4 in (193 cm)
Weight229 lb (104 kg)
Sport
CountryUnited States
SportWrestling
Event(s)Freestyle and Folkstyle
College teamOhio State
TeamUSA
Medal record
Men's freestyle wrestling
Representing the  United States
Pan American Games
2007 Rio De Janeiro120 kg
Collegiate Wrestling
Representing the Ohio State Buckeyes
NCAA Division I Championships
2002 Albany285 lb
2004 St. Louis285 lb
2001 Iowa City285 lb
Close

High school and college

Rowlands graduated from Bishop Ready High School in Columbus, Ohio in 1999. He was a two-time Ohio state champion (1997–99) and the 1999 National High School champion, with a career high school record of 167–10 with 98 pins. Tommy is the only wrestler in the history of Ohio wrestling to start out at 103 lbs his freshman year and finish at heavy weight his senior year.

He would wrestle collegiately for The Ohio State University from 2001 to 2004. During his career at Ohio State, he was a two-time NCAA Champion, three-time NCAA Finalist, four-time NCAA All-American and two-time Big Ten Champion. Rowlands is the career record holder at Ohio State for takedowns (705), wins (164) and team points (703). He was also the 2001 Big Ten freshman of the year.

International

Following graduation from Ohio State in 2004, Rowlands had a successful international wrestling career. From 2004 to 2012, he was a University World Champion, Pan-Am Champion, 2x U.S. Open Champion, and 6x U.S. National Team Member. Rowlands was narrowly defeated in the finals of the Olympic Trials in 2008 & 2012 and became one of the few 2x Olympic Alternates in American wrestling history. He retired from competition following the 2012 Olympic Trials.

References

The Columbus Dispatch (Wed. 4/23/2008) Sports page article by Jim Massie

The Columbus Dispatch (4/15/2012) Sports page article by Rob Oller

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