Latrobe's Luke Pletcher presses forward after NCAA title dreams evaporate

Luke Pletcher is a two-time All-American wrestler at Ohio State and a legitimate Olympic hopeful.

He has to wrap up only two more online classes before he graduates, and he has a coaching job — a volunteer assistant position at Pitt — lined up once he does.

Yet at the moment, he’s sleeping in his childhood bed in Latrobe.

Given the stay-at-home restrictions in place in Ohio and Pennsylvania because of the coronavirus pandemic, it’s not like Pletcher can hang out with his teammates in Columbus or go look for an apartment in Oakland.

For now, he’s stuck in neutral, just like everyone else.

“It’s not terrible,” Pletcher said. “You’re 23, and you want to do whatever you want, but with what’s going on, you’ve got to be safe.”

It’s an unusual ending to what was shaping up to be a perfect season for the three-time PIAA champ.

After finishing fourth at NCAAs the previous two seasons, Pletcher took a new aggressive attitude into his senior year. He went 26-1. He had 16 bonus-point wins after recording 15 as a sophomore and junior combined.

“It’s something I’ve been told for six, maybe seven years, to not be as conservative,” Pletcher said. “It’s hard to flip that switch because you care so much about the outcome, but until you can forget about the outcome and just wrestle as hard as possible, you’re not going to be able to flip from being conservative to more of an open style.”

The only hurdle that appeared to standing between Pletcher and a national title was Penn State junior Nick Lee.

In a Feb. 15 dual meet, Lee handed Pletcher his only loss of the season by an 8-4 score. In the rematch, in the Big Ten final, Pletcher claimed his first conference championship with a 6-5 victory.

“I knew Nick Lee was going to be the guy I needed to beat if I wanted to win a national title,” Pletcher said. “It’s easy to push that extra in practice, exhaust yourself, work harder, when you have that guy in the back of your mind that you know is going to be tough. If you were just running through everybody, it would be hard to stay motivated. It was great to have that.”

On March 11, Pletcher was installed as the No. 1 seed at 141 pounds. On March 12, the NCAA Tournament was canceled.

“At first, I was numb to it. I knew it was over, but it didn’t feel like it was over,” Pletcher said. “After a couple of days — I don’t even know what the words are for it — I was shocked and disappointed. Everything since then has been trying to put it in the back and move on and try to figure out what’s next.”

A few days later, a Twitter account ran a simulation of the national tournament. In it, the virtual Pletcher had a 5-1 lead on Lee in the third period but wound up losing in overtime. Pletcher had a good laugh about that one.

He responded, “5-1 lead going into the third? I would have had 45,000 people booing as I ran around the mat.”

Pletcher is able to laugh a little easier these days as the weeks following the disappointing cancellation have brought good news.

On Wednesday, Pletcher was hired as an assistant at Pitt.

Pletcher’s expertise on the mat obviously will be an asset to the coaching staff, but his recruiting acumen might prove even more valuable. Pletcher’s brother, Jack, is a sophomore at Latrobe, so he has kept up with current events in WPIAL wrestling, to say the least.

“I know some kids around the area,” Pletcher said. “I know the clubs. I’ve been around this area for a long time. I’ve been to every camp and every clinic that’s been here. I know basically everybody in the wrestling community around here.”

While he coaches at Pitt, Pletcher will work out at the Pittsburgh Wrestling Club Training Center with an eye on the Olympic trials, which were delayed until next spring.

“My plan was to win the national title, which would qualify me for the Olympic trials, and go compete in the Olympic trials, and that would be my first senior level competition, which was exciting,” Pletcher said. “But now, I’ll get to train full time freestyle and try my hand.”