Montoursville grad Gavin Hoffman earns All-American honors as Ohio State wrestler at NCAA Division I wrestling championships

DETROIT -- Montoursville graduate Gavin Hoffman, the No. 21st seeded wrestler from Ohio State at 197 pounds, earned All-American status at the NCAA Division I wrestling championships this past weekend.

The former Warrior won by decision in the quarterfinals against Oklahoma's Jake Woodley, 5-3, to advance to the semifinals in his weight. Hoffman finished as a fifth-place medalist at his weight after he was pinned by Iowa State's Yonger Bastida in 2 minutes, 29 seconds.

Hoffman opened the tournament with a 6-4 win over Northwest's Andrew Davison. Hoffman then advanced to Friday's quarterfinals with a 6-4 win against Pittsburgh's Nino Bonaccorsi. Hoffman made it to the 197 semifinals after he defeated Oklahoma's Jake Woodley via decision, 5-3. He ultimately fell to Penn State's Max Dean, who would go on to win the championship at the weight.

At Ohio State, Hoffman has a 47-30 career record. He was an NCAA qualifier this year, and has been a two-time Big Ten Championship qualififer in 2021 and 2022. This past year, he finished eighth at his weight. He was also an Academic All-Big Ten wrestler the last two years and an Ohio State University Scholar-Athlete three times (2019, 2020, 2021). Hoffman became the team's starter at 197 his redshirt sophomore season in 2020-21 and went 5-7 with a major decision.

This season at the Big Ten Championships, Hoffman won by decision, 7-6, over Wisconsin's BRaxton Amos in the first round before falling to eventual second-place finisher Eric Schultz of Nebraska, 3-1. In the consolations, Hoffman defeated Andrew Davidson by decision, 5-2, and then fell to Jacob Warner of Iowa by decision, 4-2. In the seventh-place bout, Hoffman fell to Rutger's Greg Bulsak, 6-1.

Prior to wrestling at Ohio State, Hoffman was a three-time Pennsylvania state champion, going 45-0 his senior season.