‘Strong as 15 Bulls,’ Ogunwole Gets Help from Buddies

He joined the wrestling team amidst high expectations, and ever since, people both on and off the team have done everything they could to help him meet those expectations.

Junior Bode Ogunwole certainly has a lot of people to thank and also a lot of people that he doesn’t want to let down.

As tri-captain, Ogunwole always carries himself with a quiet confidence and determination—not to mention 260 lbs. of devastating power—all of which has made him one of the best heavyweight wrestlers in the country.

Ranked seventh in the nation, Ogunwole has a 24-5 record going into the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association (EIWA) Championships this weekend, including a perfect 15-0 in dual meets.

But his coaches and teammates are not the only ones who’ve helped him pull off these impressive numbers. Among the people not on the team that have helped Bode’s wrestling is, well, a rugby player.

Chid Iloabachie, a junior from Eliot, first met Ogunwole during the Prep Nationals—a wrestling tournament for high school students—and when Chid saw him in Matthews in their freshman year, the conversation naturally turned to wrestling.

“We were talking about wrestling and, he was like, come and wrestle sometime,” Iloabachie said. “[Bode’s] really, really good, and there were a lot of people hoping he could go far in the NCAA’s...Me and a couple of his friends—those of us who were kind of big—decided to go in every now and then, and help him out, give him different looks from different heavyweight styles.”

Off the mat, Ogunwole and Iloabachie, who are both from Nigeria, are the best of friends. They participate in a lot of the same activities, and are both premeds. But of course, Bode is on the wrestling team, while Chid is a member of Harvard’s club rugby team.

“It wasn’t so much that I didn’t have practice partners,” Ogunwole explained. “I was just looking to wrestle against bigger people. I knew that [Chid] had done well in wrestling nationally in high school, but decided not to wrestle here. And he volunteered to come and help out.”

Three football players have also been volunteers: senior guard Will Johnson; sophomore defensive tackle Matt Drazba; and junior center Frank Fernandez.

“My coaches and teammates got in contact with them,” Ogunwole said. “And they got in contact with my coaches when they wanted to come to wrestle at the MAC.”

“I think that ever since Chid and the other guys started coming over, I’ve gotten better,” Bode added. “But I don’t think practice and preparation were necessarily bad before that. Obviously the people I wrestle with are a lot bigger than most of the people I practice against, so [their help] gives a more realistic feel for what to expect during matches.”

“With wrestling, it’s always good to have as many different people as possible to wrestle against,” Iloabachie said. “You don’t want to get used to a particular style and then go on the mat and be unprepared [when your opponent does something different].”

In the eyes of the coaches, this informal practice regimen between their heavyweight star and his friends has worked out very well.

“The coaching staff they have is so qualified,” Chid said. “The coaches would say things like, ‘Today, focus on putting on a lot of weight on his neck’ or something, to make sure Bode is working on the right stuff. We don’t practice frequently, but whenever we do, it’s a great time.”

Ogunwole finished fifth last year in the EIWA Championships, but with yet another year of receiving the unselfish help and support he needed from his friends, he is ready to go.

“He’s tough as nails,” Iloabachie said. “[The coaches] like point to Bode and say, ‘Strong as 15 bulls,’ and then point to me and say, ‘Strong as 10 bulls.’”

Chid might not be as strong, but he might be just what Ogunwole needed to get a little stronger than 15 bulls as the EIWA Championships approach.

—Staff writer Tony D. Qian can be reached at tonyqian@fas.harvard.edu.