2010-11: As a redshirt freshman, Toal spent much of his first season as a starter for the Tigers ranked within the top-15 nationally at 165 pounds. He secured a bid to the 2011 NCAA Championships to cap off a strong first season, where he earned the No. 10 overall seed in the class. He opened the year with back-to-back dual wins, beating Conrad Polz of Illinois by a 10-4 score and then majoring Drae Cox of Lindenwood a week later. At the Northeast Duals he won twice, picking up decisions over two NCAA qualifiers - Patrick Graham of American and Brandon Hatchett of Lehigh. Toal closed out the 2010 dual season with four consecutive victories and rode that momentum into the Midlands Championship, where he took fourth place. Toal opened the tournament with three wins in a row, including a 7-3 decision against Iowa's Aaron Janssen and another win over Graham of American. He'd defeat Janssen again later in the tournament and finished the weekend with a 4-2 record. Toal won four of his five contests at the NWCA National Duals, which included an 8-0 major decision against Ryan Cubberly of Central Michigan and a 6-5 win against Dallas Bailey of Oklahoma State. Toal would defeat the Cowboy again a month later, edging him 3-2 in the dual in Stillwater. Toal finished in fourth at Big 12's, and scored his first NCAA Championships win after defeating Turtogtokj Luvsandorj of The Citadel, 6-4. For the season, Toal went 21-14 with 15 of those wins coming in dual action.
2009-10: Using his redshirt and wrestling at 165 pounds, Toal competed in four tournaments in his first year and turned in top-four finishes in three of those events. Opening the year at the Lindenwood Open, Toal claimed first place at the event. He entered the annual tournament as the No. 4 seed and notched four straight wins to advance to the title bout against Joe Barczak of IU. Toal pinned Barczak in 1:44 for his first tournament title of the campaign. Of his five wins on the day, three were by fall, the fastest coming in 1:00 against opening round opponent Conrad Polz (UI). At the University of Central Missouri Open, Toal posted a 4-2 record on the day, winning once by technical fall and twice by major decision. After starting the day with a 19-2 victory, Toal rolled over Missouri Valley opponent Gian Traverso by a 14-4 score. He followed that up with a 5-4 win over Oklahoma State's Alex Meade. He would drop his next match by a slim 3-2 margin, but bounced back with a 16-8 major decision. Toal would go on to finish in fourth place. The following weekend, Toal secured second place at the Missouri Open. He won his first three matches all by major decision, recording victories of 16-4, 15-7 and 11-0, before falling to teammate Nicholas Marable in the championship match. At The Midlands, Toal picked up four wins, including one by fall, on his way to an eighth place finish. He closed out the year with a record of 16-6.
High School: Toal was a three-time Ohio State Champion capturing top honors as a sophomore (2006-07), junior (2007-08) and senior (2008-09). As a freshman (2005-06), at Troy Christian, Toal finished third in the state. As a senior, Toal managed a perfect season that included 48 wins. A member of the Eagles' wrestling squad coached by Steve Goudy, Toal and his team earned top-five finishes at the state championships all four years in which Toal competed.
Personal: Born Sept. 26, 1989, Zach Toal was born in Grand Rapids, Mich., and is the son of Bruce and Catherine Toal. Toal has two brothers, Jonathan (25), a former football player at Wheaton College, and B.J. (16).
