There is nothing like going out on top.
And when all was said and done in Oklahoma City on Saturday, Ohio redshirt senior Jeremy Johnson was an All-American for the second time of his career and the winningest wrestler in program history.
It was a 4-2 victory against Oklahoma State’s Austin Marsden in the fifth session of the NCAA Championships that earned Johnson a seventh-place national finish, matching his career best. The win was also his 41st of the season, a career high, and the 143rd of his career, which is more than any other wrestler in the Bobcats’ rich history.
Following a loss to Michigan State’s Mike McClure on Thursday, Johnson went back to business Friday and earned victories against Virginia Tech’s Ty Walz, Rutgers’ William Smith and Michigan’s Adam Coon to secure All-American status. Johnson then fell to Michael McMullan of Northwestern before defeating Marsden in the seventh-place match.
Johnson’s All-American campaign is the 19th in Ohio history, and he is the eighth Bobcats wrestler to earn the honor more than once.
“He’s done all the right things,” Ohio coach Joel Greenlee said. “Not just this season, but throughout his whole career. It feels great to see that pay off. I know how hard he wanted it, so it was a great feeling.”
Johnson advanced the furthest out of the six Bobcats who made the journey to Oklahoma City, with redshirt junior Harrison Hightower (165) and redshirt sophomore Spartak Chino (157) getting eliminated Thursday, and junior Tywan Claxton (149) and redshirt sophomores Cody Walters (174) and Phil Wellington (197) being eliminated Friday.
“If football is a game of inches, wrestling is a game of millimeters,” Greenlee said. “If you get a finger a little out of place one little bit or your eye level is off one little bit, you’re going to get taken down. And that’s how it went at this tournament. … You play the cards you’re dealt and see what happens.”
Walters, a 2013 All-American, faced a pair of Mid-American Conference opponents in Northern Iowa’s Cody Caldwell and Central Michigan’s Mike Ottinger, who bested him for the second time this season 2-1 in a tiebreaker.
Two weeks ago, Walters defeated Ottinger for the MAC title. Walters finished his season with a 13-4 record.
Wellington’s tournament started with a victory, but back-to-back losses in the second and third sessions — the latter being a 5-4 decision to Cornell’s Jace Bennett — ended the 197-pounder’s season early. Wellington finished his season with a career-best record of 34-5.
Claxton also survived just three matches into the 2014 NCAA Championships, with Cornell’s Christopher Villalonga beating him 4-2 in a sudden victory.
Claxton finished fourth-best on the team in wins this season with a 27-9 record.
The MAC had one national champion, with 197-pound freshman J’Den Cox of Missouri winning the title. Ohio finished 35th overall as a team.
In the team standings, Penn State won the national title for the fourth consecutive year. Minnesota placed second and Oklahoma State finished third.
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This story appeared in print under the headline "Johnson named All-American once again."
