On a day where the eyes of the nation are drawn to Glendale, Arizona, Ohio wrestling had its sights set on Edwardsville, Illinois.
Ohio went to Edwardsville to take on Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and Arkansas-Little Rock. The first dual of the day saw Ohio take on SIUE and fall in narrow fashion while the second dual had Ohio lose to Little Rock by a much larger margin.
Here is the recap of some of Sunday’s key bouts:
Southern Illinois - Edwardsville:
125-pounds:
Starting off the morning, like usual, was Oscar Sanchez. The redshirt junior was able to give Ohio an early lead as he defeated Austin Macias. Sanchez has moved into the No. 6 spot in the Mid-American Conference as he moves closer and closer to the conference tournament.
157-pounds:
Peyten Kellar’s 9-3 victory signaled a turning point for Ohio as he picked up the first of four straight match wins. Kellar defeated Caine Tyus, brother of SIUE’s Caleb Tyus, who beat Alec Hagan in the previous bout. Kellar entered the bout with a distinct advantage, ranking 6th in the MAC compared to Caine’s No. 13 ranking.
165-pounds:
Jordan Slivka continued the momentum not only for Ohio, but for himself. He was able to stave off SIUE’s Cardi Wilson to win via sudden victory. The score of 7-5 does not show just how close Slivka was to actually pulling away early in the second period. Wilson’s comeback effort will merely be a footnote as Slivka was able to steer the ship back in his favor to pick up three points for Ohio.
174-pounds:
The newly-minted No. 1 wrestler in his class, Sal Perrine, took care of business in a largely uneventful match. His opponent, Chase Diehl, was the No. 10 ranked wrestler in the class. That being said, the rankings did not really matter as Perrine dominated from the opening whistle and the 5-2 decision does not convey the degree of dominance displayed.
184-pounds:
Like a broken record, Zayne Lehman was able to pick up his typical three points for Ohio. This season, Lehman has been the model of consistency, especially in conference bouts. As the No. 3 ranked wrestler in the MAC, the expectation is for him to win. However, even the highly-touted wrestlers lose from time to time; Lehman is seemingly an exception to that rule of late. Lehman moved to 6-0 in MAC matches and will put his perfect conference season on the line next week.
AR-Little Rock:
133-pounds:
Paul Woo was the second Ohio wrestler at 133-pounds Sunday. He fared slightly better than Nolan Frye, who wrestled against SIUE. That, unfortunately, means that he did not lose via fall, merely via major decision. The 8-0 defeat at the hands of Joshua Sarpy was very ugly. Woo’s freshman season continues to be a forgetful one statistically as he has won just three bouts all season.
157-pounds:
As good as Peyten Kellar was in his first match, he was unable to rekindle anything in his second. An early injury, specifically a possible concussion, ended Kellar’s second bout of the day after just 42 seconds against Matthew Bianchi. The result not only put Ohio farther behind Little Rock by a score of 16-3, but added onto a season full of injuries for Kellar.
174-pounds:
Any ray of hope for Ohio Sunday came courtesy of Sal Perrine. He kept up his dominance from his earlier bout and even surpassed it. He kept Ohio in the dual after he was able to induce a fall at 4:20 against Triston Wills. Perrine has looked like the most dominant wrestler lately after reclaiming his starting spot from freshman Garrett Thompson.
184-pounds:
Zayne Lehman joined Perrine as the only Ohio wrestler to go 2-0 on the day. Lehman again won by a comfortable margin, this time by a 6-0 score. Lehman’s consistency has been one of the key reasons that he has a real chance at making the NCAA Tournament for the first time in his career. The only thing left for him to accomplish is winning in the MAC Championships.
285-pounds:
Ohio tried something different in its heavyweight class as it hoped to obtain a different result. Unfortunately, Drew Harris proved as ineffective as Jacob Padilla, who lost his bout earlier in the day. Harris lost via fall at the 4:21 mark, signaling the end of a rough day for Ohio. The combination of Padilla and Harris has now gone a combined 3-22 this season with the last victory coming in December.
