Ohio went on the road against Northern Illinois to begin its Mid-American Conference duals, losing after being unable to come back from an early 17-0 hole. There were some highlights for Ohio, but overall not enough to pick up a road win. Originally, the dual was scheduled to be at night, but an impending storm pushed it forward to the afternoon. Nonetheless, Ohio lost to Northern Illinois for the second straight season.
125-pound class:
Ryan Meek was tasked with going against one of the best wrestlers in the 125-pound class in the MAC. Blake West, No. 3 in the conference, dispatched Meek, 12-0. West had a slow first period, but ratcheted up the pressure on Meek, eventually picking up the major decision. Meek’s tough freshman season continues, but some easier opponents await.
133-pound class:
After two very strong showings in a row, Mason Brugh was ready to parlay some of the positivity into MAC duals. Against Northern Illinois’ Nathaniel Genobana, Brugh was simply unable to land anything on the offensive and lost by decision 4-3. The loss was not about what Brugh could do to his opponent, but how little his opponent allowed. Like many times in the past, the lack of production from the first two weights put Ohio behind the 8-ball.
141-pound class:
The struggles for Ohio continued at the 141-pound class as Aidan Waszak was stymied by Jacob Byra, losing a major decision, 14-2. Waszak had a strong first period, keeping the deficit to a minimum, but could not keep up his strong start, getting outclassed by Byra for the rest of the match.
149-pound class:
Derek Raike, one of the breakthrough performers for Ohio this season, suffered a very scary injury in the second period of his match against Jaivon Jones. The match between Raike and Jones, the No. 5 and No. 4 ranked wrestlers in the conference, was an entertaining one, but as Jones rolled over Raike, the referee stopped the bout only to find Raike injured on the mat. After a little bit, the sophomore was able to move his extremities. Jones won the match by medical forfeit, granting Northern Illinois a 17-0 lead.
157-pound class:
Peyten Kellar wrestled incredibly hard against Tulga Zuunbayan, defeating him by a score of 7-1. At that point in the match, Ohio was looking for anything positive and Kellar gave his team just that. While Kellar did leave the mat frustrated that he could not pin his opponent, his win over Zuunbayan was still impressive as he controlled the bout for the entire time and dictated the action.
165-pound class:
Like many times before this season, Garrett Thompson followed up Kellar’s victory with a dominant pin. He crushed Tommy Bennett in the first period. Thompson emerged victorious for the 19th time on the season.
174-pound class:
At the 174-pound class, Dan Segura wrestled for Ohio in a surprising move. Segura usually wrestles at the 157-pound class, but moved up a pair of classes to compete in place of Sal Perrine. Segura, though, was unable to defeat Ricardo Salinas, dropping the match 8-6. That being said, had the match gone for another 15 seconds, Segura might have been able to get it to sudden victory as he took down Salinas just after the buzzer.
184-pound class:
Zayne Lehman knew that he needed a big result in order to keep his team in the dual. Unfortunately for him, he was unable to muster anything more than a regular decision victory over Shane Moran. The 5-0 triumph was impressive, but not good enough on the scoreboard to warrant anything more than three points for Ohio. Nonetheless, Lehman further solidified himself as the cream of the crop in the MAC, defending his No. 1 ranking in the conference.
197-pound class:
Like Lehman before him, Starr was hunting a larger margin of victory, but cannot be dissatisfied with a very impressive 8-1 decision win over Sean Carroll. Starr took control early in the match and was able to keep Carroll at bay until a late escape allowed Carroll to avoid a major decision. Moreover, Starr was able to physically overpower Carroll and get his first conference win of the season.
285-pound class:
In another surprising move, Jacob Padilla wrestled for Ohio at heavyweight. Although he was one of the two rotational wrestlers at this spot last season, his appearance against Northern Illinois was his first of the 2023-24 season. Padilla went just 1-13 last season but dealt with a nagging shoulder injury that restricted some of his mobility. Against Jacobi Jackson, the No. 3 wrestler in the MAC, Padilla was ousted and unable to pick up anything more than a pair of escapes as he fell by major decision 12-2.
