The first day of the Mid-American Conference Championships has drawn to a close with the Bobcats finding themselves in fourth place with 55.0 overall team points. Ohio split its 20 total matches, winning 10.
Walters Returning to Title Match
Cody Walters, a 174-pound redshirt junior, is headed back to the conference title match after cruising to two early victories. This will be the third consecutive trip to the title match for Walters, as he reached the feat previously the past two years. He won both matches previously and will go against the top-seeded Johnny Eblen, a redshirt senior from Missouri.
Wellington Stays Undefeated in Conference Play
Phil Wellington, a 197-pound redshirt junior, kept his perfect 10-0 record in MAC play alive, earning a 4-0 decision over Kent State’s Cole Baxter and a 6-1 decision over Old Dominion’s Kevin Beazley. Wellington will appear in his first conference title match tomorrow against sophomore J’Den Cox of Missouri.
Claxton and Hightower Fall Short
Tywan Claxton, a 149-pound redshirt junior, will not have the opportunity to earn his first conference championship of his career, as he was defeated in the semifinals by Missouri redshirt senior Drake Houdashelt. Claxton will fight for an automatic bid to Nationals tomorrow as he’ll begin with Michael Depalma of Kent State.
Harrison Hightower, a 165-pound redshirt senior, also fell short of his first bid to the conference title match, losing by decision to the second-seeded Cooper Moore of Northern Iowa. He’ll hope to earn a bid to the third-place match tomorrow when he’ll wrestle Mike England of Missouri.
Top Seeds Reign Supreme
Looking at the tournament overall, every single top-seed advanced to their respective conference title match. Missouri has eight wrestlers in title matches, including two of them against Ohio wrestlers. The 133-pound match between Zach Synon of Missouri and Tyler Keselring of Central Michigan will be the most important of the day as the conference is only allocated one automatic bid in that weight class.