Last year, the Bobcats left the Mid-American Conference Championships with a sixth-place finish and no qualifiers for the national tournament.
This year, Ohio returned from Michigan with a third-place finish, a MAC champion and three wrestlers going to the NCAA Championships, with two more possibly to be named later.
Junior Erik Schuth became Ohio's first MAC champion since the 2005-06 season, when Jake Percival won the last of his four MAC titles.
After winning his first match 1-0, Schuth beat Buffalo's Jimmy Hamel 2-0 for the championship at 197 pounds.
For Schuth, winning the conference championship was a step to his ultimate goal of making some noise at the NCAA Championships.
I expected to win the (conference) tournament
Schuth said. Winning a MAC title is nice but my real goal is to be an All-American in two weeks in Omaha.
Along with Schuth, redshirt sophomore Nick Purdue and senior Seth Morton qualified for the national tournament. Both wrestlers lost in the championship match of their weights, but advanced far enough to earn a bid.
It is the first trip to nationals for Purdue (184 pounds) and Morton (149).
Oh man it's so exciting
Morton said. The national tournament is such a hell of a feat. I'm so excited that I was able to pull through and make it.
Coach Joel Greenlee said he expects redshirt senior Jacob Ison and junior Germane Lindsey to join the cavalcade of wrestlers making the trip to Omaha, Neb., when the at-large bids to the tourney are announced tomorrow.
Lindsey, owner of one of Ohio's best records at 26-6, lost in the second round of the tournament, but won his next two matches to finish third at 141 pounds.
He's very tough
Greenlee said. You're definitely not going to get to the national tournament unless you win out (after the loss).
During the weekend, two Ohio wrestlers got revenge for defeats earlier in the season.
Schuth's only MAC dual meet loss this season came at the hands of Hamel, who won a controversial match when Schuth was called for stalling at the last second. Schuth defeated Hamel in the title match.
In Central Michigan's 40-0 rout of Ohio Feb. 19, Morton lost 6-5 to the Chippewas' Tony D'Alie. Morton beat D'Alie, who was ranked 13th in the nation by the NCAA Division I Wrestling Coaches Panel Rankings, to advance to the finals at 149 pounds.
That was a match I really wanted to win
Morton said. That was the match to make it to the nationals. For me
that was retribution.
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Sports
Nathaniel Maund
