Fresh off competing in the Hokie Open last Sunday, the Ohio wrestling team competed again Saturday at the Michigan State Open in East Lansing.
Leading the Bobcats were sophomores Jeremy Johnson and Michael Duckworth, who each won in their respective weight classes and went undefeated in five matches.
In each of his final three matches, Johnson battled against nationally-ranked wrestlers from Northwestern, Michigan and Michigan State.
“I think that Jeremy had the toughest way throughout his bracket,” coach Joel Greenlee said. “Not only did he win the matches, he held most of them scoreless in matches.”
While Johnson was busy taking the heavyweight title in the open division, Duckworth claimed the 174-pound weight class in the freshman and sophomore division.
Duckworth was able to pin both of his final two opponents en route to his title.
“We are still missing some of our guys due to injuries, but we made some good progress from last weekend,” Greenlee said. “We looked very solid this weekend and I was pleased to see almost all of our guys competing toward the finals.”
Because the open featured so many wrestlers, teams split their wrestlers into two divisions. The first division was for freshmen and sophomores under 20 years old. The tougher division, the open division, was for the older and veteran wrestlers.
Other Bobcats who competed for the top positions in the lower division were freshmen Drew Hammer and Sparty Chino.
Hammer advanced to the finals after winning in overtime during the semifinals. But in the finals, Hammer was pinned to take second place. Chino also finished as runner-up after compiling a 5-1 record.
The Ohio grapplers will not compete in another meet until Dec. 3 when they face Central Michigan in their first Mid-American Conference meet of the season.
Greenlee said the team would continue to train hard except for a few days around Thanksgiving.
Quick Stats:
Ohio wrestlers Jeremy Johnson and Michael Duckworth won respective weight classes
Johnson faced three nationally ranked opponents
Four Bobcats finished in first or second place
Last meet for Ohio until Dec. 3
cl027410@ohiou.edu
