After winning its first two home meets of the season, Ohio sought to continue its winning ways at The Convo during the weekend against Kent State and Bloomsburg.
Despite competing hard in almost every match, the Bobcats (2-4, 1-3 Mid-American Conference) dropped both meets, by a combined total of 33 points in the 23-9 and 25-6 losses.
Ohio began the weekend against the No. 16 Golden Flashes on Friday evening. Leading the way for the Bobcats was heavyweight Jeremy Johnson, who after another victory on Sunday has now won six of his last seven matches. Johnson edged out Brendan Barlow of Kent State in a 2-0 battle.
“I am pretty pleased with how I have performed this season,” Johnson said. “I still have a lot to work for, since I want to be an All-American, but I need to stay focused and continue to work hard.”
Other Bobcats who won matches against the Golden Flashes were Darrin Boing (141-pound) and Nick Purdue (174-pound).
In their second meet of the weekend on Sunday evening, the Bobcats matched up against the Bloomsburg Huskies.
After winning two of the first three matches, Ohio lost the final seven matches and fell to the Huskies 25-6.
“We performed really poorly tonight,” coach Joel Greenlee said. “It is upsetting. We were close in most of the meets, but we were not able to finish anything.”
Winning matches for the Bobcats were Ryan Garringer (184-pound) and Johnson. Boing was also close to another win, but lost because of a late takedown in the final minute of the third period.
“We were not able to bury them tonight after being in position to do well,” Greenlee said. “We train just as hard as everyone else, but for some reason are not able fight back and win.”
Bloomsburg was led by 157-pounder Frank Hickman, who is ranked No. 10 in the nation. Hickman defeated Ohio’s Harrison Hightower in a close 4-2 bout.
The Bobcats have been in Athens the last two weekends, but will travel to Buffalo on Saturday.
cl027410@ohiou.edu
