Youth can be a blessing or a curse in any sport. In the early part of Ohio’s season, it has seemed to touch on more of the former than the latter.
The Bobcats sent 15 underclassmen to the mat on Sunday in East Lansing, Mich. and six of them returned to Athens with top five finishes in their respective weight classes.
“I thought that the meet went pretty well,” coach Joel Greenlee said. “The younger guys did much better this week than they did last week. The improvement is a good sign.”
Redshirt freshmen Phil Wellington and Cody Walters won their respective weight classes, as Walters defeated Kent State’s Sam Wheeler to win the 174-pound bracket and Wellington beat Eastern Michigan’s Anthony Abro for the 197-pound title.
The Bobcats also had two runners-up: Redshirt junior Jeremy Johnson finished second in the 285-pound class after being defeated by Michigan State’s Mike McClure, and redshirt freshman Spartak Chino was beat by Illinois’ Zachary Brunson in the 157-pound final.
Three other Bobcats placed at the tournament. Freshman Kagan Squire placed fourth in the 141-pound class, freshman Zach Rohr finished fifth in the 157-pound weight class and redshirt freshman Cory Rodgers took fourth place in the 184-pound class.
“I don’t look at this as something that gives me a brighter outlook,” Greenlee said. “I’ve been confident in this team all along. I knew that we could be a good team, but also that we were going to go through growing pains as the season progressed. But as we got through our second match, I realize that we’re speeding through the growing pains, which is a great thing to see.”
Ohio will be back on the mat again this weekend, looking to build on Sunday’s success. The Bobcats will travel to Annapolis, Md. for the Navy Classic, where Greenlee will look for the Bobcats to show continual improvement.
“The guys showed a lot of improvement from the first week to now,” he said. “There’s a big difference between wrestling in high school and wrestling in college. The guys figured that out and I saw them turn the intensity up at MSU.”
tj790511@ohiou.edu
