Rivalries exist and are prevalent in every sport, and athletes are taught that there are certain teams that a loss against means more than a notch in the loss column.
For Ohio coach Joel Greenlee and his team of wrestlers, that opponent is Kent State, which it squares off against this weekend.
“There’s no team I would rather beat than (Kent State),” Greenlee said to the team before Thursday’s practice. “I hate those guys. But, that being said, it should be a hell of a dual meet.”
The Bobcats’ (3-1, 2-1 Mid-American Conference) Friday bout with the Golden Flashes (4-3, 1-0 MAC) will be their fourth Mid-American Conference meet. They have defeated Northern Illinois and Eastern Michigan, and lost to Central Michigan.
“I can’t say enough about how the guys have wrestled in the last month,” Greenlee said. “They’ve gotten a lot better and I love to see that. Northern Illinois was our best performance of the year so far.”
Greenlee was most impressed by his team’s performance at the Southern Scuffle in Chattanooga, Tenn., early this month. Ohio placed seventh as a team and had a handful of wrestlers place individually in a tournament that Greenlee calls the best and most competitive in the country, aside from the NCAA Tournament.
Redshirt freshman Cody Walters has been pacing the Bobcats’ recent success. He was undefeated prior to the Southern Scuffle, and is now 23-2 and one of five Bobcats ranked in the Top 30 nationally in their weight class.
“Cody has been unbelievable,” Greenlee said. “But the other guys are just as worthy of their rankings. (Jeremy) Johnson always catches fire this time of year, always consistent. Chino (Spartak) has also come on lately. He defeated two guys in the Top 20 at the Scuffle.”
The Flashes will pose a test for the Bobcats, though. They are ranked No. 28 in the country and, like Ohio, have several wrestlers on the individual rankings board.
That being said, Greenlee believes that the Bobcats match up well with their weekend opponent.
“All I ask of the guys is that they give their all for seven minutes at a time,” Greenlee said. “I think we could go up against anyone right now, the guys are that good right now.”
tj790511@ohiou.edu
