The Ohio wrestling team continued its string of dominance this weekend, remaining perfect in the New Year by beating Indiana, Gardner Webb and host team Ashland at the Wendy's Classic yesterday.
The Bobcats opened the tournament with a 25-15 win against Indiana. In their second meet, Ohio defeated Ashland, 27-9, and ended the day with a 37-3 victory against Gardner-Webb.
Four Bobcats played to that motif by winning all three of their matches, including Joel Weimer (197-pound weight class) who upset ranked Pat DeGain from Indiana.
I just went out there and didn't worry about it
Weimer said. I wore him down a little bit and ended up beating him.
The other Bobcats (6-2 overall, 1-0 Mid-American Conference) who recorded unbeaten weekends included Jake Percival (157), Vinny DiGiovanni (165) and Anthony Carrizales (133), who managed to come back after a six-point deficit in the first period against his Indiana opponent.
The big thing is a lot of times when guys get up by that much they kind of go into defensive mode Carrizales said. I knew he was gonna give; he was tired after the first period. It was a big hill to climb.
The Bobcats only seem to be improving after beating Eastern Michigan soundly in the middle of last week. Ohio is 4-0 since that match, and the team is picking up momentum, coach Joel Greenlee said.
I thought we wrestled well as a team
he said. We're getting out and wrestling to score more points... The team is starting to turn a corner
and everything is looking real good for us.
Being more aggressive was one thing Ohio had hoped to accomplish this weekend, but they also had hoped to solidify small technical parts of the sport.
I'm working on a lot of different areas in my wrestling where I thought I needed some work
said DiGiovanni, who bounced back from a loss at Eastern Michigan last week. We're all getting better every week. We're working harder and it's making us better.
Weimer also felt the team has been improving every week, but said he doesn't mind remaining under the radar at this point in the season.
It shows that we're a lot tougher than people think we are
he said. I kind of feel a little underrated
which can be a good thing.
It might have been that exact attitude which earned him a win against a ranked opponent this weekend.
Ohio resumes conference play against Northern Illinois on Jan. 25. The dual meet will be held in The Convo and matches will begin at 2 p.m.
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