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Ohio Wrestling Wraps Up Competition At Southern Scuffle
< < Back toGoing into the second day of the Southern Scuffle, the Bobcats already had something to be proud of: with five wrestlers competing on Wednesday, Ohio was guaranteed to have all five place in the top eight – its best ever performance at the Scuffle. As a team, the Bobcats finished with 64.5 points, which was landed them in seventh place.
Freshman Phil Wellington began the day in the championship bracket. He was joined by Jeremy Johnson, Cody Walters, Harrison Hightower and Spartak Chino, who all started competition in the consolation bracket.
Wellington, who finished fourth on the day, took on No. 6 ranked Jake Meredith of Arizona State in the championship semifinal. Unfortunately for Ohio’s 197-pounder, Meredith defeated him by a 5-2 decision. Once in the consolation bracket, Wellington advanced to third place match where he took on Brett Haynes of Missouri. Though Wellington defeated the No. 13 ranked wrestler on Tuesday, he fell this time to finish fourth.
With Wellington’s 3-2 record at the Scuffle, he raised his season record to 14-8.
Like Wellington, Chino and Johnson also competed in the consolation semifinals, however both lost by decision. Following their losses, they then competed in the fifth place match in their respective weight classes.
Chino suffered an 11-8 loss to Daniel Zilverberg of Minnesota in his match, which earned him a sixth place finish.
In Johnson’s fifth place match, he ran into a familiar foe in Andrew Delaney. Before the match, The Citadel’s heavyweight carried a record of 3-0 this season against Johnson. Ohio’s All-American achieved his first victory against Delaney by medical forfeit.
Johnson went 6-2 in the two-day event to elevate his season record to 21-6.
In the seventh round of consolation, Hightower got a big win over No. 10 ranked Zach Toal. With a 9-1 victory, Ohio’s 165-pounder advanced to the seventh place match, where he lost for an eight place finish.
After suffering his first loss of the season on Tuesday, freshman Cody Walters defeated his first opponent on Wednesday by a 16-2 major decision. Unfortunately for Walters, he suffered his second loss of the season in the next round to No. 10 ranked John Fausey of Virginia. Walters won his next match to finish seventh at the tournament. The freshman’s record now stands at 22-2.
Ohio will leave Chattanooga on a high note, and will look to carry that momentum on into its next conference meet against Northern Illinois in Dekalb, Ill. on Jan. 11.