Sports
Wrestling Season comes to an End in St. Louis
By: Sean Neidig
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For the first time since 2011, the Ohio wrestling team will not have an All-American. None of the Green and White grapplers made it past the “blood round” of the NCAA Wrestling Championships, meaning that no one would take home the individual honor.
Five Ohio wrestlers began the day out of the six that went to St. Louis.
Junior Tywan Claxton at 149-pounds was the first Bobcat to hit the mats against David Habat from Edinboro. Although the match was tied 0-0 after the first period, Habat won 10-0.
In the blood round, Claxton matched up against Lock Haven’s Daniel Neff. Claxton led 4-2 after the first period but Neff came back to tie it at four. Neff eventually won 6-5 in sudden victory.
At 157-pounds, junior Sparty Chino started his day against 15th ranked Justin Staudenmayer of Brown. The match was scoreless until Chino scored two with 34 seconds left in the match and won 4-1. Chino scored two takedowns in the closing seconds to finish the victory.
In his second match of the day, Chino led after each of the first two periods and won 4-3 against Duke’s Immanuel Kerr-Brown.
In the blood round, Chino faced Michigan’s Brian Murphy, the No. 11 ranked wrestler. Chino trailed 2-1 after two periods but took a 3-2 lead before losing 4-3.
Senior Harrison Hightower began his day with against Austin Wilson of Nebraska. After a 0-0 first period, Hightower picked up three near fall points in the second to take a 3-0 lead. In the third, Wilson fought back to tie it up at three to send the match to sudden victory. Hightower picked up two points in SV to win it 5-3.
In his second match of the day, Hightower faced No. 10 Jim Wilson of Stanford. Wilson led 2-0 in the third but Hightower was able to get an escape and tie the match at 2-2 at the end of the period. In sudden victory, Wilson got a takedown and won 4-2.
Hightower ended his Bobcat career as a two-time national qualifier and with 100 wins.
At 174-pounds, junior Cody Walters faced Ohio State’s 10th ranked Mark Martin. Walters led 5-2 after the first and coasted to a 10-4 victory.
In his second match of the day, Walters led 2-1 after one against Pete Renda of North Carolina State and the match was tied 2-2 after two. In the third period, Walters got an escape, takedown and riding time point to win 6-2.
Walters then took on 6th-ranked Logan Storley of Minnesota in the blood round and lost 3-0.
In the 197-pound class, junior Phil Wellington took on Shane Woods from Wyoming. Wellington led 3-1 after the first period but was tripped up by Woods for a near fall that gave Woods a 6-3 lead. Woods went on to win 12-5.