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Ohio Wrestling readies for MAC duals, postseason play as strong performances continue

By: Marc Goldstein
Posted on: Friday, January 3, 2025

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ATHENS, Ohio, (WOUB) — As Ohio turns the page of the calendar to 2025, likewise the schedule flips to Mid-American Conference duals. Despite already completing one MAC dual, a 45-0 drubbing of Bloomsburg, Ohio will look to win its first MAC championship since 2001. Over the first two months of the season, Ohio has seen the emergence of some rather strong individuals and raised questions over the spots of others. 

The positives have outnumbered the negatives for the Bobcats thus far. The strength of the roster, as in years past, is the middle of the lineup. From the 157-pound class until the 285-pound class, Ohio has arguably the best stretch of talent in the conference. The lone weak spot in that midst, Jack Lledo at the 165-pound class, still has posted some positive results this season. 

Peyten Kellar, ranked No. 11 by FloWrestling at the 157-pound class, is a returning All-American and MAC Champion and looks poised to repeat, if nothing else, as the latter. Garrett Thompson, No. 11 at the 174-pound class, appears in line to make a deep run in his first season since moving up classes. Those two are likely the strongest wrestlers for the Bobcats, but Jordan Greer, No. 26 at the 285-pound class, has been the most explosive and dominant. Out of Greer’s 10 wins, seven of them have come with bonus points attached. Greer is coming off a week when he went 3-0 in duals with two falls and a tech fall, netting him MAC West Wrestler of the Week.

The “Big Three” for Ohio all feel like good bets to return to the NCAA Championships after the trio also made it to the Big Dance last year. However, Ohio has watched as a new starter has emerged as a reliable contributor. Jeremy Olszko has filled in admirably for Zayne Lehman while he recovers from an injury that will likely sideline him for the entire season. Olszko was tabbed as the No. 6 wrestler in the 184-pound class in the December MAC rankings, but that pedigree should continue to rise. Olszko has impressed in his first real opportunity, but still has to prove he can get the job done in duals where his performance will be especially vital to Ohio. 

Derek Raike and Austin Starr have both mirrored one another to a certain extent early in the season. Raike and Starr are in their second seasons as the undisputed starters in their classes (149 and 197, respectively), but have yet to truly break out. Raike and Starr have demonstrated an ability to defeat lesser opponents, but winning against some of the best in the conference will be the true indicator of development for the pair. In Raike’s case, an injury that cost him an extended period of MAC duals last season derailed his season while Starr’s inexperience reared its head late in the year. Should Ohio compete for a MAC title, these two will need to break the glass ceiling and add even more depth to the “murderer’s row” that Ohio has built. 

This season has not been all perfect for Ohio, though. The struggles at the lower weight classes have persisted from previous seasons. There are, however, moments of positivity from the 125-, 133- and 141-pound classes. Kaden Jett (141) triumphantly won his first match of the season against Wisconsin, but otherwise has been injured for the majority of the year. The inconsistencies have simply been too much to overcome for Ohio. A prime example of this was in Ohio’s dual against Drexel. Ohio lost the first three bouts to put itself in a 15-0 hole. Those losses meant that the rest of the way, Ohio’s margin for error was minimal and, when it was not able to be perfect over the course of the rest of the dual, Ohio dropped a winnable dual. 

Now, some of the skewed numbers for the lightweights are due to facing some high-level competition. That being said, the lightweights for the Bobcats will need to, at minimum, keep the team in the duals and avoid bonus-point losses in the process. 

Ohio continues to have everything in front of it as it attempts to capture a conference title. The two most pivotal duals will both be in Athens and within an eight-day span. Ohio will welcome both Northern Illinois and Central Michigan to The Convo. Both of those teams defeated Ohio last year and have strengths in areas where Ohio needs to prove itself. Getting out of those duals with positive results will be rather telling of whether it can push for some hardware.