Sports
Ohio Wrestling uses late surge to propel past Cleveland State, 24-14
By: Marc Goldstein
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — Jordan Greer has waited exactly 343 days for this rematch. In wrestling, some matches are not special for the reason that the athletes have a personal beef with one another, but rather because they bring out the best in their counterpart. When Greer stepped on the mat at The Convo opposite of Daniel Bucknavich in the 285-pound class, Greer’s wait finally could come to an end. The match technically did not matter in the grand scheme of the dual. Ohio (4-2, 2-0 MAC) had already clinched the dual victory over Cleveland State (0-3, 0-1 MAC).
By all accounts, Greer has been putting together a stellar season to this point. He entered the match against Bucknavich with a 10-3 record including a perfect 5-0 mark in duals. However, the stain, in his eyes, was in the match he had yet to wrestle – a rematch against Bucknavich. Unlike last season, Greer was able to emerge victorious with a 7-3 decision, likely thrusting him into the No. 1 spot in the MAC over Bucknavich. Heading into the season, Greer’s focus was on avenging the loss to Bucknavich during this dual.
“This is a match that’s circled on my calendar,” Greer said. “I mean, he’s No. 1 in the MAC and had a decent run at NCAAs, so that is always someone I’m trying to aim for. At the end of the day, it;s good competition (against Bucknavich) and I’m looking forward to it… Whenever I’m in practice, that’s someone I’m thinking about because, obviously, I want to be a MAC Champion. I want to be an All-American and he’s just in front of that. He stopped me from getting to my goal (last season), so that’s who I have to chase.”
Before Greer got his chance, though, the Bobcats were able to take care of business. They started the dual off with a pair of losses by Ryan Meek and TJ England at the 125- and 133-pound classes. Regardless, the fact that the losses by Meek and England were only regular decisions that put a total of six points on the board for the Vikings was a small win.
Kaden Jett got Ohio on the board with a narrow 2-1 win over Laden Duncan in the 141-pound class. Jett’s up-and-down season is one that he looks to stabilize with more consistent opportunities since he returned from an injury. Following Jett, Derek Raike purely dominated his opponent, Connor Saylor, to pick up a fall at the 1:09 mark of the first period, jolting Ohio in front by a score of 9-6.
Again, Ohio was without the services of Peyten Kellar at the 157-pound class. While nothing is certain, keeping Kellar fresh for the stretch run is rather important for him and the team, so giving him opportunities to take a seat, like tonight, is not the end of the world. In his stead, Logan Cravatas faced Douglas Terry and lost by major decision, 11-2. Similarly, Jack Lledo would drop his match by an 11-1 major decision.
The pair of losses put the score at 14-9 in favor of the Vikings. However, the strength of the Ohio roster was going to hit the mat. Garrett Thompson, No. 1 in the MAC and No. 11 in the country, easily disposed of his opponent with a tech fall. The 17-1 score in an annihilation of Ronald Dimmerling knotted the score at 14. Jeremy Olszko did not get a tech fall, but he did pick up bonus points in his 11-2 major decision win over JR Reed.
After Austin Starr was able to simply pick up an 11-4 win over Joey Lyons, the dual was wrapped up for Ohio. The wins by Olszko and Starr, though, are greater wins for both of them. Olszko has greatly outwrestled his modest ranking of No. 6 in the MAC and proved as much with his domination tonight. Conversely, Starr was out to prove that he was worthy of the No. 2 ranking in the conference, something he also did in his match.
Despite getting lost in the shuffle because the duals can, at times, be clinched before he reaches the mat, Greer’s win was monumental. Seemingly, the balance of power in the MAC at his class has shifted. Likewise, Ohio’s outlook as a team got brighter with a whole-team win in the absence of one of its stars. Adding Kellar to the mix makes Ohio as dangerous as it gets in the conference.