Sports

Ohio Wrestling prepares for pivotal season as underdogs

By: Marc Goldstein
Posted on: Friday, November 7, 2025

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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) — As November has arrived, so has the dawn of another wrestling season for Ohio. Last season, Ohio was largely successful despite losing former All-American Peyten Kellar early in the season before he transferred to Oklahoma in the offseason. Garrett Thompson took up the mantle as the best wrestler on the roster last season, making his way to the NCAA Tournament as the No. 4 seed. Thompson and Jordan Greer were the only two Ohio wrestlers to make the NCAA Tournament last season. 

The focus this season will be on increasing the overall depth and not having to rely so heavily on the high-end talents in the lineup. Last season, teams would take advantage of the Bobcats’ poor lightweight wrestlers. This year, head coach Joel Greenlee and his staff are attempting to amend the issues that have plagued that part of the lineup for a few seasons. Some of that comes with his starters having more experience. It also centers around more competition internally with freshmen and young wrestlers looking to add their own talents to the mix. 

Ryan Meek got the majority of the starts last season at the 125-pound class, finishing with a 2-10 record. Greenlee will add freshman Brayden Teunissen to the lineup. Teunissen defeated Meek in the Green and White intrasquad match and also took home 3rd place in the Freshman/Sophomore bracket of the Southeast Open to open the year. 

At the 133-pound class, another first-time starter will be used as Konner Lambers and Kolten Barker will open the year in the rotation. The 141-pound class is a little more fuzzy as Kaden Jett got the majority of the nods last season, but underclassmen Abe Hermes, Austin McKee and Prestyn Park all figure to get an opportunity. 

Opponents would routinely pick on Ohio’s lack of depth at the lower weights. Greenlee looks for that to change and for there to be a further emphasis on toughness when his wrestlers are potentially overmatched. 

“Every guy on our team chose to wrestle,” said Greenlee. “They didn’t choose another sport, so they need to do a lot of the things that come with (wrestling). Going out, getting wins and being tough for the team is part of making that choice… keeping it to regular decisions is part of that choice. Ten guys have a job to do and 10 guys are going to have to do their job. If they all do their job, we’re going to be pretty successful.”

The 149-pound class is where the lineup truly starts to take shape. Derek Raike was the starter last season and almost made the NCAA Tournament with a strong end to the season. Raike would be the pencil-in starter, but was entered into the Southeast Open in the 157-pound class. That could be due to the fact that freshman Carson Weber, who won the Freshman/Sophomore bracket at the tournament as well as MAC West Wrestler of the Week, has turned heads within the program. Weber might, and arguably should, push Raike to the next weight to add more depth to the lineup. 

At the 165-pound class, Jack Lledo looks to reclaim his starting spot once again, but his preseason ranking of 11th out of 12 entrants allow for potential competition from elsewhere on the roster. 

Thompson will, according to Greenlee, be out until ‘mid December’, leaving a spot in the lineup open. That will be most likely filled by Jeremy Olszko, who started at the 184-pound class last season. Greenlee believes that Olszko will be a more than serviceable replacement for the time being. 

Olszko would, in theory, be the starter last season, but the return of a pair of NCAA qualifiers have changed the structure of the lineup. Sal Perrine and Zayne Lehman both missed the entirety of last season with injuries. Perrine will slot into the 184-pound class and Lehman into the 197-pound class. The two are both moving up a weight class this season, a challenge that Lehman eagerly anticipates. 

“It’s definitely a little different… I think we did a great job this offseason of putting up some good muscle and good weight to make sure I’m filled out for this class. At the end of the day, though, it’s just wrestling and I’ve been doing it my whole life,” Lehman said. 

Greenlee is looking forward to having two of his captains back in action for what they can do on the mats, but also what they do off of them. 

“There’s a lot of wins between those two guys,” said Greenlee. “Their leadership is probably the most important thing. Both of those guys have had season-ending injuries and approached it in a no nonsense way and worked hard to get over those injuries to get themselves back in the lineup.” 

As a team, Ohio was picked to finish eighth in the MAC. In his 27th season, Greenlee hopes to win his first conference title since his third season in 2001. 

“The preseason rankings came out and I’m not too happy with them. I hope our guys feel the same way. I think we’re better than that, to put it plain and simple. I love the fact that we’re not No. 1 or 2. Hopefully, that sticks with us a little bit. We need to climb that ladder as individuals and as a team.” 

In order to win that elusive conference title, a number of wrestlers will need to step up and take some of the onus off the strength of the roster. The lighter weights will need to, at minimum, have to make the jump from subpar to competitive. In addition, the early season schedule will test the team as it measures up to teams like Wisconsin when it comes to The Convo in November. 

With the reintroduction of Perrine and Lehman as well as the strong cast of returners, the potential for Ohio is higher than many past seasons. The overall depth will be tested at the lightweights with new starters in the lineups getting acclimated. The quest for a conference title, like most things in college wrestling, will not come easily, but Greenlee and his staff continue to preach the fact that there is a lot of belief in the foundation of the program.