Sports

Ohio Wrestling completes MAC Championships with four NCAA qualifiers, three MAC Champions

By: Marc Goldstein
Posted on: Sunday, March 8, 2026

BUFFALO, New York (WOUB) — In many ways, the MAC Wrestling Championships were emblematic of the entire season for Ohio. The seventh-place finish was one of the strongest for the team in years, but also a bizarre one. Out of the ten wrestlers to compete for Ohio, only four actually won a single match. Moreover, those four all qualified for the NCAA Championships for their respective strong performances.

125-pound class

At the 125-pound class, Brayden Teunissen was saddled with the No. 13 seed and a match against No. 4 Archer Anderson (Central Michigan). In the bout, Teunissen got off to a quick 6-1 lead in just over a minute and a half. From there, Anderson flipped the switch and got to his offense. Anderson got the 10-8 win and sent Teunissen into the consolation bracket.

Teunissen faced No. 3 Travis Clawson (Clarion) in his second match of the weekend. Although the score was tied at one in the waning seconds of the match, Clawson had the riding point locked up. Clawson was able to reattack for the takedown to give him a 5-1 decision to end Teunissen’s season. Teunissen had an up-and-down year, but ultimately showed some promise at the lightest weight in the lineup that has not been seen in years.

133-pound class

At the 133-pound class, No. 15 Ryan Meek’s time at the MAC Championships was far from ceremonious. He faced No. 2 Marcel Lopez (SIUE) in the first round and was completely dominated, losing an 11-0 major decision. Meek’s match in the consolation ladder would not last the entire seven minutes as he lost via tech fall to No. 8 Andrew Austin by an 18-3 tech fall. After being thrust into the starting role at the 133-pound class, Meek struggled and wins were hard to come by.

141-pound class

Kolten Barker had a very similar fate to Meek at the 141-pound class. He lost his first match to No. 3 Charles Curtis (Northern Illinois) by an 11-3 margin. Similarly, his consolation match was not very close and an 11-0 major decision loss would end Barker’s year. Barker entered into the fray halfway through the season as he recovered from an injury, making this season similar to live practices.

149-pound class

Paul Woo wanted to end his Ohio career off with some positive memories. Like the three wrestlers before him in the lineup, Woo was outclassed by a superior wrestler. No. 6 Jimmy Nugent (Central Michigan) took advantage of Woo’s limitations on offense to cruise to a 5-1 win. In the consolation bracket, Woo would not find any success, having his season and career end with a tech fall loss to No. 5 Ryan Michaels (Edinboro).

157-pound class

Derek Raike entered the weekend with a lot to prove. He was given the No. 2 seed in a weight class with four auto-bids. In theory, Raike had to make it to the first-place match in order to clinch a spot in the NCAA Championships. After his first match, a 16-4 major decision victory over Landen Johnson (Northern Illinois), that seemed like a very realistic goal. Raike followed up that impressive performance with another major decision win, this time a 12-4 triumph over Hayden Whidden (SIUE).

Raike entered the semifinals with what looked to be his most difficult opponent: No. 3 DJ McGee (George Mason). The wiry frame of McGee made scoring difficult. Moreover, the No. 1 seed, Mason Shrader (Central Michigan) was defeated, making his path to a MAC title easier. Raike got an escape and takedown in the second period to jolt himself in front, a lead that he would not relinquish in a 4-2 decision win. Regardless of what happened in the first-place match, Raike had secured his spot in the NCAA Championships.

The first-place match turned out to be the toughest test for Raike. Facing No. 8 Garrett McChesney (Edinboro), who defeated Shrader in the quarterfinals, Raike could not get much going offensively, but neither could McChesney. The pair went to sudden victory tied at one. After a two-minute sudden victory produced no points, the tiebreakers commenced. Raike took his turn on bottom and escaped in under five seconds. With the pressure on McChesney, Raike forced him to choose neutral and go for the win. Raike held on for 30 seconds to win the MAC title and cap off a special season.

165-pound class

No. 14 Jack Lledo has struggled mightily down the stretch in his second season as the starter. In the first match for him in the tournament, he was unable to land anything on offense against No. 3 Chandler Amaker (Central Michigan), who got a 4-1 decision win over Lledo. Sent to the consolation bracket, Lledo engaged in a high-scoring bout to keep his season alive against No. 11 Drew Dickson (George Mason). Lledo would run out of steam as he lost an 18-10 major decision.

174-pound class

After taking two losses during the regular season, No. 2 Garrett Thompson needed to win his way into the NCAA Championships with a top-two finish. That quest got off to a strong start as he collected a pair of bonus-point wins to make his way to the semifinals. Against No. 3 Logan Messer (George Mason), Thompson’s comeback attempt was not enough as he lost 7-6.

In the consolation ladder, Thompson would need to win the consolation semifinals, third-place match and the true second-place match, which would serve as the qualifying match for the NCAA Championships. The former in his list of hurdles would be achieved with a 12-1 major decision win in the consolation semifinals. Paired with a 1-0 decision in the third-place bout, Thompson found himself one win away from making it back to the NCAA Championships. With only Enrique Munguia standing in his way, Thompson shook off an early takedown surrendered with one of his own late in the first period. A takedown with under a minute left sealed the victory for Thompson as he secured his third straight NCAA Championship berth.

184-pound class

No. 1 Sal Perrine embarked on what amounted to a coronation for a season-long journey that has been nothing short of incredible. He won his first two bouts with ease before making his way to the first-place match against No. 3 Malachi DuVall (George Mason). Perrine made it clear that he was head and shoulders the best wrestler in the conference at his class with a dominating 12-3 major decision to leave no doubt as he stood atop the podium for the first time in his career.

197-pound class

Like Perrine, No. 2 Zayne Lehman was on a mission to complete yet another individual title run. His first match was a sign of things to come as he got a 15-0 tech fall just 95 seconds into the match. Facing No. 3 Tucker Hogan (Lock Haven), Lehman got a takedown in the third period to propel him to the 7-2 decision win and into the first-place match.

In the first-place match, Lehman faced No. 4 Blake Schaffer (Kent State) in a rematch of a close match from earlier in the season. Lehman surrendered an early takedown, but recovered and eventually got a takedown of his own with 23 seconds left to defeat Schaffer. As the moment sank in for Lehman, the emotions began to pour out as his long road back from an injury, with Perrine by his side, resulted in a conference title.

285-pound class

Wyatt Schmitt has endured a rocky season at heavyweight for Ohio. He was unable to do anything to change that when he took on No. 1 Devon Dawson (Northern Illinois). Schmitt dropped an 11-2 major decision to Dawson to send him to the consolation ladder. In similar fashion, Schmitt faced No. 2 Bryan Caves (Central Michigan) and lost a major decision to end his season.