Sports

Wrestler Walters Earns All-American Status

Posted on: Saturday, March 23, 2013

< < Back to wrestler-walters-earns-all-american-status

Ohio Wrestling has a new All-American to add to its history. Redshirt freshman Cody Walters (174 lbs.) became the most recent Bobcat to claim the All-American title, and he will wrestle tomorrow for a chance to claim seventh place at the 2013 NCAA Wrestling Tournament.

Jeremy Johnson (285 lbs.), Phil Wellington (197 lbs.), and Spartak Chino (157 lbs.) also competed in the wrestleback bracket at Friday’s Championships.

Walters claimed All-American with a 5-2 decision over Tanner Weatherman of Iowa State. The victory guaranteed Walters a top-eight finish and a spot on the podium.

Leading up to his match with Weatherman, the Bobcat 174-pounder defeated two Mid-American Conference foes — Craig Kelliher of Central Michigan and John-Martin Cannon of Buffalo. Walters defeated Kelliher, 2-1, and Cannon, 3-1. Walters’ got the best of Cannon again, after beating him in the MAC 174 lbs. title match, 5-3.

After Walters picked up a win against Weatherman, he lost to No. 3 seed Mike Evans, 5-2. The redshirt freshman will wrestle Jordan Blanton of Illinois Saturday morning for seventh place.

Johnson, a 2012 All-American had a chance to reclaim that title, but he fell just short in the consolation bracket. Instead, No. 9 Zac Thomusseit of Pittsburgh took the All-American honors when he pinned Johnson.

Before his loss, Johnson earned a pin over Kevin Innis of Boston University in the wrestleback bracket. Johnson then defeated Stanford’s Dan Scherer, 6-2.

 In the wrestleback bracket, Wellington was matched against University of Virginia’s Michael Salopek for the third time this season. On Nov. 3, Salopek defeated Wellington by major decision, 11-3. Wellington took a victory in the second meeting by medical forfeit.

Ohio’s 197-pounder got the best of Salopek Friday when he pinned the Virginia grappler after trailing 4-2 in the third period. Wellington picked up two big takedowns and earned the pin to advance to the consolation round.

In consolation competition, Maryland’s Christian Boley pinned Wellington to end the redshirt freshman’s day.

Chino got the day going for Ohio as the first Bobcat to take the mats. He took on Tommy Churard of Purdue in the wrestleback bracket. Churard defeated Chino, 11-2.

At the end of the day, Ohio stands with 16 team points, which gives them sole possession of 27th place.