Sports
Wellington, Claxton Victorious At Navy Classic
< < Back toPhil Wellington, 197, and Tywan Claxton, 149, won their weight classes at the Navy Classic in the Ohio Wrestling team’s second individual meet of the season.
Jeremy Johnson, 285, and Harrison Hightower, 165, both received top three rankings for the Bobcats.
Wellington dominated his four matches, winning by a combined 27-4 and tallied a pin. His championship win was over Abram Ayala of Princeton, 9-3. The win marked Wellington’s second individual championship of the season.
Claxton had a more dramatic road to his first place victory. In the second round, he scored six unanswered points in the third period to win 6-3. His final win came over Navy’s Alex Johnson, 3-1.
Jeremy Johnson achieved second place, falling in the finals to Wisconsin’s Connor Medberry, 8-2. Medberry is ranked sixth in the country according to InterMatWrestle.com. Johnson’s loss was his second of the season, both of which have come from top ten opponents. Johnson is currently ranked ninth in the country.
Hightower defeated Frank Cousins of Wisconsin twice in the day to receive third place. Hightower defeated Cousins in the second round, 5-3, but then fell in the third round of the tournament. They met again in the battle for third place and Hightower came out on top once again, winning 5-2.
Noah Forrider, 141, lost his second match of the day but stayed alive in consolation play to achieve sixth place. Forrider went 4-3 overall but his crucial fourth round win over Colin Johnson of West Virginia propelled him to the consolation semifinals. He then fell in his final two matches to achieve sixth place.
Claxton is undefeated in Ohio’s past two matches. The momentum will be necessary for his next match of the season against Drake Houdashelt who is currently ranked second in the nation.
Ohio has the next weekend off and will be back in action at Missouri on December 6th. The match will mark their first conference event of the season.