Around The Oval: Ohio State Wrestling Takes Down Illinois, Men’s and Women’s Swimming Dominates Hawaii and Men’s Volleyball Goes The Distance to Defeat UC San Diego

By Chase Brown on January 15, 2024 at 1:34 pm
Ohio State Wrestling
Ohio State Dept. of Athletics
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Another week, another Around The Oval.

In this week's edition of ATO, Eleven Warriors' one-stop shop for coverage of the Buckeyes' Olympic sports programs, we look at performances from Ohio State wrestling, men's and women's swim and men's volleyball.

Over the weekend, we also covered No. 1-ranked Ohio State women's hockey and its dominant wins over No. 2-ranked Minnesota. The Buckeyes outscored the Golden Gophers, 13-1, in the two-game series.

Additionally, Ohio State won two national titles at the UDA College Nationals as the spirit program won its first national championship since 1993 while the dance team took first-place honors in the jazz category.

Without further ado, let's take a stroll around The Oval, Ohio State’s 11-acre lawn at the heart of campus.

Wrestling

In a Big Ten dual with Illinois, the No. 6-ranked Buckeyes (9-1, 1-0 Big Ten) demolished No. 25-ranked Illinois 36-6 on Friday. Ohio State won eight of 10 matches, including six that ended in bonus points for the Buckeyes.

Here's how all 10 starters performed in the dual:

No. 23 Luke Geog, 197 pounds: Geog secured two quick takedowns in the first period. He turned the first into a four-point nearfall and the second into a two-point nearfall before he added a third takedown for a 15-2 lead. In the second period, Geog ended the match with a fourth takedown and put five points on the board for Ohio State.

No. 18 Nick Feldman, HWT: After he received Big Ten Wrestler of the Week honors for a clutch performance vs. Cornell, Feldman earned a tech fall via a takedown clinic on Sungyup Ryu. He defeated Ryu 17-2 a minute into the third period.

No. 22 Brendan McCrone, 125 pounds: McCrone needed one minute and 23 seconds to pin Justin Cardani. The six points put Ohio State up 16-0 in the dual.

No. 12 Nic Bouzakis, 133 pounds: The bout was a little closer for Bouzakis, as it was the first of the dual to go all seven minutes. He led 6-2 after the first period, then earned two points for a reversal to start the second. Tony Madrigal escaped to start the third period to make it 8-4, but Bouzakis added a riding time point and won a 9-4 decision.

No. 3 Jesse Mendez, 141 pounds: Mendez had two quick takedowns in the first period and a stalling point. After a second period and escape and takedown, he led 11-2. A riding time point gave him a 12-2 major decision over No. 25 Danny Pucino to put the Buckeyes up 23-0.

No. 5 Dylan D'Emilio, 149 pounds: D'Emilio suffered the first loss of the dual for the Buckeyes, dropping his match 4-1 to No. 10 Kannon Webster. A Webster takedown late in the second period ended up being the difference in the bout, and the Illini scored their first points to trail 23-3.

Isaac Wilcox, 157 pounds: Wilcox moved down to 157 pounds from the 165-pound class for the rest of the season. His hard work to make weight paid off, as he battled to a 4-3 decision over Joe Roberts.

Bryce Hepner, 165 pounds: With Wilcox down a weight class, Hepner took over at 165 pounds and performed well in relief. The unranked wrestler pinned No. 25 Chris Moore in four minutes and put six points on the board for Ohio State.

Rocco Welsh, 174 pounds: Welsh, a freshman who has performed well with No. 8 Carson Kharchla out with an undisclosed ailment, faced off with the No. 3 wrestler in the 174-pound class, Edmond Ruth. The bout was scoreless after one period, and Welsh scored the initial point with an escape 90 seconds into the second. Ruth escaped in the third to tie the match, and with an advantage in riding time, he secured himself a win and Illinois its final three points of the dual.

Seth Shumate, 184 pounds: Shumate got the Buckeyes back on the board to finish the dual with a major decision over Caden Ernd, 14-2. Ohio State won the dual, 36-6.

Ohio State will face Maryland on Friday at 7 p.m. inside the Covelli Center. Two days later, the Buckeyes will travel to Madison, Wisconsin, for a battle with the Badgers at 3 p.m. Sunday inside UW Field House.

Men's and Women's Swimming

Ohio State's men's and women's swim teams both picked up wins in Honolulu on Jan. 5, defeating Hawaii 154-109 and 160-96.

On the men's side, Charlie Clark (8:54.84), Sam Campbell (9:14.78) and Alex Metzler (9:22.20) took the top three spots in the 1000 free. Luke Paxton also placed second in the 100 back (49.85), while Clark placed first (4:23.13) in the 500 free and Ruslan Gaziev won the 100 fly (48.04).

Tristan Harrison, Hannah Bach, Katherine Zenick and Teresa Ivan opened the dual with a win in the 200 medley relay (1:40.84) for Ohio State's No. 5-ranked women. Gwen Woodbury followed with a win in the 1000 freestyle (9:55.85) as Maya Geringer (10:02.91), Mia Lachey (10:17.35) and Mia Rankin (10:17.43) finished second, third and fourth. Amy Fulmer rounded out the Buckeyes' podium finishes with a victory in the 200 free (1:47.74).

The Ohio State teams were dominant for the entire meet and took two wins back home to Columbus. Both Buckeyes teams remain undefeated in head-to-head duals with other schools and will host Michigan on Saturday at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion.

Men's Volleyball

Ohio State men's volleyball team went the distance to defeat UC San Diego, 3-2 (24-26, 25-20, 21-25, 25-11, 15-11), at the Covelli Center on Saturday.

The No. 5-ranked Buckeyes (4-0) needed all five sets to defeat the No. 17-ranked Tritons. MIVA Preseason Player of the Year Jacob Pasteur led Ohio State for the fourth time in four matches this season, collecting 20 kills. Shane Wetzel (19) and Cole Young (12) also ended the match in double-figure kills, while Michael Wright recorded 58 assists and Tommy Poole recorded 17 digs.

Ohio State's win over UC San Diego was the final tune-up before a challenging stretch in the 2024 schedule. This weekend, the Buckeyes will travel to Austin, Texas, for the First Point Federation Cup, where the team will face No. 1 UCLA and No. 12 USC over a two-day stretch. The following week, Ohio State will have back-to-back matches with No. 7 Penn State on Jan. 25 (in Columbus) and Jan. 28 (in University Park).

Other Results

  • Ohio State men's hockey split a two-game series with Notre Dame at Value City Arena on Friday and Saturday. The Buckeyes won the first contest, 3-2, but lost the second, 5-2. Head coach Steve Rohlik's team is 9-9-4 this season and has a 1-9-2 record in Big Ten competition.
  • Ohio State men's gymnastics defeated Greenville, 395-387.350, at the Covelli Center on Saturday. Women's gymnastics then took first place in a three-team meet with Towson and Ball State. Both meets were the first of the season for the Buckeyes.
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