Around The Oval: Six Wrestlers Earn Top-Five Seeds at the Big Ten Championships, Ty Tucker Records His 700th Career Win and Several Buckeyes Shine in Their Respective Sports

By Chase Brown on March 6, 2024 at 1:56 pm
Ty Tucker
Adam Cairns / USA TODAY Sports
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Have no fear. Around The Oval is here.

To make room for our Ohio State football coverage at the start of the week, we moved Around The Oval – Eleven Warriors' one-stop shop for coverage of Ohio State's Olympic sports program – from Monday afternoon to Wednesday afternoon.

With an extra 72 hours of Ohio State sports to cover, we tweaked the format of this week's ATO. While the first two sections will still examine wrestling and men's tennis from a team perspective, the third section will be dedicated to individual athletes who shined over the past 10 days, allowing us to view more programs at a glance.

Without further ado, let's take a walk Around The Oval, Ohio State's 11-acre lawn at the heart of its Columbus campus.

Wrestling

Ten Ohio State wrestlers received their seeds for the 2024 Big Ten Championships on Tuesday. Six Buckeyes earned top-five seeds in their ewight classes, including Nic Bouzakis (No. 3 at 133 pounds), Jesse Mendez (No. 2 at 141 pounds), Dylan D'Emilio (No. 4 at 149 pounds), Rocco Welsh (No. 5 at 174 pounds) and Nick Feldman (No. 2 at 285 pounds).

OHIO STATE AT THE 2024 BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIPS
WRESTLER YEAR WEIGHT RECORD DUAL SEED
BRENDAN MCCRONE R-FR 125 17-8 10-4 8
NIC BOUZAKIS R-FR 133 21-7 11-4 3
JESSE MENDEZ SO 141 21-2 11-2 2
DYLAN D'EMILIO R-SR 149 20-8 10-6 5
ISAAC WILCOX SR 157 14-8 8-5 10
BRYCE HEPNER R-JR 165 11-3 7-3 8
ROCCO WELSH FR 174 16-4 7-3 5
RYDER ROGOTZKE FR 184 14-6 3-3 4
LUKE GEOG R-FR 197 12-6 11-4 6
NICK FELDMAN SO 285 21-5 2-1 2

Three of Ohio State's 10 competing wrestlers have experience at the Big Ten Championships: Mendez, D'Emilio, and Hepner. That number is far below the expected total when the 2023-24 academic year started, as the Buckeyes have lost Sammy Sasso, Paddy Gallagher, Carson Kharchla and Gavin Hoffman to season-ending injuries since August.

Despite its lack of experience, Ohio State had tremendous success in the regular season, collecting a 15-2 overall record with a 7-1 mark in Big Ten duals. The Buckeyes' lone conference loss came to Penn State, the unanimous No. 1 team in the NWCA Coaches Poll and InterMat Poll.

Ohio State enters the postseason as the No. 6 team in America behind Penn State, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma State and Iowa State. While the Nittany Lions will be the overwhelming favorite to win the Big Ten Championships this weekend, the Buckeye wrestlers – along with Hawkeye and Cornhusker wrestlers – will provide the stiffest competition Cael Sanderson's squad will face at the tournament.

The Big Ten Championships will occur on Saturday and Sunday at the XFINITY Center in College Park, Maryland. The Big Ten Network and B1G+ will offer live linear and streaming coverage of all four sessions.

Men's Tennis

When the Buckeyes defeated No. 14 Baylor, 4-1, last week, Ohio State tennis director Ty Tucker secured his 700th career win, a remarkable milestone for the 25-year head coach of the men's team.

In Tucker’s 25 seasons as Ohio State's head coach, the Buckeyes are 700-101 with 17 consecutive Big Ten regular-season champions, 14 Big Ten Tournament titles and three ITA indoor national titles. Tucker's other achievements include one National Coach of the Year award (2009), nine ITA Midwest Region Coach of the Year awards and 16 Big Ten Coach of the Year awards. He has also coached 54 All-Americans and 87 All-Big Ten selections in his career.

For all of his accomplishments, Tucker's decorated resume lacks one item: An NCAA outdoor championship. But this year, even more than the years before it, could be the one where the Buckeyes reach that mountaintop under the veteran coach.

Ohio State is off to a 15-0 start in 2023-24 with ranked wins over No. 6 Virginia (7-0), No. 13 Wake Forest (6-1), No. 4 South Carolina (6-1) and – en route to the Buckeyes' third ITA Indoor national title in program history – No. 21 Alabama (4-2), No. 8 Harvard (4-1), No. 6 Virginia (4-0) and No. 2 TCU (4-3).

Ohio State added yet another ranked victory when it defeated Baylor last week and could continue the streak if the team defeats No. 11 Illinois on Wednesday.

After the Buckeyes battle the Illini, they will complete their non-conference schedule against Texas (Sunday) and Texas A&M (March 13). They will then face 10 Big Ten opponents to wrap up the regular season. The Big Ten Tournament is from April 26-28 in Evanston, Illinois, and the NCAA Tournament starts in May, including Regionals, Super Regionals and the Championships.

Individual Spotlight

Jenna Buglioni, Women's Hockey

Buglioni led Ohio State with six points in the WCHA Quarterfinal series against Bemidji State last weekend. In Game 1, Buglioni recorded a team-high and career-high four points on two goals and two assists to help the Buckeyes defeat the Beavers 10-1. She then collected one goal and one assist in Ohio State's 8-0 win in Game 2.

Buglioni and the Buckeyes will play in the WCHA Final Faceoff this weekend. The No. 1 seed Buckeyes will face No. 4 seed Minnesota Duluth at 2 p.m. Friday in the semifinals; if they win, they’ll advance to face either No. 2 seed Wisconsin or No. 3 seed Minnesota in the conference tournament championship game at 3 p.m. Sunday. All games will be streamed on B1G+.

Sam Campbell, Men's Swim and Dive

Campbell won gold in the 1650 free at the Big Ten Championships last weekend, his first career medal at the conference championships. Campbell completed the 1650 free in 14:42.63, the seventh-fastest time of the season in NCAA Division I. His success helped the Buckeyes secure a second-place team finish at the Big Ten Championships, their 15th consecutive top-three finish at the event.

Annie Hargraves, Women's Lacrosse

Hargraves scored twice and had a team-high five draw controls in Ohio State's win over Butler on Saturday. This season, Hargraves has collected eight goals and shares the team lead with a career-high 17 draw controls as the Buckeyes are off to a 5-1 start in non-conference competition.

Payton Harris, Women's Gymnastics

Harris tied her career highs on two events in Ohio State's home meet against Bowling Green, Illinois and Kent State. Harris won the floor title outright with a 9.550, and she tied for first on uneven bars with a score of 9.900.

Shane Wetzel, Men's Volleyball

In Ohio State’s win over No. 14 Lewis and loss to No. 13 Loyola Chicago, Wetzel collected a team-high 42 kills and led the Buckeyes with a hitting percentage of .395. Against the Ramblers, Wetzel had a career-high 24 kills (with an ace) and nine digs.

Other Results

  • Ohio State baseball competed at the Las Vegas Baseball Classic last week and collected wins over California and Oklahoma. The Buckeyes' matchup with Pitt was canceled due to inclement weather. Now 6-4 overall, head coach Bill Mosiello and his squad will travel to San Luis Obispo, California, this weekend for a four-game series with Cal Poly from Friday to Monday.
  • Ohio State men's hockey ended its regular season with back-to-back losses to Penn State at Value City Arena. In the Big Ten Tournament, the Buckeyes will travel to Madison, Wisconsin, to face the No. 2-seeded Badgers in a three-game series. The puck drop for Game 1 is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Friday; Game 2 is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday, with Game 3 set for 6 p.m. Sunday if necessary.
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