All Nick Feldman had to do was avoid losing by eight.
That was North Carolina State's only shot with its 17th-ranked heavyweight Owen Trephan. Trephan had to win the match by at least eight points or pin the 18th-ranked Feldman for the Wolfpack to beat Ohio State either by tiebreaker or outright.
The first period went scoreless. Feldman took a 1-0 lead escaping from the bottom position, Trephan responded in kind to open the the third period and tie things 1-1.
Trephan made things interesting with a takedown – worth three points in 2023 after an NCAA rule change upped them from two – before allowing Feldman to escape and scoring another takedown.
He ran out of time to repeat the process again, however, and Feldman's 8-4 loss secured a 22-21 dual meet win for No. 10 Ohio State over No. 2 NC State and a Collegiate Duals title.
Collegiate Duals Champs #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/XidynTe4Wf
— Ohio State Wrestling (@wrestlingbucks) December 20, 2023
The Collegiate Wrestling Duals are an eight-team tournament featuring some of the nation's top D-1 programs. Ohio State advanced to the title match against the Wolfpack first by taking down No. 21 Northern Iowa 26-7, then Lock Haven 28-9.
Brendan McCrone, No. 26 at 125 pounds, kicked off the title meet with the biggest win of any wrestler in the tournament. Just 37 seconds into his match he pinned the No. 1 wrestler in the nation at 125, Jakob Camacho.
Brendan McCrone pins Jakob Camacho! pic.twitter.com/3ouG0w9IWD
— WrestlersGrind (@_wrestlersgrind) December 20, 2023
Twelfth-ranked 133-pounder Nic Bouzakis followed with another upset pinning of No. 5 Kai Orine, this time taking an eternity of 51 seconds.
Then No. 3 Jesse Mendez pinned No. 4 Ryan Jack at 141 pounds 6:41 into their faceoff. Three matches in, Ohio State was already up 18-0.
HOW BOUT ONE MORE???
— Ohio State Wrestling (@wrestlingbucks) December 20, 2023
No. 3 Mendez pins No. 4 Ryan Jack (NCST) #GoBucks pic.twitter.com/Y7l0jBZN9d
Another upset win at 174 pounds from Rocco Welsh over No. 23 Alex Faison made it 21-9 four matches later and the Buckeyes hung on – much like Feldman – to win 21-20.
Ohio State improves its record to 7-1 with the trio of victories and is likely to climb from its 10th-place position in the NWCA Coaches Poll. The Buckeyes return to action after a quick break for the holidays on Jan. 5 at home against No. 5 Cornell. The first match starts at 8 p.m. and Big Ten Network will broadcast the dual.
