No. 1 Myles Martin defeats No. 3 Nick Reenan of North Carolina State University by decision in the 184-pound bout, 12-5. Credit: Sal Marandino | For The Lantern
The No. 2 Ohio State wrestling team (7-0, 3-0 Big Ten) defeated Michigan State (4-4, 1-1 Big Ten) 37-4 on Sunday.
Ohio State senior Myles Martin (184) and redshirt junior Kollin Moore, No. 1 and No. 2 in their respective weight classes, remained undefeated after Sunday’s match against Michigan State, as Martin won by technical fall and Moore won via pin.
Moore said his goal was to give his team extra points to help secure a victory against a Big Ten rival.
“Obviously you want to open the score up just a little bit, just in case something crazy happens, so get a takedown or two,” Moore said. “Having some patience to stay on top of the guy and work for a tilt because even if I don’t get a pin, those four back points really blow up in a match especially against good guys, which would be huge.”
Martin, earning his eighth win of the season, faced a ranked opponent in Michigan State redshirt freshman Cam Caffey, who, according to associate head coach J Jaggers, gave a good performance, but was no match for the senior.
“That’s kind of the difference right there between a man, Myles, a senior kind of really knows himself and knows his wrestling and [Caffey] still figuring it out, but they should be happy they have that kid in their program,” Jaggers said.
Junior Luke Pletcher (133), the No. 5 wrestler in his weight class, also earned an overtime victory against senior Anthony Tutolo.
Ohio State No. 2 senior Joey McKenna (141) remained undefeated, winning by technical fall 24-9 over redshirt sophomore Matt Santos, giving Ohio State an early 8-4 lead, which they extended, eventually winning nine out of 10 bouts.
True freshman Malik Heinselman (125) was defeated by Michigan State No. 8- ranked sophomore Rayvon Foley.
Despite Heinselman’s loss, Ohio State earned wins from its ranked wrestlers on the team in redshirt senior Micah Jordan (149), redshirt junior Ke-Shawn Hayes (157) and redshirt freshman Chase Singletary (285). Each wrestler won by major decision.
Redshirt freshman Kaleb Romero (165) bounced back from his loss Friday by beating redshirt sophomore Austin Hiles 7-4, something he said he feels positive about, but still wants to continue to work on.
“ I know I’m not even close to where I want to be right now,” Romero said. “I just got to keep on working, keep on improving, and keep battling myself mentally to just believe in myself. I feel like that is when things will start coming along.”
No. 2 Ohio State will take on Michigan at the Schottenstein Center at 7 p.m. on Jan. 25.
