Jan. 18, 2009
ATHENS, Ohio - In Ohio's first dual meet of the season in The Convo, the Bobcats lost a tough one to Big Ten foe Michigan State, 26-6. Sophomores Germane Lindsey and Erik Schuth scored Ohio's only victories, but four of the ten bouts came down to the final seconds or overtime.
"We wrestled hard, but I'm disappointed that we didn't win the close matches," said head coach Joel Greenlee. "It would have been a different meet if some of those had gone our way."
Ohio (6-5-1, 1-0 Mid-American Conference) got off to a solid start, as Lindsey defeated Michigan State's Collin Dozier in a 5-2 decision at 141 pounds, giving the Bobcats the early lead. Lindsey improved to 6-3 for the season and Dozier fell to 13-9 for the Spartans (5-2).
In the 149-pound match, Ohio junior Kevin Christensen was bested by David Cheza, 7-1, to even the dual at three points apiece.
Redshirt junior Clay Tucker had his 157-pound match tied at two in the final period, but MSU's Anthony Jones notched a takedown in the last few seconds to win by a margin of 4-2, giving the Spartans a 6-3 advantage.
At 165 pounds, freshman Chris Kline replaced redshirt freshman Tommy Weinkam, the usual starter for Ohio, and dropped an 11-0 major decision to Rex Kendle, who is now 18-6 on the year. The win put MSU on top 10-3.
Redshirt freshman Nick Purdue was involved in another tight match with Ian Hinton at 174 pounds, and again Ohio came up short, as Hinton scored an escape in the third period and had the riding time advantage to steal the victory in a 4-2 decision.
Ohio claimed it's second win of the dual in overtime when Schuth notched a takedown of Nick Palmieri to win in sudden victory, 7-5. This brought the overall score to 13-6 in favor of the Spartans, and Schuth improved to 7-2 on the year.
The next match also went to overtime, where MSU's Tyler Dickenson recorded a takedown of sophomore Chris Iammarino to win a 3-1 decision by sudden victory at 197 pounds. MSU then led 16-6.
At heavyweight, redshirt freshman Andy Hartshorn had a tough match with Alan O'Donnell but lost in a 6-3 decision in yet another close one.
At 125 pounds, MSU's Eric Olanowski improved to 17-8 on the season as he got the best of true freshman Tim Silvers in a 7-3 decision. Silvers fell to 4-11 for the season.
The 133-pound bout pitted Ohio's redshirt sophomore Quentin Keyes against the top-ranked wrestler in the country, Franklin Gomez of Michigan State. Keyes hung in early but Gomez was relentless, scoring six points in the final period to get the major decision, 10-2. Gomez is now 11-0 on the season for the Spartans, while Keyes fell to 12-9.
The Bobcats will return to The Convo for the second home dual meet of the season next Sunday, Jan. 25, as they welcome MAC foe Buffalo. Action is set to being at noon ET.
Michigan State 26, Ohio 6
125: E. Olanowski (MSU) dec. Tim Silvers (Ohio), 7-3
133: #1 F. Gomez (MSU) maj. dec. Quentin Keyes (Ohio), 10-2
141: Germane Lindsey (Ohio) dec. C. Dozier (MSU), 5-2
149: D. Cheza (MSU) dec. Kevin Christensen (Ohio), 7-1
157: A. Jones (MSU) dec. Clay Tucker (Ohio), 4-2
165: R. Kendle (MSU) maj. dec. Chris Kline (Ohio), 11-0
174: I. Hinton (MSU) dec. Nick Purdue (Ohio), 4-2
184: Erik Schuth (Ohio) dec. N. Palmieri (MSU), 7-5 (OT)
197: T. Dickenson (MSU) dec. Chris Iammarino, 3-1 (OT)
HWT: A. O'Donnell (MSU) dec. Andy Hartshorn (Ohio), 6-3
