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ATHENS, Ohio â€" Redshirt senior wrestler Cody Walters (Macedonia, Ohio) picked up his 100^th career win as a Bobcat as the Ohio wrestling team dropped a 20-15 dual meet with rival Kent State Friday at the Convocation Center.

“We have to have at least five guys out of our 10 step up and win for us to even attempt to win a dual meet,” said head coach Joel Greenlee. “So I am proud of those guys, they have made great strides this year and they are wrestling better and better as the year goes on.”

In the 174-pound matchup the No. 11â€"ranked Walters scored a 7-3 decision over Kent State’s Mike Vollant. Walters landed an early double-leg takedown in the first and was in control from the back for most of the first period, taking a 2-0 lead after one. Walters let Vollant start at neutral so a point was awarded for an escape to KSU. Cody landed another strong single-leg takedown and let Vollant up again for another one point for KSU. Walters led 4-2 after the second. In the third, Walters started down, had a quick escape to score a point then landed another single-leg. Vollant landed another standup as Walters took a 7-3 win. Walters improved his record on the season to 15-3 with a 6-2 dual mark.

Freshman Cameron Kelly (Bellbrook, Ohio) pulled off an upset in the 133-pound matchup against No. 10 Mack McGuire by 9-2 decision. Kelly seized the early momentum with a takedown in the first minute for a 2-0 lead. After McGuire got a point back on an escape, it looked to be a 2-1 match heading into the middle frame. However, Kelly managed to get a takedown just before the buzzer to take a dramatic 4-1 lead after one. Starting low, McGuire obtained his second point of the match via escape to cut Kelly’s lead to 4-2. After avoiding a few match-tying takedown attempts by McGuire, the Bobcat freshman took down his opponent for the third time in the match to increase his lead to 6-2 after two periods. Kelly added three more points in the final period with an initial escape and fourth takedown to take the match 9-2. Kelly improves his record to 14-5 overall and 7-1 in dual matches in his freshman campaign.

At 157-pounds it was a battle between two two-20 wrestlers as Ohio’s Spartak Chino (Wheaton, Ill.), who entered the competition ranked No. 20 in the country, took on Kent State’s Ian Miller who is currently No. 2 in the country to begin the dual meet. Miller scored a quick takedown at the opening whistle and took a 2-0 lead into the second. The first half of the second match was a stalemate, before Miller landed another takedown but Chino escaped the hold to score a point. At the start of the second, Chino escaped the opening hold to get back to neutral position there were a few failed takedown attempts by each wrestler and the match ended with Miller on top 4-2. Chino moved to 15-7 with a 6-2 record in dual compeiton.

RS freshman Austin Reese (Urbana, Ohio) defeated Tyler Buckwalter in the 165 match via an 8-3 decision to improve to 13-7 overall and 5-3 in dual matches. Reese took an early 2-0 lead on a takedown in the first period and led 2-1 after the opening frame. The redshirt freshman seized control of the match early in the middle frame with a quick six points on a take down and near fall to lead 8-1 after two. The victory makes it two straight for Reese, who defeated Central Michigan’s Jordan Atienza last Sunday in Mount Pleasant, Michigan.

RS senior Andrew Romanchik (Independence, Ohio) improved to 10-5 overall and 4-1 in dual matches with a hard-fought 3-2 win over Cole Baxter in the 184-pound matchup. Romanchik fell behind 2-0 on an early takedown by Baxter but quickly gained back a point on an escape to cut the deficit to 2-1 heading into the middle frame. The redshirt senior started on top in the second period and managed to keep Baxter at bay throughout the frame to keep the score 2-1 after two. In the third period, Romanchik quickly tied the match at 2-2 with an early escape. Both wrestlers traded takedown attempts throughout the final period before Romanchik was awarded the victory with over one minute of riding time.

In the 197-pound match RS senior Phil Wellington (Euclid, Ohio) battled Kent State’s Kyle Conel and led 4-3 after two. Wellington landed a single-leg after the first 1:40 of the first period but Conel answered with an escape and a single-leg of his own. Wellington escaped before the end of the frame for a 3-3 stalemate. Wellington started down in the second and scored a point on an escape from the opening position. The third started the same for Conel who recorded a point off an escape from the starting position. With 36-seconds left, Conel was able to take Wellington down with double-underhooks and landed a pin on the landing to take the win. Wellington took his first loss in dual meets and moved to 17-4 overall with a 6-1 record in dual action.

In the heavyweight match, Kent State’s Devin Nye defeated sophomore Jesse Webb (Bennington, Vt.) 3-1. The two wrestlers traded unsuccessful takedown attempts throughout the opening frame and the match remained scoreless after one. Webb began the middle period in the down position and was unable to earn an escape. Nye earned a quick point via an escape to begin the final period and sealed the match with a late takedown to take a 3-0 lead. Webb earned a point from an escape in the closing seconds. With the loss, Webb’s record falls to 8-10 and 3-5 in dual matches.

At 125-pounds, freshman Shakur Laney (Canal Winchester, Ohio) took on Del Vinas of Kent State. Laney and Vinas both had close takedown attempts in the opening frame but it was mostly a stalemate before Laney escaped the opening position of the second and scored a single-leg takedown, maintaining the back position through the rest of the frame taking a 3-0 lead into the third. Vinas escaped after the opening position and Laney stuffed the rest of the match taking a 3-1 win and evening the match at 12-all.

In the 141-pound matchup, it took three overtimes to break a 1-1 tie between Ohio’s RS sophomore Noah Forrider (Marysville, Ohio) and Kent State’s Anthony Tutolo. Both wrestlers landed one-point escapes during regulation time. It took until the third overtime period for Tutolo to land another escape and take a 2-1 win to even the match at 15-15. Forrider moved to 10-8 and 3-6 in dual outings.

In the last match of the night, Kent State’s Mike DePalma defeated freshman Nick Steed (Canton, Ohio) by technical fall 16-2. DePalma build a large lead with three near falls in the first period to take a 14-2 lead into the middle frame. DePalma sealed the victory with a final takedown in the first minute of the second period. Steed falls to 2-5 overall and 0-1 in dual matches.

Ohio hosts Clarion on Saturday at 7 p.m. in the Convocation Center. 

157     Ian Miller (Kent State) over Spartak Chino (Ohio) (Dec 5-2) â€" Kent State 3-0
165     Austin Reese (Ohio) over Tyler Buckwalter (Kent State) (Dec 8-3) â€" 3-3 Tie
174     Cody Walters (Ohio) over Mike Vollant (Kent State) (Dec 8-3) â€" Ohio 6-3
184     Andrew Romanchik (Ohio) over Cole Baxter (Kent State) (Dec 3-2) â€" Ohio 9-3
197     Kyle Conel (Kent State) over Phil Wellington (Ohio) (Fall 6:28) â€" 9-9 Tie
285     Devin Nye (Kent State) over Jesse Webb (Ohio) (Dec 4-1) â€" Kent State 12-9
125     Shakur Laney (Ohio) over Edilberto Vinas (Kent State) (Dec 3-1) â€" 12-12 Tie
133     Cameron Kelly (Ohio) over Mack McGuire (Kent State) (Dec 9-2) â€" Ohio 15-12
141     Anthony Tutolo (Kent State) over Noah Forrider (Ohio) (TB-1 2-1) â€" 15-15 Tie
149     Mike DePalma (Kent State) over Nick Steed (Ohio) (TF 17-2 3:39) â€" Kent State 20-15 

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