Ohio State Pockets Four Wins at 2005 Buckeye Duals

Columbus, Ohio – The Ohio State wrestling team (5-3, 0-0 Big Ten) played host to the 2005 Buckeye Duals Saturday at St. John Arena. The Buckeyes swept four duals on the day against Clarion, Bloomsburg, Kent State and Cleveland State. Overall, 14 teams competed in the 2005 version of the Buckeye Duals. Fellow Big Ten squads Illinois, ranked No. 2/3 in the country, and Northwestern, also rated in the Top 25, joined the Buckeyes with undefeated 3-0 records for the day. Both of Ohio State’s nationally-ranked wrestlers finished the day undefeated. No. 3-ranked J.D. Bergman won four matches and No. 14 T.J. Enright also claimed three wins and a forfeit.

In the opener vs. Drexel, the Buckeyes jumped out to a 6-0 advantage and claimed the last five matches of the dual to post a 21-10 win. To open the bout, freshman Jason Johnstone and junior Steve Wolery combined for a pair of decision wins at 141 and 149. Drexel rallied to overtake Ohio State by a 10-6 count after a decision at 157, a major decision at 165 and another decision at 174. Sophomore Alex Picazo brought the Buckeyes back to within 10-9 with an 11-8 decision at 184. The Buckeyes then regained the lead at 12-10 with a decision win at 197 from Bergman. Freshman Kirk Nail helped Ohio State continue its win streak through the HWT match with a 7-3 decision to up the OSU advantage to 15-10. Following another decision win by Nathan Costello at 125, Enright closed out the Ohio State victory with a 12-5 triumph, setting the final score at 21-10.

In the second match, Ohio State and Bloomsburg traded three-match win streaks to open the dual before Enright decided the match with a 7-2 win in the final bout for a 18-17 OSU win. Ohio State freshmen Jason Johnstone and Keegan Mueller each won decisions at 141 and 157 and combined with another decision by Wolery at 149 to start the match with a 9-0 lead. Bloomsburg stormed back, taking a 14-9 edge with a technical fall at 165, a decision at 174 and a fall at 184. Bergman got the Buckeyes back in the win column with a 4-2 decision over Bloomsburg’s Chad Hoare, who is ranked among the Top 20 in the nation. HWT Kirk Nail moved the Buckeyes ahead for the second time at 15-14 with his second decision win of the day. Bloomsburg retook the lead with a decision at 125 before Enright sealed Ohio State’s third win this season.

Following a bye in Session III, Ohio State fell behind Kent State by a 9-0 count from 141 to 157. Freshman Brian Baldridge registered the Buckeyes’ first win over the Flashes with a 3-1 decision at 165. Augustson followed with a 15-5 major decision at 174 to cut the KSU advantage to 9-7. Following a loss at 184 by Picazo, Bergman recorded victory No. 3 on the day with a 9-1 major decision, using a late nearfall in the third period to reach the 8-point margin. With the score at 13-11, Nail faced Kent State’s Tomas Rodrigues, a nationally-ranked wrestler at HWT. Nail dropped a tight 2-1 decision to Rodriguez to set the match at 16-11 before Ohio State benefited from a pair of KSU forfeits at 125 and 133. With the forfeitures, the Buckeyes moved to 3-0 on the day with a 23-16 win.

In the finale against Cleveland State, the Buckeyes enjoyed a 15-3 lead after the first five matches with three decisions and a fall. Johnstone opened the dual with a 10-7 decision to finish the day 2-2 before fellow freshman Ryan Needle pulled out a 3-2 decision at 149. After a loss at 157, Baldridge scored his second win of the event with his first fall of the season at 165. Agustson also registered his second victory of the day with a late takedown in the first period overtime for an 8-6 decision. Picazo also extended to an extra session at 184, but quickly tallied a takedown less than 20 seconds into overtime to score a 10-8 win and an 18-3 OSU advantage. Bergman bumped the Ohio State lead to 24-3 with is fifth fall of the season at the 5:39 mark of the match. To finish the dual, the Buckeyes got a decision from Nail at HWT, the first major decision of the season from Costello and a fall by Enright for the final 33-3 victory.

Next week, Ohio State heads to Pittsburgh for a dual at 7:30 p.m. Friday and finishes the weekend road trip with a match at Cornell at 1p.m. Sunday.

Ohio State Results (Att. 860) – Results on article website.