Wrestling: Martin loses first match of the season in the NCAA Championship semifinals

Mike Welker
Sat, 23 Mar 2019 04:18:48 +0000
News, Sports, Wrestling, All-American, Big Ten, Buckeyes, buckeyes wrestling, Ethan Smith, heavyweights, Hunter Lucas, joey mckenna, Ke-shawn Hayes, Keshawn Hayes, Kollin Moore, Luke Pletcher, Malik Heinselman, Micah Jordan, Myles Martin, NCAA, NCAA championships, NCAA Championships Ohio State, NCAA wrestling championships, ohio state, Ohio state Penn state, Ohio State Penn State wrestling, Ohio State wrestling, Ohio State wrestling roster, Ohio State wrestling schedule, Ohio State wrestling tickets, osu, OSU wrestling, te'shan campbell [and 3 more]

Ohio State’s Myles Martin wrestles Mitch Bowman in the dual-meet against Iowa on Jan. 21 in the Schottenstein Center. Credit: Jack Westerheide | Managing Editor for Design

Ohio State senior Myles Martin, the No. 1 seed in the country at 184 pounds, is no longer undefeated after losing to No. 5 Cornell sophomore Max Dean in the semifinals of the NCAA Championships.

Despite Martin’s first loss, the Ohio State wrestling team advances three wrestlers to the finals after the second day of the NCAA Championships. In a surprising upset, Martin moves to the consolation bracket after being upset by Dean in a 5-4 decision.

No. 6 Ohio State (12-2, 7-2 Big Ten) is currently in second place as a team, but are 32 points behind first place Penn State, who has won the team title two years running.

Three of the top-5 seeds for the Buckeyes advanced to the finals, which will play a pivotal role in attempting to finish in the top three of the tournament for Ohio State in the final day of the NCAA Championships.

Martin, at the start of the second day, continued his title hopes with a 11-2 major decision before falling to Dean in a last-second defeat.

Ohio State senior Joey McKenna, the No. 2 seed in the country at 141 pounds, defeated No. 7 Minnesota junior Mitch McKee earlier in the day by a 11-1 major decision, giving the Buckeyes bonus points in their hopes to win a team title in the NCAA Championships.

McKenna will face his only unavenged loss of the season: No. 1 Cornell sophomore Yianni Diakomihalis in the finals.

Ohio State redshirt senior Micah Jordan, the No. 2 seed in the country at 149 pounds, made his first-ever finals in the NCAA Championships, defeating No. 6 North Carolina redshirt freshman Austin O’Connor by a 7-4 decision.

Ohio State redshirt junior Kollin Moore, the No. 2 seed in the country at 197 pounds, advanced to the finals.

Moore won both matches by first defeating No. 10 Virginia Tech redshirt senior Tom Sleigh 17-11 and then No. 3 Oklahoma State redshirt senior Preston Weigel by a 12-4 major decision.

Ohio State junior Luke Pletcher, the No. 5 seed in the country at 133 pounds, defeated No. 4 Pittsburgh redshirt freshman Micky Phillippi in the quarterfinals 3-1 by decision to advance to the semifinals.

Pletcher faced the top seed in No. 1 Oklahoma State redshirt freshman Daton Fix falling just short of his first ever NCAA Championship finals by a 4-2 decision.

Ohio State redshirt freshman Chase Singletary and redshirt freshman Ethan Smith, the No. 16 seed and No. 19 seed in the country at 285 pounds and 174 pounds, respectively, both were eliminated one match short of the All-American qualifier in the consolation bracket.

Ohio State senior Te’Shan Campbell, the No. 21 seed in the country at 165 pounds, was eliminated in day two.

Campbell started with a victory No. 27 Buffalo junior Troy Keller via pin.

Just shortly after, Campbell, in front of his hometown crowd and family advanced with a victory over No. 13 North Dakota State redshirt junior Andrew Fogarty by a 7-1 decision.

Campbell finished his senior year with a hard-fought loss and was defeated by a 3-2 decision by No. 7 Nebraska junior Isaiah White.

Five Buckeyes advanced to day three of the NCAA Championships tournament.

No. 6 Ohio State will attempt to hold second place in round three of the final day of the NCAA Championships starting at 11 a.m. Saturday in Pittsburgh.

Updated at 12:57 p.m. Saturday to correct the information on Te’Shan Campbell.