Wrestling: No. 6 Ohio State finished second in third straight NCAA Championships to Penn State

Mike Welker
Sun, 24 Mar 2019 03:43:16 +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, Martin undefeated, Micah Jordan, Myles Martin, Myles Martin undefeated, NCAA championships, NCAA Championships Ohio State, NCAA Championships OSU, ohio state, Ohio State wrestling, Ohio State wrestling roster, Ohio State wrestling schedule, Ohio State wrestling tickets, osu, OSU wrestling, te'shan campbell, Tom Ryan [and 2 more]

No. 6 Nick Lee of Penn State controls No. 2 Joey McKenna of Ohio State in a front headlock during the 141-pound bout of the Ohio State-Penn State dual. Lee took the victory over McKenna in a back-and-forth match, by decision, 7-6. Ohio State lost the dual against Penn State 28-9. Credit: Sal Marandino | For The Lantern

The Ohio State wrestling team advanced five wrestlers to the final day of the NCAA Championships but left without a single individual NCAA champion for the first time since 2011.

No. 6 Ohio State (12-2, 7-2 Big Ten) had three bouts in the finals to attempt to win an individual championship, but failed to win any of the matches. Ohio State finished runner up as a team for the third straight season to Penn State.

Ohio State senior Joey McKenna, the No. 2 seed in the country at 141 pounds, lost to No. 1 Cornell sophomore Yianni Diakomihalis for the second time this season in a thrilling sudden victory overtime defeat by decision 6-4.

Diakomihalis has now won back-to-back NCAA Championships for Cornell.

Ohio State senior Myles Martin, the No. 1 seed in the country at 184 pounds, after a disappointing loss in the semifinals redeemed himself by finishing third in his last NCAA Championships.

Martin defeated No. 4 Illinois redshirt senior Emery Parker in the consolation semifinals by a 5-2 ?decision to advance to the consolation finals.

In the consolation finals, Martin won a tightly contested match by a 5-3 decision against No. 8 Lehigh redshirt senior Ryan Preisch.

With the win, Martin became the seventh four-time All-American in Ohio State history.

Ohio State redshirt junior Kollin Moore, the No. 2 seed in the country at 197 pounds, finished runner up to the only wrestler to defeat him all season: No. 1 Penn State senior Bo Nickal in a 5-1 decision.

Moore has lost only three times all season, but they all came from Nickal.

Like Moore, Ohio State redshirt senior Micah Jordan, the No. 2 seed in the country at 149 pounds, faced the only opponent he has lost to all season.

Jordan suffered the same fate as Moore losing in a 9-4 decision to No. 1 Rutgers redshirt senior Anthony Ashnault.

Ohio State junior Luke Pletcher, the No. 5 seed in the country at 133 pounds, advanced to the consolation finals by defeating No. 7 Iowa sophomore Austin DeSanto in a close 7-6 decision.

Pletcher lost in the consolation finals to No. 2 Michigan redshirt junior Stevan Micic by a 6-2 decision and finished fourth overall for the 133-pound weight class in the 2019 NCAA Championships.

No. 6 Ohio State concluded its season in Pittsburgh Saturday, but will have two All-Americans returning next season in Pletcher and Moore.