Wrestling: No. 6 Ohio State faces No. 21 Illinois and Northwestern in three-day span

Mike Welker
Fri, 01 Feb 2019 03:01:18 +0000
News, Sports, Wrestling, All-American, Big Ten, Bo Jordan, Buckeyes, buckeyes wrestling, Clay Ragon, heavyweights, Illinois, J Jaggers, joey mckenna, Ke-shawn Hayes, Kollin Moore, Kyle Snyder, Luke Pletcher, Micah Jordan, Myles Martin, Nathan Tomasello, Northwestern, ohio state, Ohio State wrestling, Ohio State wrestling roster, Ohio State wrestling schedule, Ohio State wrestling tickets, Olympic Gold Medalist, osu, OSU wrestling, te'shan campbell, Tervel Dlagnev, Tom Ryan [and 2 more]

#1 Myles Martin defeats #3 Nick Reenan of North Carolina State University by decision in the 184-pound bout, 12-5. Credit: Sal Marandino | For The Lantern

The No. 2 Ohio State wrestling team (7-1, 3-1 Big Ten) will take on No. 21 Illinois on the road Friday and then will travel to face Northwestern Sunday.

Illinois (2-5, 1-4 Big Ten) is in the middle of a four-match losing streak, losing its most recent duel against Nebraska 30-9 on Sunday.

Ohio State is coming off a loss of its own, falling to then-No. 5 Michigan 19-7 for the team’s first loss of the season. In the match, the Buckeyes lost 6-of-10 bouts. ?

Ohio State associate head coach J Jaggers said the team is ready to move on from the loss to the Wolverines.

“We took our medicine on Friday and lost a lot of close matches,” Jaggers said. “Hopefully some of those guys that were maybe on the wrong end of close matches find a way this weekend, and get their hand raised.”

The Buckeyes might have to end their losing streak without one of their top wrestlers, senior Joey McKenna.

The No. 2 wrestler at 141 pounds, McKenna is listed as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury. Assistant coach Tervel Dlagnev said Thursday he will likely miss both matches against Illinois and Northwestern.

McKenna is 14-0 this season, with a career record of 93-8.

Redshirt sophomore Clay Ragon would wrestle in McKenna’s stead. Ragon is 6-6 in 2018-19 with two wins by technical fall.

Ohio State senior Myles Martin, the No. 1 wrestler in the country at 184 pounds, is undefeated on the season, but has a big match against Illinois redshirt senior Emery Parker, who, at No. 4, is 11-1 this season.

Parker defeated Martin in the 2016-2017 NCAA championships by a 14-9 decision. Earlier that season, Martin defeated Parker by major decision 11-3.

Ohio State volunteer coach Bo Jordan said he is not concerned about Martin’s upcoming bout.

“He looks pretty incredible right now, so as far as him being tested or not, I’m not sure,” Jordan said. “If he wrestles the way he can, I honestly don’t see many people that can beat him.”

Northwestern (3-6, 1-3 Big Ten) is also on a losing streak, losing its past two meets, including its last duel against No. 3 Iowa 33-7.

Dlagnev said Ohio State has more than just winning on its mind heading into its two matches this weekend.

“I’m just hoping to see progress every week,” Dlagnev said. “We talk about every match is an opportunity.”

Ohio State redshirt junior Ke-Shawn Hayes, the No. 7 wrestler in the country at 157 pounds with a 14-4 record, has a tough bout against Northwestern third-ranked redshirt sophomore Ryan Deakin, who has a 19-2 record.

Jordan is looking forward to seeing how Hayes does against a pair of ranked opponents this weekend.

“Just excited for him he has two opportunities to go out there and wrestle the way he wants to wrestle to see where he is at,” Jordan said. “I think he will be just fine. He can win both of those matches.”

Ohio State true freshman Malik Heinselman squares of against Northwestern redshirt sophomore Sebastian Rivera, the No. 1 wrestler in the country at 125 pounds, who is undefeated on the season in 18 matches.

Dlagnev said this matchup for the true freshman provides an opportunity to gain experience on the mat.

“We want to see the confident Malik that wrestles in practice out there,” Dlagnev said. “We see some awesome wrestling from him in [practice], and if he can just unleash that, that is what we are going for.”

Ohio State will face No. 21 Illinois at 9 p.m. on Friday in Champaign, Illinois, and then heads to Evanston, Illinois to duel Northwestern at 1 p.m. Sunday.