Wrestling: No. 2 Ohio State defeats No. 4 Michigan 18-15, but Kyle Snyder suffers loss

Skylar Rogers
Mon, 12 Feb 2018 02:31:30 +0000
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Ohio State’s Kyle Snyder stands during the national anthem prior to the the dual-meet against Iowa on Jan. 21 in the Schottenstein Center. Credit: Jack Westerheide | Photo Editor

The No. 2 Ohio State wrestling team (13-1, 8-1 Big Ten) beat No. 4 Michigan (9-3, 6-2 Big Ten) 18-15 Sunday evening in a closely contested dual meet, despite senior heavyweight Kyle Snyder losing his first collegiate match since 2015.

Snyder dropped his first match of the season 3-1 against No. 2 Adam Coon, who is listed at 6-foot-6 and 285 pounds, 7 inches and 60 pounds larger than Snyder. The physical mismatch made this match interesting leading into tonight, but Coon stunned many by beating the Olympic gold medalist. Snyder had not lost in college since Iowa State’s Kyven Gadson beat him in the 2015 NCAA final at 197 pounds.

In the third period of No. 3 Bo Jordan’s match against No. 6 Myles Amine at 174 pounds, he took the lead with a takedown, and gained the riding time advantage point after preventing Amine from escaping. Eventually, a stalemate was called before Amine got the escape. Jordan led 5-4, essentially because of riding time.

As the clock wound down, Amine needed a two-point takedown to win, and he got it in the final seconds. Initially, the referee did not award any points, but Amine found the correct positioning for the takedown before the clock hit zero. This moment gave Michigan their first lead of the meet, 12-11, with three bouts remaining.

Michigan remained close with the Buckeyes, but Ohio State received solid performances from two of its highly ranked heavyweights. Ohio State’s No. 2 Myles Martin won 5-3 against No. 5 Domemic Abounader.

The Buckeyes’ No. 1 Kollin Moore bounced back after his first loss of the season against Penn State with a major decision win against No. 12 Kevin Beazley 17-6 at 197 pounds. Moore registered two takedowns late in the first period to take control, and dominated in the second and third with Beazley losing energy.

Another undefeated Buckeye went down when No. 5 Stevan Micic upset No. 2 Luke Pletcher 11-4 at 133 pounds. Pletcher is now 22-1.

Michigan’s No. 9 Logan Massa beat No. 14 Te’Shan Campbell 6-2 at 165 pounds to hand Campbell his sixth-straight loss. His last win was 8-2 against Maryland’s Brendan Burnham on Jan. 5.

Ohio State’s No. 5 Micah Jordan also lost, falling 12-7 to No. 7 Alec Pantaleo in an evenly matched bout.

No. 4 Nathan Tomasello won via technical fall against Michigan’s No. 9 Drew Mattin 20-5. Ohio State’s No. 7 Joey McKenna beat Sal Profaci 6-2 at 141 pounds in the only match in which both wrestlers weren’t ranked. Buckeyes’ No. 6 Ke-Shawn Hayes won 9-2 against No. 18 Malik Amine.

Ohio State’s next meet will take place on Feb. 18 at No. 6 North Carolina State in Raleigh, North Carolina.