The Cliff Keen/National Wrestling Coach’s Association National Duals Tournament commenced Saturday morning, featuring 16 top teams in Divisions I, II and III. The two-day tournament was held in both St. John Arena and the French Field House.

Ohio State, which is ranked No. 5 in the nation, opened the tournament facing interstate rival Ohio University. OSU won the match 37-4 on the backs of several key wrestlers.

Keaton Anderson, (157-pound) and heavyweight Tommy Rowlands, pinned their opponents in the first period. Both Anderson and Rowlands are ranked No. 2 in the country.

Anthony Magistrelli (174) posted a last-second 6-5 win against Ohio’s Ed Willis.

“I had him beat earlier,” Magistrelli said. “You just got to wrestle the whole match.”

In the second round of the tournament, OSU faced Michigan State. The Spartans were more difficult to beat.

“Michigan State came into this match very motivated,” said OSU wrestling coach Russ Hellickson.

The match came down to Rowlands’ win against John Wechter, putting the Buckeyes ahead 19-15.

Misfortune struck the Buckeyes in the third round when they met No. 1 Oklahoma State.

Wins were scarce for OSU against the Cowboys. The Buckeyes’ first win came from Anderson’s 8-5 decision over Oklahoma State’s Shane Roller.

The Buckeyes did not win another match until Casey Kapustka, (184) facing a 14-point deficit, pinned the Cowboys’ Jake Rosholt for six more team points.

OSU won only one more match when Rowlands defeated Will Gruenwald.

As a result of the loss, the Buckeyes were relegated to the consolation pool. In the fourth round, OSU wrestled the fourth-ranked Big Red of Cornell.

The Buckeyes got a six-point advantage right from the start when Cornell forfeited the 125-pound weight class.

But Cornell got the points back when OSU’s Jesse Leng (133) injured his elbow. With the injury, Cornell’s Alejandro Alvarez picked up the default win.

Leng was taken to the hospital to assess the full extent of the injury.

OSU won all but two of the remaining matches, including a major decision by Anderson and a technical fall by Rowlands. The win sent the Buckeyes to the final round and a chance to wrestle for third place.

In the final round, OSU met up with Big Ten rival and No. 2 Iowa. The first three Buckeyes were pinned, and OSU forfeited the fourth match and went down 24-0.

OSU got on the scoreboard after Anderson, John Clark and Anton Talamantes posted wins for OSU.

But the biggest match of the day came in the heavyweight match. The match between Rowlands and Iowa’s Steve Mocco was a rematch of last year’s national championship bout.

Defending champion Rowlands and Mocco pushed their way through a scoreless first period. Mocco took an early 1-0 lead after the second period.

Rowlands earned a quick escape point at the beginning of the third. With 45 seconds left in the match, Rowlands took down Mocco to claim a 3-1 advantage.

Shortly after, Mocco escaped, cutting the lead to one. Almost immediately Mocco took down Rowlands and was ahead by one. For the next 30 seconds, Rowlands was unable to escape and the match ended with Mocco on top, 4-3. Mocco now leads the series with Rowlands at 2-1.

Rowlands said the loss just adds fuel to fire for motivating him the next time he and Mocco meet.

With Rowlands’ loss, OSU fell to the Hawkeyes 34-10 and took fourth place.

“Iowa is very competitive,” Hellickson said. “We were ready. We had our weapons, just not enough ammunition.”

Oklahoma State defeated Oklahoma to claim the tournament championship.

Only 31 team points were scored on the Cowboys in the entire tournament.