With the Ohio State wrestling team competing in its final dual match at St. John Arena this year, the stage was set for the seniors to go out in style on Senior Day. Instead, one shined, while the team suffered a frustrating loss keyed by the loss of another senior.
Heavyweight Tommy Rowlands set Buckeye career records for wins and takedowns over the weekend, but his exploits weren’t enough for No. 18 OSU (8-9 overall, 4-3 Big Ten), as it dropped two of three matches. The Buckeyes fell to No. 15 Central Michigan 21-14 Sunday afternoon, with senior John Clark losing a pivotal match. The Buckeyes dominated Big Ten foe Michigan State 30-8 earlier in the day.
Coming on the heels of Friday night’s 19-14 setback at No. 3 Illinois, coach Russ Hellickson was not happy with his team despite the fact it was close to beating two highly-ranked teams.
“There’s no solace in that,” Hellickson said. “I’m sick of wrestling the tough teams to a one-match loss. I don’t want to see it anymore. I’m not interested. We’re not stepping up.”
Rowlands, 34-1 on the year and ranked first in the country, won three matches over the weekend to put his career total at 154 wins, passing Ed Potokar (1980-83) as the Buckeye wrestler with the most wins ever. Rowlands also accumulated 29 takedowns in his dominating technical fall victories to pass Adam DiSabato (1989-93) as Buckeye record-holder for takedowns. Rowlands has 663 for his career.
“If there’s anything I thought of before my career started, I thought about the takedown record,” he said. “I think takedowns are an indication of how hard you wrestle and how aggressive you are. I always wanted to get that done.”
After six matches, OSU and Central Michigan were tied at 11, with the Buckeyes getting wins from Rowlands, senior Jeff Ratliff (149 pounds), and freshman James King (157). The seventh match would prove to be pivotal, with No. 9 Clark (165) having his nine-match winning streak snapped by No. 5 David Bolyard. Bolyard notched a 13-5 major decision to give the Chippewas a 15-11 lead they would not relinquish.
Hellickson was succinct in assessing Clark’s performance.
“Clark didn’t deserve to win that match,” he said. “He’s not going to win that match wrestling like that.”
Unfortunately, OSU got off to a slow start in nearly every match against Central Michigan. After Rowlands won his opening bout, no Buckeye scored a takedown in the first period of his match. OSU either trailed or was in a scoreless tie after the first period in the final nine matches.
Hellickson did not use the fact that the Buckeyes wrestled two matches as an excuse, noting that when the Big Ten and national tournaments begin, wrestlers will have to wrestle multiple times each day.
“This is the time to be tough,” he said. “The guy who’s tough wins, and he wins when it counts. The other guy is going to fall by the wayside. Twenty years from now, he’ll have an excuse just like he had today.”
Central Michigan coach Tom Borelli was more kind, thanking OSU for taking on the Chippewas despite it being the Buckeyes’ third match of the weekend.
“I’m real appreciative of Ohio State and Russ for wrestling us in this match,” Borelli said. “That was a favor to us, and he didn’t need to put his guys in that situation. It was pretty classy.”
In its first match Sunday, OSU defeated Michigan State 30-8. All five seniors notched victories. Prior to the match, Hellickson introduced the veteran wrestlers to the crowd and thanked them for their years in the program.
“It’s sort of sad,” senior Blake Kaplan said. “It’s my last match at St. John’s, the last time I wrestle on that mat and all the memories came back.”
