Tommy Rowlands enrolled at Ohio State as a two-time state champion at Bishop Ready High School in Hilliard, Ohio. He will leave OSU in the record books.

The top-ranked Buckeye heavyweight tied the all-time OSU record for career wins when he achieved a technical fall over Northwestern’s Michael Little in OSU’s 40-3 win Sunday. His 151st career win tied him with Ed Potokar, who wrestled from 1980-1983. Potokar was in attendance Sunday, and joined the crowd of 850 in giving Rowlands a standing ovation after his win.

“There couldn’t be a better guy to represent Ohio State and be at the top of the list,” Potokar said. “There have been some great wrestlers at Ohio State, but Tommy has the character that you really want to see represent Ohio State, as well as being a true champion.”

Rowlands, now 31-1 on the year, was appreciative for what Potokar had accomplished before him.

“It’s an honor. I guess when I think about the record, the first thing I think about is how much winning Ed Potokar did,” Rowlands said. “151 wins is no joke, so I’m happy to get it.”

No. 19 OSU (7-7 overall, 3-2 Big Ten) had its best match of the season, taking control early. Rowlands’ win gave the Buckeyes a 5-0 lead and was followed by an injury default win for 125-pound freshman Jermaine Jones. Senior Jesse Leng (133) notched his second pin of the year at the 3:39 mark of his match. Freshman Theo Dotson (141) and senior No. 12 Jeff Ratliff (149) followed with wins to give OSU a 24-0 cushion. Leng and Dotson struggled before the wins.

“It was nice to see (Leng) and (Dotson) get a little more confidence with the win,” coach Russ Hellickson said. “They’re not bad kids, they’ve just been overwhelmed by the opposition.”

After a loss by 157-pounder Ryan Rhodes, OSU finished the match with victories from No. 12 John Clark (165), sophomore Anthony Magistrelli (174), No. 10 Blake Kaplan (184), and No. 16 J. D. Bergman (197). Kaplan’s 29th win of the year came when he pinned Wildcat freshman Joseph Gulotta just 27 seconds into the match.

“He set a record today – he was the first guy to end his match before his (intro) song was over,” Hellickson said.

Freshman Bergman notched his sixth consecutive win and 21st of the season.

“He’s feeling fairly confident right now,” Hellickson said. “I like what I see in him.”

Hellickson says the win may be a signal OSU has gotten over a five-match losing streak that was snapped last weekend against Purdue.

“We had good matches where they had pretty good wrestlers, and that to me is an indication that we’re pretty crisp,” he said.

The Buckeyes started the weekend by losing to No. 2 Michigan 22-15 Friday night. OSU found themselves in a quick 19-0 hole by losing the first five matches, all to ranked Wolverine opponents. The only match OSU had a chance to win came at 149 pounds, where Ratliff took a 4-2 lead into the third period against No. 7 Ryan Churella before tiring and falling by a 5-4 count.

The most controversial match of the weekend came in the 165-pound battle between Clark and No. 4 Pat Owen. Clark appeared to have pinned Owen in the second period, but the referee ruled that Owen’s arm had come out, enraging the 1,535 in attendance at St. John Arena. Clark won the match 8-5, the team lost out on crucial points that would have come with the pin. Clark was happy he avenged his loss to Owen last year.

“It is a big confidence booster after being in a slump,” Clark said. “He was ranked fourth in the country. That’s where I was last year, and it’s kind of like welcome back.”

The Buckeyes got wins from Kaplan, Bergman and Rowlands to end the meet, with Rowlands pinning No. 5 Greg Wagner at the 2:37 mark after scoring three early takedowns. It was Rowlands’ third win against Wagner this season.

“It’s good to beat someone three times,” Rowlands said. “Sometimes they get a little down on themselves.”

Hellickson was impressed by Rowlands’ two wins over the weekend.

“I haven’t seen (Rowlands) in his whole career look crisper than he’s been looking in the past week,” he said.

OSU will be back in action Friday night at Illinois. The match will be the 500th of Hellickson’s coaching career.