The Ohio State wrestling team bounced back nicely after an embarrassing showing against Penn State earlier in the weekend. Take nothing away from how good the Nittany Lions are, but only winning one match out of the ten is falling short of expectations. The Buckeyes got back off the mat (pardon the pun) and took care of business against Maryland, 29-16, to finish off the dual meet season and, with it, wrap up an impressive 17-1 campaign.
As OSU has done most of the year, its top three lighter-weight wrestlers won with ease to get the Buckeyes out and running with a pretty sizeable lead. Nic Bouzakis started things off at 125 pounds with a tech fall against Maryland's Abram Cline, and that was followed up with a major decision from Ben Davino at 133 pounds and a pin by all-everything Jesse Mendez at 141 pounds. After three wrestlers, OSU raced out to a 15-0 lead.
From there, it was always going to be hard for Maryland to come back, but the Terps did outscore the Buckeyes the rest of the way. In fact, Paddy Gallagher at 165 pounds, Dylan Fishback at 184 pounds, and Nick Fledman at heavyweight were the only three OSU wrestlers to notch wins going out, but it was more than enough.
Here's how all of the weight classes played out.
| Weight Class | No. 2 Ohio State at Maryland | OSU | UMD |
|---|---|---|---|
| 125 | (2) Nic Bouzakis (OSU) def. Abram Cline (UMD), TF, 15-0 | 5 | 0 |
| 133 | (2) Ben Davino (OSU) def. (13) Braxton Brown (UMD), MD, 11-2 | 9 | 0 |
| 141 | (1) Jesse Mendez (OSU) def. Dario Lemus (UMD), F, 4:04 | 15 | 0 |
| 149 | (4) Carter Young (UMD) def. Brogan Fielding (OSU), MD, 14-3 | 15 | 4 |
| 157 | Mekhi Neal (UMD) def. Daxton Chase (OSU), D, 4-1 | 15 | 7 |
| 165 | (16) Paddy Gallagher (OSU) def. AJ Rodrigues (UMD), TF, 23-7 | 20 | 7 |
| 174 | Seth Digby (UMD) def. T.J. Schierl (OSU), SV, 4-1 | 20 | 10 |
| 184 | (8) Dylan Fishback (OSU) def. Sepantra Ahanj-Elias (UMD), 17-4 | 24 | 10 |
| 197 | (17) Branson John (UMD) def. (10) Luke Geog (OSU), Fall, 4:20 | 24 | 16 |
| HWT | (3) Nick Feldman (OSU) def. Joey Schneck (UMD), TF, 19-3 | 29 | 16 |
Ohio State finishes the season in second place in the Big Ten standings and will now turn its attention to the Big Ten Tournament that will be held on March 7 and 8 on the campus of Penn State inside the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pennsylvania.
Here's to hoping OSU is fully healthy when it's time to get back out there on the mat.
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This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Ohio State wrestling wins at Maryland to cap its dual meet season