Around The Oval: Ohio State Wrestling Takes Down Illinois, Men’s and Women’s

In this week’s edition of ATO, Eleven Warriors’ one-stop shop for coverage of the Buckeyes’ Olympic sports programs, we look at performances from Ohio State wrestling, men’s and women’s swim and men’s volleyball.

Over the weekend, we also covered No. 1-ranked Ohio State women’s hockey and its dominant wins over No. 2-ranked Minnesota. The Buckeyes outscored the Golden Gophers, 13-1, in the two-game series.

Additionally, Ohio State won two national titles at the UDA College Nationals as the spirit program won its first national championship since 1993 while the dance team took first-place honors in the jazz category.

Without further ado, let’s take a stroll around The Oval, Ohio State’s 11-acre lawn at the heart of campus.

Wrestling

In a Big Ten dual with Illinois, the No. 6-ranked Buckeyes (9-1, 1-0 Big Ten) demolished No. 25-ranked Illinois 36-6 on Friday. Ohio State won eight of 10 matches, including six that ended in bonus points for the Buckeyes.

Here’s how all 10 starters performed in the dual:

No. 23 Luke Geog, 197 pounds: Geog secured two quick takedowns in the first period. He turned the first into a four-point nearfall and the second into a two-point nearfall before he added a third takedown for a 15-2 lead. In the second period, Geog ended the match with a fourth takedown and put five points on the board for Ohio State.

No. 18 Nick Feldman, HWT: After he received Big Ten Wrestler of the Week honors for a clutch performance vs. Cornell, Feldman earned a tech fall via a takedown clinic on Sungyup Ryu. He defeated Ryu 17-2 a minute into the third period.

No. 22 Brendan McCrone, 125 pounds: McCrone needed one minute and 23 seconds to pin Justin Cardani. The six points put Ohio State up 16-0 in the dual.

No. 12 Nic Bouzakis, 133 pounds: The bout was a little closer for Bouzakis, as it was the first of the dual to go all seven minutes. He led 6-2 after the first period, then earned two points for a reversal to start the second. Tony Madrigal escaped to start the third period to make it 8-4, but Bouzakis added a riding time point and won a 9-4 decision.

No. 3 Jesse Mendez, 141 pounds: Mendez had two quick takedowns in the first period and a stalling point. After a second period and escape and takedown, he led 11-2. A riding time point gave him a 12-2 major decision over No. 25 Danny Pucino to put the Buckeyes up 23-0.

No. 5 Dylan D’Emilio, 149 pounds: D’Emilio suffered the first loss of the dual for the Buckeyes, dropping his match 4-1 to No. 10 Kannon Webster. A Webster takedown late in the second period ended up being the difference in the bout, and the Illini scored their first points to trail 23-3.

Isaac Wilcox, 157 pounds: Wilcox moved down to 157 pounds from the 165-pound class for the rest of the season. His hard work to make weight paid off, as he battled to a 4-3 decision over Joe Roberts.

Bryce Hepner, 165 pounds: With Wilcox down a…