Ten wrestlers represented Ohio State at the Big Ten Championships at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa., and three Buckeyes advanced past the opening day to reach the championship bouts on Sunday.
All 10 Buckeyes advanced past the first round of the tournament, with three being eliminated in the quarterfinals and four more reaching the semifinals before falling. After the first day of the conference championships, Ohio State tallied 112.0 team points, tied with Nebraska for second and trailing only Penn State, which leads with 146.5 points and has a Big Ten record eight wrestlers competing in championship bouts.
No. 3 Ben Davino put together a dominant run at 133 pounds for the Buckeyes, opening with a 19-2 technical fall over Minnesota’s unseeded Jager Eisch. The redshirt freshman then advanced through the quarterfinals with a 5-1 decision over No. 6 Jacob Van Dee of Nebraska before earning a 21-5 technical fall against No. 10 Blake Boarman of Purdue in the semifinals.
He will face off against fellow freshman phenom Marcus Blaze of Penn State in the title bout. Blaze handed Davino his lone loss of the dual season on Feb. 13 — a 3-2 decision in the second tiebreaker period.
No. 1 Jesse Mendez received a first-round bye at 141 pounds as a top-two seed, and dominated on his way to the finals, pinning No. 8 Billy DeKraker of Northwestern in 1:04 before defeating No. 4 Nasir Bailey of Iowa via a 19-4 technical fall in the semifinals to advance to the finals against No. 2 Brock Hardy of Nebraska. Hardy eliminated Mendez from the 2025 Big Ten Tournament with a 9-8 decision, though the Ohio State senior has beaten the Cornhusker five times in his Buckeye career, including a 12-9 win by decision in a grudge match for last year’s NCAA championship.
At 149 pounds, No. 2 Ethan Stiles defeated No. 10 Drew Roberts of Minnesota 4-1 in the quarterfinals and No. 3 Joseph Zargo of Wisconsin 4-3 in the semifinals to reach the Big Ten Championship match against No. 1 Shayne Van Ness of Penn State.
Five Buckeyes — Nic Bouzakis (125), Brandon Cannon (157), Carson Kharchla (174), Luke Geog (197) and Nick Feldman (heavyweight) — took early losses, but will battle to earn third place in the consolation semifinals.
Ohio State’s Bouzakis earned a first-round bye as the No. 2 seed at 125 pounds, then earned a 17-2 technical fall over No. 7 Nicolar Rivera of Wisconsin in the quarterfinals. However, the redshirt junior came up short as he fell by an 8-1 decision to Minnesota’s No. 6 Joey Volk in the semifinals. Bouzakis will face Iowa’s No. 8 Dean Peterson in the consolation semifinals.
Ohio State 157-pounder No. 7-seeded Brandon Cannon also saw an earlier exit than hoped for. Cannon opened with a 6-0 decision over Iowa’s No. 10 Victor Voinovich, before the redshirt sophomore fell by a 20-7 major decision against No. 2 P.J. Duke of Penn State in the quarterfinals. He bounced back in the consolation matches with a default win over No. 9 Stoney Buell of Purdue and a 9-4 decision over Minnesota’s No. 6 Charlie Millard, setting up a consolation semifinal matchup against Michigan’s No. 4 Cameron Catrabone.
At 174 pounds, No. 4-seeded graduate Carson Kharchla was also unable to capitalize on a chance to advance to the Big Ten title bout. The seventh-year Buckeye opened with a 20-5 technical fall over Michigan State’s No. 13 Connor O’Neil and followed that with a 4-1 decision in the first sudden victory period against Michigan’s No. 5 Beau Mantanona in the quarterfinals. However, Kharchla fell via a 5-0 decision to No. 1 Levi Haines of Penn State in the semifinals and will now face No. 11 Lenny Pinto of Rutgers in the consolation semifinals.
Ohio State 197-pounder Luke Geog made early noise as the No. 5 seed in the tournament but ultimately fell in the semifinals, losing by an 18-3 technical fall to Penn State’s No. 1 Josh Barr. He will now face No. 3 Remy Cotton of Rutgers in the third-place bout. Geog began the tournament with a 9-1 major decision over Illinois’ No. 12 Dylan Connell and followed that with a 9-4 decision over Maryland’s No. 4 Branson John in the quarterfinals.
Buckeye heavyweight and No. 3 seed Nick Feldman started his tournament run with a 21-6 technical fall over No. 14 Caleb Marzolino of Indiana, before earning a 5-2 decision over No. 6 Luke Luffman of Illinois in the quarterfinals. Though Feldman’s championship aspirations fell short as he fell to Nebraska’s No. 2 A.J. Ferrari via a heartbreaking 2-1 decision in the semifinals. Feldman will now face No. 5 Braxton Amos of Wisconsin in the consolation semifinals.
The only two Buckeyes competing in the seventh-place bouts are 165-pound No. 8-seed Paddy Gallagher, who will face No. 4 L.J. Araujo of Nebraska, and 184-pound No. 6-seed Dylan Fishback, who will take on No. 8 Angelo Ferrari of Iowa.
Gallagher defeated No. 9 Tyler Lillard of Indiana 4-1 in the first round before falling 10-2 to Penn State’s top-ranked Mitchell Mesenbrink in the quarterfinals. The redshirt senior Gallagher then defeated Wisconsin’s No. 10 Cody Goebel 13-4 in the consolation round.
Fishback opened the tournament with a 17-2 technical fall against Northwestern’s No. 11 J.D. Perez. The former NC State transfer then fell to Nebraska’s No. 3 Silas Allred via a 4-1 sudden victory, before defeating Maryland’s Sepanta Ahanj-Elias 17-1 and falling to Rutgers’ Shane Cartagena-Walsh on a 7-2 in his two consolation matches.
The consolation semifinals and seventh-place matches begin at noon on Sunday on B1G+. The championship round, which includes the first, third, and fifth-place bouts, kicks off at 4:30 p.m. on the Big Ten Network.
Image courtesy of Ohio State Athletics
