ATHENS, Ohio — The Ohio University wrestling team dropped its first dual meet of the season Saturday night, falling 20-17 to Bellarmine at the Convocation Center in the Bobcats’ home opener at the Ohio Showcase, Ohio University Athletics reported via ChatSports.
Ohio (0-1) got its scoring from a string of bonus-point wins in the middle of the lineup. Sophomore Konner Lambers of Cincinnati got the scoring started for the Bobcats at 133 pounds, winning by a 13-4 major decision to score four team points, according to Ohio University Athletics.
Senior Max Hermes of Milan was the night’s other standout for Ohio at 165 pounds, dominating his bout in a 9-0 major-decision victory, Ohio University Athletics reported.
Sophomore Carson Weber of Shorewood, Illinois, won a defensive battle at his weight, taking a 3-0 decision that pulled the Bobcats within one point at 9-8, according to Ohio University Athletics. Bellarmine answered across the remaining bouts, however, and held on for the three-point team win.
Bellarmine University’s official schedule confirms the result — a 20-17 Knights win at Ohio University in Athens on Nov. 7, moving Bellarmine to 1-0 — and WrestleStat’s dual record likewise lists Bellarmine 20, Ohio 17.
The dual headlined the Ohio Showcase, a six-team event Ohio hosted Saturday with three mats running at once — a Division I mat for Ohio and Bellarmine, a Division II mat for Ashland against UIndy, and a Division III mat for Baldwin Wallace against Wabash, according to Ohio University’s athletics preview.
The Bobcats had opened their season a week earlier, on Nov. 1, at the Southeast Open, Ohio University Athletics reported. Saturday’s result leaves Ohio 0-1 in duals as the early-season schedule turns toward next weekend.
For a young Bobcats lineup — Saturday’s winners included two sophomores alongside the senior Hermes — the narrow margin offered an early measuring stick: three bonus-point wins were nearly enough to take the dual, and one more bout anywhere in the lineup would have flipped the result. Ohio’s next dual is at Chattanooga on Saturday, Nov. 14, according to WrestleStat’s Ohio schedule — the Bobcats’ first road test of the season, and their chance to even the dual record before the schedule thickens later this month.
Photo: Chris Hunkeler, CC BY-SA 2.0