IU wrestling couldn’t gain much momentum Friday night as the team lost 43-3 to the Ohio State Buckeyes.
The team dropped to 3-7 overall on the season after their final competition at University Gymnasium. The squad will officially move its competitions to the Wilkinson Hall, which has its grand opening this Sunday.
IU’s losing streak extended to four straight meets after the loss to Ohio State. As the No. 2 ranked team in the nation, the Buckeyes came out determined not to concede any ground to the Hoosiers.
The only scoring for IU came from senior Bryce Martin, who earned a 3-0 decision over freshman Kaleb Romero. The win bumped Martin to 13 wins on the season, which now officially ties him with Jake Danishek for a team high this season.
Despite trailing in his matchup with Ke-Shawn Hayes, Danishek managed a late takedown to tie things up at 6-6. It wasn’t enough to carry him through the decision, which he ultimately lost 7-6.
Regardless of the difficulties of competing in Big Ten wrestling, Danishek has maintained a positive attitude when it comes to rounding out his last semester as a wrestler.
“I’ve been wrestling for a long time so with this being my last few months, you want to cherish every moment,” Danishek said. “I just want to have fun with the sport and compete every night out there.”
With that sentiment in hand, Danishek and the rest of IU’s upperclassmen leadership have been focusing on one of IU Head Coach Angel Escobedo’s key goals for the season — competing against other teams in the Big Ten.
After an 0-9 conference record last season, Escobedo has been looking to flip the script, and closer individual matchups against some of the country’s top teams should be seen as an improvement for the Hoosiers.
Despite the blemished overall score, IU has seen more wrestlers fighting deeper into their matchups than in previous seasons. The team has clearly bought into Escobedo’s conditioning schemes, and the results are slowly starting to show.
IU’s next matchup will come Sunday afternoon against Maryland.
