FINAL RESULTS

WESTERVILLE, Ohio – The Otterbein wrestling team came up short in its final Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) dual of the season Tuesday night, falling to visiting John Carroll by a score of 30-14 inside the Rike Center.

The Cardinals, short-handed once again and competing without five regular starters, fall to 6-6 on the season and a 1-5 marking within the league. JCU, meanwhile, improves itself to an identical 6-6 overall record and 1-4 against OAC foes.

Otterbein fell behind early after forfeiting two of the first three bouts, sandwiched around a nice 6-2 decision victory for 133-pounder Santino DiSabato. He finishes an even 3-3 in conference matches in his first season for the Cards.

John Carroll pulled away during the middle weights and never looked back, posting two pinfalls to open a 30-3 cushion and clinch the evening. Otterbein freshman Christian Koch gave a valiant effort down to the wire at the 165 showdown, ultimately taking a nail-biting 13-12 loss in which both wrestlers were awarded points in the closing seconds.

The Cardinals finished their night strong by grabbing the final three matchups, beginning with a 4-3 overtime decision from Donny Didion (184) in which he earned his go-ahead point by way of an escape.

Freshman Bradley Minnard (197) closed well for a 10-6 triumph before sophomore Chris Martinez ended on a high note with a dominant 18-0 technical fall at heavyweight.

Otterbein will send a handful of wrestlers to the Mid-States Tournament at Manchester this coming weekend and continue prepping for the upcoming NCAA Regionals at Wabash, which was recently moved up a day and will now take place on February 23-24.