Ohio State
2026 Big Ten Championships
Mendez, Davino, Stiles Battle for Big Ten Titles Sunday
3/7/2026 9:16:00 PM | Wrestling
The Buckeyes sent seven to the semifinals
Big Ten Championship Info | Watch BTN/B1G+| Tickets | Results | 2026 NCAA Allocations
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State senior 141-pounder Jesse Mendez will wrestle for a Big Ten Championship Sunday along with teammates Ben Davino, a redshirt freshman at 133 and redshirt sophomore Ethan Stiles (149).
The trio went undefeated Saturday on the opening day of the 2026 Big Ten Championships at the Bryce Jordan Center at Penn State.
Mendez, the No. 1 seed, will face No. 2 Brock Hardy of Nebraska in the finals. Mendez defeated Hardy for the 2025 Big Ten title.
Davino, the No. 3 seed, will clash with Penn State's Marcus Blaze in the 133 championship match. Stiles, the No. 2 seed, takes on No. 1 Shayne Van Ness of Penn State in the 149 title match.
Several Buckeyes remain in contention for third place. Nic Bouzakis (125), Brandon Cannon (157), Carson Kharchla (174), Luke Geog (197) and Nick Feldman (HWT) will wrestle in the consolation semifinals Sunday.
As a team, Ohio State sits in the No. 2 spot with Nebraska in the team competition with 112 points. Penn State leads with 146.5.
All 10 Ohio State wrestlers qualified for the 2026 NCAA Championships marking the second consecutive season the Buckeyes had a qualifier in each of the 10 weight classes at the NCAA Championships.
Session II – 2026 Big Ten Wrestling Championships
In the 125 semifinal opener, No. 2 Nic Bouzakis faced No. 6 Jore Volk of Minnesota. Volk got on the board first with a takedown. Bouzakis escaped to make it 3-1 Gophers after three minutes. Volk added an escape point in the second before a takedown made it 7-1 at the end of five minutes. Fin then got the win by decision, 8-1 with a point for riding time. Bouzakis will wrestle Sunday in the consolation semifinals.
No. 3 Ben Davino then took on No. 10 Blake Boarman of Purdue in the 133 semifinal. Davino scored the first takedown of the bout for a 3-1 lead. Davino added a takedown and a three-point nearfall for a 15-3 lead after three minutes. Davino finished off the match in the second for a win by technical fall, 21-5. He will wrestle for a Big Ten Championship Sunday.
No. 1 Jesse Mendez faced No. 4 Nasir Bailey of Iowa in the 141 semifinals. Mendez was awarded a point for stalling to lead 1-0 after three minutes. Bailey tied it at 1-all with an escape in the second. Mendez earned a takedown and another stalling point for a 5-1 advantage. Another takedown made it 8-1 Mendez before he put the match away for a 19-4 win by technical fall. Mendez will wrestle for a Big Ten Championship Sunday.
No. 2 Ethan Stiles was up next against No. 3 Joseph Zargo of Wisconsin in the 149 semifinals. After a scoreless first period, Stiles escaped to open the second for a 1-0 lead. Stiles added a takedown in the second to lead 4-2 after five minutes. Zargo escaped to open the third to make it 4-3. Stiles held on to win by decision, 4-3. He will wrestle for a Big Ten Championship Sunday.
No. 4 Carson Kharchla faced No. 1 Levi Haines of Penn State in the 174 semifinals. Neither wrestler scored in the opening three minutes. Haines escaped early in the second for a 1-0 lead. He added a late takedown to head to the third leading 4-0. Haines added a point for riding time to win by decision, 5-0. Kharchla will wrestle in the consolation semifinals Sunday.
No. 5 Luke Geog faced No. 1 Josh Barr of Penn State in the 197 semifinals. Barr led 3-0 after the opening period and extended the lead to 8-1 in the second with an escape and penalty point for stalling after a Geog escape. Barr led 11-1 after five minutes. Barr then got the win by technical fall, 18-3. Geog will wrestle in the consolation semifinals Sunday.
No. 3 heavyweight Nick Feldman met No. 2 AJ Ferrari of Nebraska in the last semifinal of the night. There was no score after the opening three minutes. Feldman earned an escape in the second period after Ferrari built more than a minute of riding time for a 1-0 lead after five minutes. Ferrari escaped quickly in the third to make it 1-all. Ferrari then got the win by decision, 2-1 with a point for riding time. Feldman will wrestle in the consolation semifinals Sunday.
Ohio State had three wrestlers in the consolation rounds Saturday evening. No. 7 Brandon Cannon was first up and advanced with a default victory over No. 9 Stoney Buell of Purdue. Cannon assured himself a spot at the 2026 NCAA Championships and remained in contention for a third-place finish at 157.
In the third consolation round, Cannon fell behind No. 6 Charlie Millard of Minnesota 3-1 early in the first. Cannon closed the gap with an escape in the second to make it 3-2 before a takedown gave him the 5-3 lead. The match went to the third with Cannon leading 5-4. A Cannon takedown made it 8-4 and with a point for riding time, Cannon got the win by decision 9-4. The win put Cannon in the consolation semifinals Sunday.
No. 8 Paddy Gallagher scored first with a takedown of No. 10 Cody Goebel of Wisconsin in the consolation bracket. Gallagher led 9-2 after the opening three minutes. An escape made it 10-2 Gallagher early in the second. Goebel added an escape point early in the third before Gallagher takedown made it a 13-4 win by major decision. The win earned Gallagher a trip to the 2026 NCAA Championships.
Gallagher then faced No. 4 LJ Araujo of Nebraska. There was no score in the opening two periods. Araujo built nearly two minutes of riding time and earned the first point with an escape in the second. Araujo got the win by decision, 2-0. Gallagher will wrestle for seventh place Sunday.
No. 6 Dylan Fishback took to the mat against No. 12 Sepanta Ahanj-Elias of Maryland in the second round of the consolation bracket. Fishback scored a quick takedown, added another with a four-point nearfall for a 10-1 lead after three minutes. An escape, takedown and three-point nearfall earned Fishback the 17-1 win by technical fall. The win earned Fishback a trip to the 2026 NCAA Championships.
Fishback next battled No. 7 Shane Cartagena-Walsh of Rutgers in round three of the consolations. Cartagena-Walsh led 3-1 after the opening period and added a point for a 4-1 lead with second period escape. Fishback added an escape in the third but fell by decision, 7-2. He will wrestle for seventh-place Sunday.
Session I – 2026 Big Ten Wrestling Championships
The Buckeyes won all seven of their first-round matches and sent seven of 10 wrestlers to the semifinals after the morning session Saturday.
Ohio State totaled 69.5 points in the first two rounds of the tournament, good for second place.
Ben Davino got things started for the Buckeyes against Jager Eisch of Minnesota at 133 pounds. The No. 3 seed in the bracket, Davino started with a takedown in the first before adding another with two nearfall points for an 8-1 lead after the opening period. Davino went on to win the opener by technical fall, 19-2.
Davino moved on to the semifinals with a 5-1 win by decision over No. 6 Jacob Van Dee of Nebraska in the quarterfinals.
Nic Bouzakis (125), Jesse Mendez (141) and Ethan Stiles (149) all received byes in the opening round as Top 2 seeds. Mendez entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed with Bouzakis and Stiles earning the No. 2 seed in their respective weight classes.
Bouzakis faced No. 7 Nicolar Rivera of Wisconsin in the second round. Bouzakis scored first with a pair of takedowns to build a 9-2 lead after the opening period. Bouzakis led 12-2 after the second period. With an escape in the third, a takedown and a point for riding time, Bouzakis won his tournament opener by technical fall, 17-2. The win advanced Bouzakis to the quarterfinals to secure a spot in the 2026 NCAA Championships.
Mendez quickly advanced to the semifinals with a pin over No. 8 Billy DeKraker of Northwestern just 1:04 into the first period.
Ethan Stiles, the No. 2 seed at 149, opened with a scoreless period against No. 10 Drew Roberts of Minnesota. Stiles scored first with an escape in the second before adding a takedown to lead 4-0 after three minutes. Roberts escaped to begin the second to end the scoring in a 4-1 win by decision for Stiles.
Brandon Cannon, the No. 7 seed at 157, returned to the mat after six weeks away with injury. After a scoreless opening period against Iowa's Victor Voinovich, the No. 10 seed, Cannon scored first with a reversal early in the second. Cannon added a takedown in the third and went on to win by decision, 6-0.
In the quarterfinals, Cannon faced No. 2 P.J. Duke of Penn State. Cannon scored first with a takedown in less than 30 seconds into the first period. Duke escaped and took the lead with a takedown (4-3). Cannon added an escape before a Duke takedown made it 7-4 Nittany Lions after the first. Cannon added an escape in the second before another Duke takedown for a 10-5 PSU lead after five minutes. Duke went on to win by major decision, 20-7.
At 165, Paddy Gallagher, the No. 8 seed, opened with a late takedown in the first and an escape early in the second for a 4-0 lead over No. 9 seed Tyler Lillard of Indiana. Gallagher went on to take his opener by decision, 4-1.
In the quarterfinals, Gallagher took on No. 1 Mitchell Mesenbrink of Penn State. Mesenbrink advanced to the semifinals with a 10-2 win by major decision.
Graduate Carson Kharchla, the No. 4 seed at 174, jumped to a 9-2 lead after three minutes against No. 13 Connor O'Neill of Michigan State. Kharchla led 12-3 after two periods and finished off the bout with a 20-5 win by technical fall.
Kharchla took on Michigan's Beau Mantanona, the No. 5 seed, in the quarterfinals. Mantanona went to the third with a 1-0 lead before Kharchla tied it at 1-all with an escape. A late scramble did not produce a score sending the bout to sudden victory where Kharchla got the win with a takedown, 4-1.
Dylan Fishback, the No. 6 seed at 184, jumped to a 10-2 lead after the first against J.D. Perez of Northwestern. The lead continued to grow in the second before Fishback got the win by technical fall, 17-2.
Fishback trailed No. 3 Silas Allred of Nebraska before evening the bout at 1-all with an escape in the third. The match went to sudden victory where Allred got the late takedown for a 4-1 win.
In the 197-weight class, Luke Geog, the No. 5 seed, opened the tournament with a scoreless opening period against No. 12 Dylan Connell of Illinois. Geog scored with an escape in the second for a 1-0 lead. Connell evened the match with an escape in the third before a Geog takedown put the Buckeyes up 4-1. Geog scored three nearfall points late after Connell was penalized for stalling and with a point for riding time, got the win by major decision, 9-1.
Geog led 3-0 after the opening two periods against No. 4 Brandon John of Maryland in the quarterfinals. John added an escape in the third. Geog then added a pair of takedowns to win by decision, 9-4.
Nick Feldman, No. 3 at heavyweight, scored quick with a takedown against No. 14 Caleb Marzolino of Indiana. Feldman went up 18-6 before a final takedown made it a 21-6 win by decision in less than three minutes of action.
There was no score after the first in the quarterfinal match between Feldman and No. 6 Luke Luffman of Illinois. Feldman earned the first point with an escape in the second to go the third with the lead. Luffman tied it at 1-all with an escape in the third. Feldman added a late takedown to get the win by decision, 5-2 with an added point for riding time.
Sunday, March 8 (Coverage on Big Ten Network/FOX Sports app and B1G+)
TIME SESSION Broadcast/Stream
Noon Session III (Consolation Semifinals, 7th-Place Matches) B1G+
4:30 p.m. Session IV (1st-, 3rd- and 5th- Place Matches) Big Ten Network
Ohio State at the 2026 Big Ten Championships
125-Nic Bouzakis
- QFs - (2) Nic Bouzakis (OSU) def. (7) Nicolar Rivera (WIS), TF, 17-2
- SFs - (6) Joey Volk (MINN) def. (2) Nic Bouzakis (OSU), D, 8-1
- Cons. SFs - (2) Nic Bouzakis (OSU) vs. (8) Dean Peterson (IOWA)
- Round 1 - (3) Ben Davino (OSU) def. (14) Jager Eisch (MINN), TF, 19-2
- QFs - (3) Ben Davino (OSU) def. (6) Jacob Van Dee (NEB), D, 5-1
- SFs - (3) Ben Davino (OSU) def. (10) Blake Boarman (PUR), TF, 21-5
- Fs - (3) Ben Davino (OSU) vs. (1) Marcus Blaze (PSU)
- QFs – (1) Jesse Mendez (OSU) def. (8) Billy DeKraker (NU), F, 1:04
- SFs - (1) Jesse Mendez (OSU) def. (4) Nasir Bailey (IOWA), TF, 19-4
- Fs – (1) Jesse Mendez (OSU) vs. (2) Brock Hardy (NEB)
- QFs – (2) Ethan Stiles (OSU) def. (10) Drew Roberts (MINN), D, 4-1
- SFs – (2) Ethan Stiles (OSU) vs. (3) Joseph Zargo (WIS)
- Fs – (2) Ethan Stiles (OSU) vs. (1) Shayne Van Ness (PSU)
- Round 1 - (7) Brandon Cannon (OSU) def. (10) Victor Voinovich (IOWA), D, 6-0
- QFs - (2) P.J. Duke (PSU) def. (7) Brandon Cannon (OSU), MD, 20-7
- Cons. 2 - (7) Brandon Cannon (OSU) def. (9) Stoney Buell (PUR), DEF
- Cons. 3 - (7) Brandon Cannon (OSU) def. (6) Charlie Millard (MINN), D, 9-4
- Cons. SFs. - (7) Brandon Cannon (OSU) vs. (4) Cameron Catrabone (MICH)
- Round 1 - (8) Paddy Gallagher (OSU) def. (9) Tyler Lillard (IND), D, 4-1
- QFs – (1) Mitchell Mesenbrink (PSU) def. (8) Paddy Gallagher (OSU), MD, 10-2
- Cons. 2 - (8) Paddy Gallagher (OSU) def. (10) Cody Goebel (WIS), MD, 13-4
- 7th – (8) Paddy Gallagher (OSU) vs. (4) L.J. Araujo (NEB)
- Round 1 - (4) Carson Kharchla (OSU) def. (13) Connor O'Neil (MSU), TF, 20-5
- QFs - (4) Carson Kharchla (OSU) def. (5) Beau Mantanona (MICH), SV, 4-1
- SFs - (1) Levi Haines (PSU) def. (4) Carson Kharchla (OSU), D, 5-0
- Cons. SFs - (4) Carson Kharchla (OSU) vs. (11) Lenny Pinto (RUT)
- Round 1 - (6) Dylan Fishback (OSU) def. (11) J.D. Perez (NU), TF, 17-2
- QFs - (3) Silas Allred (NEB) def. (6) Dylan Fishback (OSU), SV, 4-1
- Cons. 2 - (6) Dylan Fishback (OSU) def. Sepanta Ahanj-Elias (UMD), TF, 17-1
- Cons. 3 – Shane Cartagena-Walsh (RUT) def. (6) Dylan Fishback (OSU), D, 7-2
- 7th – (6) Dylan Fishback (OSU) vs. (8) Angelo Ferrari (IOWA)
- Round 1 - (5) Luke Geog (OSU) def. (12) Dylan Connell (ILL), MD, 9-1
- QFs - (5) Luke Geog (OSU) def. (4) Branson John (UMD), D, 9-4
- SFs - (1) Josh Barr (PSU) def. (5) Luke Geog (OSU), TF, 18-3
- Cons. SFs - (5) Luke Geog (OSU) vs. (3) Remy Cotton (RUT)
- Round 1 - (3) Nick Feldman (OSU) def. (14) Caleb Marzolino (IND), TF, 21-6
- QFs – (3) Nick Feldman (OSU) def. (6) Luke Luffman (ILL), D, 5-2
- SFs – (2) A.J. Ferrari (NEB) def. (3) Nick Feldman (OSU), D, 2-1
- Cons. SFs – (3) Nick Feldman (OSU) vs. (5) Braxton Amos (WIS)
Players Mentioned
