Wait's worth it for Ohio State's Ben Davino to reach NCAA wrestling final
Ohio State's Ben Davino overcame a late review and a tiebreaker to beat Penn State's Marcus Blaze and give the Buckeyes two NCAA wrestling finalists.
CLEVELAND — The wait seemed to go on forever for Ohio State redshirt freshman Ben Davino. The longer it went, the more he wanted the outcome to go against him. Davino had appeared to get a late overtime takedown of Penn State true freshman Marcus Blaze in their 133-pound semifinal at the 2026 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at Rocket Arena, but it wasn't called.
The Buckeye coaches challenged the non-call, which led to the never-ending review. "I was just in my head," Davino said afterwards. "I was trying not to focus on what they were going to say, and like I said, I was keeping myself in the match.
I was hoping they would take that away from me. Thinking about it now, I wasn't actually hoping, because I wanted that takedown. I worked hard for it.
"But in middle of the match, I'm like, they're going to take it away from me. I'm going to beat them in doubles. I mean, I was just focusing on double overtime because the power of that (challenge) brick and that (Penn State) corner is different, and I was ready for that call not to go my way.
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