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Maryland Wrestling Goes 1-2 at Journeymen/Brute Northeast Duals
Nov. 29, 2008
TROY, N.Y. - The University of Maryland wrestling team posted an easy victory over Drexel before dropping dual meets to No. 1 Iowa and No. 5 Missouri Saturday at the Journeymen/Brute Northeast Duals in Troy, N.Y. "We wrestled well against Drexel to get the day started," Maryland head coach Kerry McCoy said. "Against Iowa, we had a lot of close matches. I was really happy with the way our guys wrestled. In most of the matches, we out-conditioned them, which is a huge plus. Against Missouri, we had a bunch of close matches again. It's encouraging that our team, with four guys in their first or second year, can stand up and battle with the nation's best." The Terrapins (2-4-1) had no trouble with the Dragons in the first of the day's three duals, cruising to a 35-7 victory. A forfeit at 125 pounds and a major decision by No. 10 Steven Bell gave Maryland 10 quick points. After a Matt Dugan major decision gave Drexel four points at 141 pounds, the Terps cruised. Three straight decisions at 149, 157 and 165 made it 19-4 Terps and freshman Corey Peltier posted a major decision for a 23-4 lead. Drexel took the 184-pound tilt via decision, but Maryland closed strongly, receiving pins at 197 and heavyweight from No. 2 Hudson Taylor and Patrick Gilmore, respectively. Taylor defeated No. 10 Jon Oplinger, his second victory against Oplinger in as many weeks. The Terps had their hands full with the defending national champion and top-ranked Hawkeyes in the second dual of the day. Brendan Byrne dropped a major decision at 125 pounds, but Bell came through with a 4-3 tiebreak victory against Daniel Dennis at 133 pounds to get within a point, 4-3.
However, it was all Hawkeyes from that point, as a Taylor decision over No. 19 Chad Beatty accounted for the remainder of the Terps' points in the meet. Iowa recorded three pins to win by a final score of 34-6. Maryland delivered a promising start to the third and final meet of the day against No. 5 Missouri. Byrne defeated Troy Dolan, 4-2, and Bell delivered his third victory of the day, a 6-1 decision against Todd Schavrien, to put the Terps up 6-0. Unfortunately for the Terps, the Tigers took the final eight matchups, beginning with a Marcus Hoehn upset over No. 15 Alex Krom at 141 pounds, 6-5. Chris Lloyd dropped a narrow, 10-8, decision at 184 pounds and sophomore Brian Letters came up one point short of an upset of No. 4 Nick Marable at 165, falling 3-2. Taylor dropped his first match of the season at 197 pounds, dropping a 9-4 decision to No. 6 Max Askren. Maryland is at the Penn State Open next Sunday and returns to dual competition December 14 in the home opener against Princeton. MARYLAND 35, DREXEL 7 No. 1 IOWA 34, MARYLAND 6 No. 5 MISSOURI 28, MARYLAND 6 -TERPS- |
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