March 14, 2012

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NCAA Championship Updates

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Maryland wrestling team is set to travel to St. Louis, Mo., for the 2012 NCAA Championships which begin Thursday, March 15 and run through Saturday, March 17 at the Scottrade Center. The Terps will send seven wrestlers to St. Louis and have four seeded participants.

Schedule of Events
Thursday, March 15
Session I - Noon (Pigtails and First Round)
Session II - 7:30 p.m. (Prelims: Wrestleback Prelims, Wrestleback First Round; Championship Round: Second Round, Consolation Round)

Friday, March 16
Session III - 11 a.m. (Quarterfinals and Wrestlebacks)
Session IV - 7 p.m. (Semifinals and Wrestlebacks)

Saturday, March 17
Session V - 11 a.m. (Wrestleback Semifinals and 3th - 8th Medal Rounds)
Session VI - 7:30 p.m. (Finals and Awards Ceremony)

Maryland's Participants
125: Shane Gentry (14-6)
133: Geoffrey Alexander (22-10)
157: Kyle John (23-9)
165: Josh Asper (24-1)
174: Jimmy Sheptock (24-4)
197: Christian Boley (30-1)
285: Spencer Myers (21-5)

NCAA Championships Results
Brackets and team standings will be available throughout the tournament at NCAA.com.

Television Coverage
ESPN and its family of networks will provide coverage of the entire event. ESPN3 will stream mats one through four on the first day of the tournament. Sessions three, four and five will be broadcast on ESPNU and streamed on ESPN3. ESPN will provide coverage of the finals on Saturday night.

Social Media
Championship updates will be available through Twitter and Facebook.

Terps at the NCAA Championships
This will be Maryland's 49th appearance at the NCAA Championships and eighth consecutive trip. The Terps best finish at the event came in 1964 and 1965 when the Terrapins placed ninth.

Maryland will send seven wrestlers to this year's event, which is the most since 1990 when Maryland hosted the tournament.

Road to St. Louis
Sophomore Shane Gentry finished second at the ACC Championships to earn the final automatic qualifying spot at 125. Gentry will be competing in his second consecutive NCAA tournament. Gentry opens with seventh-seeded Jarrod Patterson (26-6) of Oklahoma in the brackets pigtail match.

Geoffrey Alexander earned his first NCAA bid in his first collegiate season. The freshman placed second at the ACC Championships to earn an automatic spot in this year's field. Alexander will take on 11th-seeded Steven Keith (30-8) of Harvard in the 133-pound pigtail match.

At 157, senior Kyle John captured his first ACC title in three tries on March 3. John faces Daniel Kolodzik (31-9) of Princeton in the first round.

Junior Josh Asper dropped his first match of the season in the 165-pound ACC final. Despite the loss, Asper earned the seventh seed and will wrestle Mark Lewandowski (28-6) of Buffalo in the bracket's pigtail match.

At 174, redshirt sophomore Jimmy Sheptock won his first ACC championship in his first full season of action. The Northampton, Pa., native is seeded 12th and will take on Oklahoma's Kyle Delmer (10-9) in the first round.

Redshirt sophomore Christian Boley is undefeated against Division I competition this season. Boley won his first career ACC title on March 3. Boley is the fourth seed at 197 and is Maryland's highest-seeded wrestler. Boley will wrestle Binghamton's Cody Reed (23-16) in the first round.

Sophomore Spencer Myers won his second ACC championship in as many years in Chapel Hill. Myers is the eighth seed in the 285-pound bracket and will be challenged by The Citadel's Andrew Delaney (27-2).

Repeat All-Americans
Junior Josh Asper and sophomore Spencer Myers will be seeking All-American status for the second consecutive year. Asper, Myers and Mike Letts all earned All-American status in 2011, which tied the record for the most top-8 finishers in Maryland history.

- Terps -