Terrapin Duo Advances to NCAA Quarterfinals
3/17/2011 8:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 17, 2011
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Josh Asper and Mike Letts both won their second-round matches and advanced to Friday's quarterfinals at 165 and 174 pounds, respectively. Another pair of other Terps are still alive in the consolation bracket.
The fourth-seeded Asper topped unseeded Stephen Burak of Penn 6-2 in the second round Thursday night.
After defeating Boise State's Kurt Swartz 14-3 in the first round, Asper opened in the second with a first-period takedown to get on the board first. The two grapplers exchanged escapes and, in the third, Asper clinched the win with a takedown and riding time, propelling him into Friday's morning session, where he'll square off against fifth-seeded Colt Sponseller of Ohio State in a battle for All-American status.
Directly following Asper, eighth-seeded Mike Letts took on ninth-seeded Ethan Lofthouse of Iowa in a rematch of the fifth-place bout at the 2010 Midlands Championship, in which Letts lost 6-4.
This time, however, Letts started strong following the opening whistle scoring the match's first takedown. Lofthouse countered with an escape and a second escape in the second to tie it at 2-2. In the third, Letts broke away by stringing together an escape, takedown and two-point near fall to take the lead, eventually securing the 8-3 win. In Friday morning's quarterfinals, Letts will challenge first-seeded Jon Reader of Iowa State.
"Josh and Mike did great jobs today," said head coach Kerry McCoy. "They did great jobs of staying focused and keeping the main goal-which is just going out and getting your hand raised- and they did that. It doesn't have to be pretty. They sucked it up, got it done and put themselves in the quarterfinals."
Kyle John, who fell to No. 1 Steve Fittery of American in the first round used a come-from-behind effort to stay alive heading in the consolation brackets.
Trailing 1-0 late in the third to Cal Poly's Barrett Abel, John scored seven unanswered to advance to Friday morning's third session.
After falling in sudden-victory overtime to Indiana's Ricky Alcala, Spencer Myers came back in the consolation bracket, pinning VMI's Joshua Wine in 5:43. "
You come to this tournament and you learn a lot about yourself and your team," said McCoy. "Kyle and Spencer did great jobs. Now they have the opportunity to just go out there and continue to improve and help the team."
At 141 pounds, Jon Kohler was eliminated from the tournament with a 9-0 loss to Lehigh's Stephen Dutton while Corey Peltier lost to Hofstra's Ben Clymer 5-1 in the 184-pound wrestlebacks to end his run in the 2011 NCAA Tournament.
"Jon and Corey wrestle with a lot of heart, that's all we ask of them. They were in tough situations where you can't win them all. They had heart and desire but it just didn't go their way. All in all, I'm still very excited and proud of our entire team. Now we just need to reset and come back strong tomorrow."
In Friday's consolation bracket, John will take on fifth-seeded Jesse Dong of Virginia Tech in a rematch of the 2010 and 2011 157-pound ACC Championship. Myers will challenge 12th-seeded Eric Bugenhagen of Wisconsin.
-ES-
Players Mentioned
