#21 Maryland (0-0) at American (0-0)
November 2, 2023
Bender Arena
7:00 PM
ESPN+
COLLEGE PARK, MD - No. 21 Maryland begins its 2023-24 season on the road against the American Eagles on Thursday, Nov. 2 at 7 pm. The dual will air on ESPN+.1
The Terps faced the Eagles on opening day last season as well, as part of the Terps' home quad meet. Maryland came out on top 29-10 thanks in large part to major decisions by Kal Miller, Dom Solis and Jaxon Smith in addition to a win by technical fall from Ethen Miller. Maryland holds a 10-1 advantage against the Eagles all-time and has won the past 10 duals.
Probables
*Intermat Rankings
About the terps
- The Terps return four 2023 NCCA Qualifiers (Braxton Brown, Kal Miller, Ethen Miller and Jaxon Smith) as well as 2022 Qualifier Dom Solis.
- Maryland also made a big splash in the transfer portal, bringing in heavyweight Seth Nevills from Penn State. Nevills, who spent four seasons with the Nittany Lions, is a former top-recruit out of Clovis, CA. Nevills will fill the heavyweight spot left by Jaron Smith.
- The Terps also bring in another talented freshman class highlighted by the quartet of Dario Lemus, AJ Rodrigues, Michael Pizzuto and Clayton Gabrielson.
- Maryland has six wrestlers ranked by both major wrestling publications. InterMat ranked Braxton Brown as the 15th-best 125-pounder, Kal Miller as the 27th 141-pounder, Ethen Miller as the 13th 149-pounder, Michael North as the 27th 157-pounder, Jaxon Smith as the 8th 197-pounder and Seth Nevills as the 17th-best heavyweight. InterMat also has the Terps as the 22nd best dual team and 30th tournament team. FloWrestling has Brown ranked #15 at 125, K. Miller at #21 at 141, E. Miller at #16 at 149, North at #23 at 157, Smith at #8 at 197 and Nevills at #26 at heavyweight. They also have the Terps tied for 29th in the team tournament rankings.
Jaxon Smith is the eighth-ranked 197-pounder coming off a fantastic season where he finished third at the Big Ten Championships and made the bloodround at the NCAA Championships.
Building the program
- The Terps are coming off a 2022-23 season that was the program's best in recent memory.
- Maryland finished with 10 dual wins, the highest mark since the 2012-13 season. The Terps also had five NCAA qualifiers last season (Braxton Brown, Ethen Miller, Kal Miller, Jaron Smith and Jaxon Smith), marking the most qualifiers since 2014. All five guys remained in competition on the second day of tournament action, the most since 2010.
- Additionally, Jaxon Smith finished in third place at 197 pounds at the 2023 Big Ten Championships, the highest finish for a Maryland wrestler since 2019.
- On November 18, 2022, Maryland defeated No. 16 Pittsburgh to earn the program's first ranked win since 2013. In the days following that victory, the Terps enterted the NWCA Poll for the first time since 2013.
- The program also picked up its first Big Ten win since 2016 in a 19-18 win over Purdue as well as its first victory over the storied Oklahoma Sooners in program history.
Terps celebrating after the win over Purdue on 02/10/2023,
big Ten championships take college park
- For the first time in program history, Maryland will host the Big Ten Championships, one of the nation's most premier wrestling events each year.
- The Championships will take place all day on March 9-10 on the main court in the XFINITY Center as all 14 schools come to College Park to crown conference champions at each weight class and overall. The action will air all weekend on Big Ten Network and B1G+.
- Last year's Championships were hosted by Michigan in Ann Arbor. Jaxon Smith took home third-place at 197 pounds, the highest finish in the Championships for a Terp since 2019.
- The Terrapins finished the 2023 Championships with 24 team points, the most since 2018. Three Terps (Kal Miller, Ethen Miller and Jaxon Smith) earned automatic qualifications to the 2023 NCAA Championships through their finishes in Ann Arbor, also the most since 2018.
- The Terps hosted the ACC Championships 15 times from 1954 to 2014 until the school left for the Big Ten Conference, most recently in 2013. Maryland won 24 ACC titles during that time, including the first 20.
Maryland after last year's dual win over Binghamton.
Wrestle the Best
- The Terrapins will once again compete in one of the most challenging schedules nationally.
- Competing in the Big Ten, the nation's premier wrestling conference, the Terps will wrestle in eight ultra-competitive conference duals, including four against programs ranked in the top-15 (Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan and Rutgers).
- The Terrapins will also challenge themselves in the nonconference slate, highlighted by a home dual on Nov. 20 against No. 15 Pittsburgh. Last season, Maryland upset a talented Pittsburgh on the road to earn the program's first ranked win since 2013.
- Additionally, the Terps will go through tough individual matches in open competitions, highlighted by a Dec. 1-2 trip to the Las Vegas Cliff Keen Invitational, one of the sport's most prestigious events.
Braxton Brown after a win over Rutgers' Dean Peterson on Feb. 4, 2023
