#22 Maryland (1-1) at Morgan State (1-5)
December 10, 2023
Hill Field House
3:00 PM
morganstatebears.com
COLLEGE PARK, MD - No. 22 Maryland travels just north to Baltimore to face the Morgan State Bears on Sunday, Dec. 10 at 3 pm. The dual will be streamed live on Morgan State Athletic's website.
Maryland is 1-1 on the season, kicking the 2023-24 campaign off with a dominant win at American before dropping a closely contested-match vs. No. 18 Pittsburgh on Nov. 20. The Terps are coming off a successful tournament weekend in which many members of the team competed at either the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational or the George Mason Patriot Open.
Jaxon Smith highlighted the weekend with a second-place finish at the illustrious CKLV tournament where he defeated first-seeded and third-ranked Tanner Sloan (South Dakota State) by way of an 8-2 decision. The Terps also had four guys place at George Mason, led by a first-place finish from
Braxton Brown at 133 pounds where he won three of four bonus by bonus points.
The Bears are returning to the wrestling mat after a 24-year hiatus and are the only HBCU to offer wrestling at the NCAA Division I Varsity Level.
Probables
*Intermat Rankings
jaxon and kal make early noise
- Jaxon Smith and Kal Miller have both earned huge wins early in the season that have shot them both up to their highest individual rankings ever.
- Jaxon's season is highlighted by his second-place finish at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational where he defeated first-seeded and third-ranked Tanner Sloan of South Dakota State in the semifinals in an 8-2 decision. Sloan was the 2022-23 NCAA runner-up at 197.
- Smith also has ranked wins over No. 18 Mac Stout and No. 23 Wyatt Voelker on his resume.
- Miller started his season by picking up his first career win by technical fall against American. He followed it up the next weekend by bringing home his second consecutive Tiger Style Invite championship in his hometown of Kansas City, Missouri. He accomplished the feat in thrilling fashion, knocking off Missouri's No. 16 Josh Edmond in a tiebreaker after riding him out for the entire 30-second period.
- Miller saved his best work for the Terps' big dual against No. 18 Pittsburgh, besting No. 7 Cole Matthews, a 2022 All-American and two-time ACC Champion, in resounding fashion with a 12-4 major decision. Miller brought the boom early with a slick seven-point move and added a late takedown to cap it off.
Jaxon Smith after his semifinal win over top-seeded Tanner Sloan at the illustrious Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational.
Strong start to the season
- The Terps are off to a strong start to the season, kicking it all off with a dominant 30-7 win at American where they won eight bouts, including four by bonus points. Kal Miller and Jaxon Smith both notched wins by technical fall to lead the way.
- Maryland then followed it up with a strong showing in the second annual Tiger Style Invite. For the second consecutive year, Kal Miller took home first place in his hometown of Kansas City, knocking off No. 16 Josh Edmond from Missouri to claim the 141-pound title.
- Seth Nevills and Dario Lemus each won three matches on the day, finishing at second and third in their respective weight classes (285 & 141). In his semifinal match, Nevills picked up a ranked win against No. 27 Josiah Hill (Little Rock).
- Maryland dropped a hard-fought, narrow dual at home on Monday, Nov. 20 to No. 18 Pittsburgh where the two team split bouts. Five Terps picked up wins, Braxton Brown, Kal Miller, Ethen Miller, Michael North and Jaxon Smith, with four of them coming against ranked opponents. The dual marked Brown's debut at 133 pounds.
Kal Miller celebrates his ranked win to caputure the Tiger Style Invite Championship in his hometown of Kansas City, MO.
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 12th 141-pounder, Ethen Miller as the 18th 149-pounder, Michael North as the 32nd157-pounder, Jaxon Smith as the 5th 197-pounder and Seth Nevills as the 23rd-best heavyweight. InterMat also has the Terps as the 22nd best dual team and 23rd tournament team. FloWrestling has Brown ranked #15 at 133, K. Miller at #12 at 141, E. Miller at #19 at 149 and Smith at #5 at 197 They also have the Terps 30th in dual rankings and 21st in duals.
Braxton Brown recently bumped up to 133-pounds. In his debut match at the new weight, he defeated Pittsburgh's No. 13 Vinnie Santianello in a 6-3 decision.
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 entered 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.
