Maryland
2023 NCAA Championships
Five Terps Head To 2023 NCAA Championships
3/12/2023 9:16:00 PM | Wrestling
at
2023 NCAA Championships
March 16-18
All Day
BOK Center (Tulsa, OK)
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The Maryland wrestling team sends five wrestlers to the 2023 NCAA Wrestling Championships in Tulsa, OK this Thursday-Saturday, the highest number since 2014.
Freshman Braxton Brown, Kal Miller, Ethen Miller and Jaxon Smith will all be competing in their first national tournament while eighth-year veteran Jaron Smith makes his second consecutive appearance in the tournament. Jaxon Smith, coming off a third place finish at the Big Ten Championships, is the Terps' highest seed at #11 in the 197-pound bracket.
Maryland is seeking its first NCAA All-American since Youssif Hemida in 2019.
Action will be featured on ESPN and ESPNU all weekend with coverage of all eight mats on the WatchESPN App. Fans can also follow the action by following the program's official Twitter account @TerpsWrestling.
TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Session 1 | Thursday morning | March 16 | Noon ET/11 a.m. CT | ESPNU
Session 2 | Thursday evening | March 16 | 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT | ESPN
Session 3 | Friday morning | March 17 | 11 a.m. ET/10 a.m. CT | ESPNU
Session 4 | Friday evening | March 17 | 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT | ESPN
Session 5 | Saturday morning | March 18 | 11 a.m. ET/10 a.m. CT | ESPNU
Session 6 | Saturday evening | March 18 | 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT | ESPN
TERPS ENTRIES
125: 19-seed Braxton Brown
141: 32-seed Kal Miller
149: 21-seed Ethen Miller
197: 11-seed Jaxon Smith
HWT: 29-seed Jaron Smith
**Ethen Miller entered the field as the 22 seed, but moved up to 21 due to a wrestler dropping out for injury.
THIS WEEK'S STORYLINES
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Five Maryland wrestlers (Braxton Brown, Kal Miller, Ethen Miller, Jaxon Smith and Jaron Smith) are set to wrestle in Tulsa, OK at the 2023 NCAA Championships. All except for Jaron Smith are freshman making their NCAA Champion- ships debut. The four freshman qualifiers are the most of any school. Smith is appearing in NCAAs for the second conseuctive year. Last season, he wrestled at 197 pounds and won a match in the Championships.
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The five qualifiers is the most for the program since 2014. Jaxon Smith and the Miller brothers recieved automatic qualifications while Brown and Jaron Smith were selected as at-large selections.
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Several Terps had big showings at the 2023 Big Ten Championships, highlighted by a third-place finish for Jaxon Smith and an NCAA Qualification from Kal Miller.
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Sixth-seeded Smith took down reigning NCAA runner-up No. 5 Jacob Warner (IOWA) thanks to a takedown in sudden victory to put himself in the third-place match, setting up a rematch with Illinois' third-seeded Zac Braunagel. Smith and Braunagel headed to sudden victory for the second time this tournament, and this time Smith came out on the right side with a smooth single-leg takedown. Smith's finish is the highest for a Terp at the Big Ten championships since Youssif Hemida's third-place finish in 2019.
- Kal Miller stole the show with an impressive run through the ninth place bracket after coming into the championships as the 14th seed. He knocked out No. 6 Danny Pucino (for the second time this tournament) and No. 7 Joe Olivieri (Rutgers) on the day to complete an improbable run to NCAA qualification.
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Braxton Brown also won a pair of matches in the ninth-place bracket to secure the ninth-place title. Ethen Miller ended his tournament on the podium, taking home eighth place.
- On Friday, Feb. 10, Maryland won its first Big Ten match since Jan. 10, 2016, defeating Purdue 19-18. It was the Terps' second Big Ten win since joining the conference and first for head coach Alex Clemsen.
- Eighth-year senior Jaron Smith clinched the win for the Terps with a 3-2 decision at heavyweight, sending the crowd and team into a frenzy.
- Maryland rallied by winning four of the final five matches. After trailing 9-0 and 15-4, the Terps made the comeback. John Martin Best won in overtime, 6-5 at 165. Then Dominic Solis captured a 5-4 decision.
- In his return to action after an injury, No. 17 Jaxon Smith pinned Hayden Filipovichin at 2:00 to bring the Terps within 18-16, setting the stage for Jaron Smith's 3-2 victory.
- Redshirt freshman Jaxon Smith represented Team USA all summer with great success.
- Smith claimed US Open and Pan-American titles, outscoring foes 54-2 in five bouts alongside a pin while regularly dispatching opponents in the first period.
- He capped off his summer with a trip to Bulgaria for the 2022 U20 World Championships on Aug. 16-17. Clemsen served as Smith's personal coach and accompanied the Cartersville, GA native to Bulgaria.
- The Terrapins have a variety of weapons across the lineup. Four wrestlers are ranked in both FloWrestling and Intermat's individual rankings (Braxton Brown, Ethen Miller, Jaron Smith, Jaxon Smith). While Michael North appears in FloWrestling's ranked. All five of those guys appeared in the most recent NCAA Coaches' Poll. In the past Coaches' Poll, Braxton Brown (125) came in at #15, Ethen Miller (149) at #19, Michael North (157) at #31, Jaxon Smith (197) at #19 and Jaron Smith (HWT) at #26.
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Braxton Brown and Ethen Miller are a combined 30-5 in dual matches this season.
- Seven Terps have picked up ranked victories this season (Braxton Brown, Kal Miller, Ethen Miller, Michael North, Dom Solis, Jaron Smith, Jaxon Smith). Four of Maryland's top five wrestlers in terms of total wins are freshman. Ethen Miller (26), Braxton Brown (24) and Jaxon Smith (21) are all redshirt freshmen while Kal Miller (16) is a true freshman.
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The Terps also have a big veteran presence at heavyweight with eighth-year Jaron Smith. Smith turned down an offer from the WWE to come back and wrestle at Maryland, moving up to hevayweight for the first time in his career. He holds a 13-11 record overall this season.
