Expect To Win

Maryland wrestling’s 2023-24 season ended with another year of forward progress under head coach Alex Clemsen. 

The Terps sent five student-athletes to the NCAA tournament for the second consecutive year after not doing so since 2014. Maryland finished with 8.5 team points in the tournament, the most since 2019. In front of a home crowd in the XFINITY Center, the Terps also set program records in points (39), finish (10th) and placer (four) at the 2024 Big Ten Championships. 

Furthermore, the Terps finished their Big Ten slate with multiple wins for the first time since joining the conference. The program’s development wasn't limited to success on the mat. Wrestlers Kal Miller and Tommy Capul earned NWCA Scholar All-American honors in the classroom, marking the first time multiple wrestlers achieved the distinction under Clemsen.

Last season was about growth. But 2024-25 is about expecting to win.

“I think our team is coming together really well,” redshirt junior Jaxon Smith said at Maryland’s fall sports media day on Aug. 27. “We made some changes in our lineup that I think are going to help our team perform a little better. We're going to set high goals and high expectations, and I think we can meet them.” 

For the past couple of seasons, Maryland has been led by the success of its younger talent — a rarity in collegiate wrestling. However, student-athletes such as Braxton Brown (133 lbs), Ethen Miller (149 lbs), Kal Miller (157) and Smith (184) are now wrestlers with a plethora of experience who are now upperclassmen. 

All four wrestlers are coming off back-to-back NCAA Championship qualifications and are set on going for the three-peat. Brown, Ethen Miller and Smith are also reigning Big Ten Championship placers, with Ethen Miller and Smith achieving the feat for the second time in a row. 

Ethen Miller had an impressive 2023-24 campaign, finishing the season 18-9 with a team-high five major decisions and nine dual wins, ranking second on the team to Smith’s 10. The older Miller was also Maryland’s highest placer at the 2024 Big Ten Championships, garnering a fourth-place finish with two upsets as a sixth seed. 

Despite his and his team’s improvement last season, Miller believes the best is ahead. He describes realistic goals for the team this season as winning more than a couple of conference matches and building on the team's success in sending five competitors to the NCAAs a season ago. 

The Terps’ two Big Ten wins last season came against Northwestern and Michigan State. The victory over the Wildcats, 29-15, was their most points scored in a conference match since joining the Big Ten in 2014-15. 

“I think we can win multiple Big Ten matches. It shouldn’t just be a couple,” Miller said. “We can win multiple. Last year, we fell short against Indiana. We were right there. We could’ve won that one. I think we can definitely set our goals high and maybe push another guy to the NCAAs. I think there's plenty of room for that, and it takes everybody to do it.”

Smith fell one point shy of All-America status in 2023, narrowly losing in the blood round of the NCAAs as a redshirt freshman. He made it a goal for himself to reach the prestigious honor in 2024 but fell short. 

He says he’s done much reflecting on his performance, but his goal remains the same as he transitions to the 184 weight class after competing at 197 each of the last two seasons. He wants to become Maryland’s first All-American since Youssif Hemida went back-to-back in 2018 and 2019.  

“I wrestle because I love it. It’s fun,” Smith said. “I think I got away from that towards the end of last year, but now I feel as good as I did coming into college my first year. I was so excited. I'm excited for this year and excited to wrestle at a new weight class, get down to that new weight, wrestle new guys, just score points and have fun doing it.”

Seth Nevills (285 lbs), Chase Mielnik (197 lbs) and Dominic Solis (174) are three other upperclassmen who return several years of Big Ten wrestling. Nevills transferred from Penn State and won two NCAA matches in his first season at Maryland. Mielnik finished ninth at the 2024 Big Ten Championships with three straight upset wins. He flip-flopped weight classes with Smith ahead of the 2024-25 season. Solis, a team captain alongside Smith, returns leadership as a 2022 NCAA qualifier. 

The Terps return many household names, but one student-athlete Clemsen believes others should look out for is redshirt freshman Dario Lemus (141 lbs). He went 16-6 as a true freshman with two dual wins.  

“People are going to really like watching Dario,” Clemson said. “They got a taste of it a couple times in a couple different settings. … I think people are going to enjoy watching the pace at which he wrestles and, the wide-open style, how he wants to get out and score a lot of points. I think that'll be fun for our group and give us a lot of energy off of his dual positioning in the lineup.”

The foundation is set. As Clemsen approaches year six at the helm, the 2024-25 Terps will continue to grow as they expect to win. Their retooled lineup, returning stars and under-the-radar wrestlers are the ones forging the shared aspirations. 

“When [Coach Clemsen] got here, he and everyone else on staff had high expectations for us,” Smith said. “I think that's why their first recruitment class was us. They see a lot of themselves in us. We share a lot of the same values, goals and aspirations. I think that's why we're here, and that's what we're going to continue to do. We’re not going to plateau. Every year, we continue to grow and grow.”