No. 24 Maryland Terrapins (4-0, 0-0 B1G)
vs.
No. 18 Pittsburgh Panthers (2-1, 0-0 ACC)
December 20, 2024
Lawrenceville, NJ
10:00Â a.m.
BroncVision
Watch
No. 24 Maryland Terrapins (4-0, 0-0 B1G)
vs.
Rider Broncs (1-2, 0-1 MAC)
December 20, 2024
Lawrenceville, NJ
Noon
BroncVision
Watch
No. 24 Maryland Terrapins (4-0, 0-0 B1G)
vs.
#14 South Dakota State Jack Rabbits (1-2, 0-1 Big 12)
December 20, 2024
Lawrenceville, NJ
2 PM
BroncVision
Watch
COLLEGE PARK, MD --Â Maryland will wrap up action in 2024 with a trip to Lawrenceville, New Jersey for a competitive quad meet against No. 18 Pittsburgh, host school Rider, and No. 14 South Dakota State.
The Terps will face Pittsburgh for the fifth time in six seasons, highlighted by an upset victory in November of 2022 for the program's first ranked win since 2013. The Terps will face South Dakota State for the first time since January of 2022 at the Hampton Duals and will face Rider for the first time since the 2019-20 season.Â
All three teams are stacked with talent and feature several ranked wrestlers. The Terps are set to face ranked wrestlers in all three matches at 157 and
Jaxon Smith will face three top-22 opoonents at 184.Â
Pittsburgh has #16 Nick Babin (125), No. 32 Vince Santaniello (133), No. 31 Anthony Santaniello (141), No. 28 Finn Solomon (149), No. 31 Dylan Evans (157), No. 17 Luca Augustine (174), No. 11 Recce Heller (184), No. 16 Mac Stout (197) and No. 13 Dayton Pitzer (HWT). Rider has No. 25 McKenzie Bell (141), No. 15 Sammy Alvarez (149), No. 22 Colton Washleski (157) and No. 22 Issac Dean (184). South Dakota State has No. 14 Tanner Jordan (125), No. 22 Derrick Cardinal (133), No. 23 Cobe Siebrecht (157), No. 12 Drake Rhodes (165), No. 10 Cade DeVos (174), No. 8 Bennett Berge (184), No. 18 Zach Glazier (197) and No. 26 Luke Rasmussen (HWT).Â
Maryland Probables:
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Early dual success
- The Terps are 4-0 in dual matches so far this season, winning the four duals by an average 28.25 points.Â
- Most recently, the Terps dispatched Morgan State 43-3 on Nov. 22. The 43 points were the most scored by the program since November of 2014. Chase Mielnik and Dario Lemus picked up wins by fall while five other Terps won by technical fall. Â
- The Terps also picked up a 38 to -1 win over American on Nov. 16. Competing at South Carroll High School, the Terps dominated in front of a packed crowd led by pins from Chase Mielnik and Jaxon Smith. This was the first time the Terps have shutout their opponent since defeating Duke 37-0 in 2022. The Terrapins were also boosted by a major decision victory by John Martin Best and a technical fall by Braxton Brown. Freshman Tyler Garvin showed poise in his match, coming back from trailing 4-0 to win 9-6 in overtime and Dario Lemus beat 2022 NCAA Qualifier Jack Maida in his season debut.Â
- During the 2024 Tiger Style Invite in Kansas City, Missouri, Maryland was able to capture a pair of individual titles from Ethen Miller (157) and Seth Nevills (285). 14 wrestlers competed overall with nine placing.
- No. 19 Miller won his championship bout by way of a 10-9 decision over Purdue's No. 18 Joey Blaze. He also defeated No. 24 Matty Bianchi (Little Rock) on the day and went 3-0 overall.
- No. 15 Nevills also went 3-0 on the day, highlighted by a sudden victory over Missouri's No. 23 Seth Nitzel in the championship bout. He picked up falls in both of his first two matches.
- No. 12 Braxton Brown (133) and Chase Milenik (197) each went 2-1 on the day and finished second after falling in their respective championship bouts.
- True freshman Branson John (174) went an impressive 4-2 on the day, battling through the backside to make it to the third place match before eventually taking home fourth place.
- Maryland wrestling kicked off its 2024-25 season with a 2-0 day in a home tri-meet. The Terps defeated Kent State 29-10 in their first match of the season, thanks to six wins by bonus points, led by technical falls from Jaxon Smith and Seth Nevills. In a 26-11 victory against Bucknell, the Terps wrestled several close matches that they came out on the right side of. The highlight of the match was a gritty win for Braxton Brown in a battle of two top-15 wrestlers.
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Strong performances in Tournaments
- Â During the 2024 Tiger Style Invite in Kansas City, Missouri, Maryland was able to capture a pair of individual titles from Ethen Miller (157) and Seth Nevills (285). 14 wrestlers competed overall with nine placing.
- No. 19 Miller won his championship bout by way of a 10-9 decision over Purdue's No. 18 Joey Blaze. He also defeated No. 24 Matty Bianchi (Little Rock) on the day and went 3-0 overall.
- No. 15 Nevills also went 3-0 on the day, highlighted by a sudden victory over Missouri's No. 23 Seth Nitzel in the championship bout. He picked up falls in both of his first two matches.
- No. 12 Braxton Brown (133) and Chase Milenik (197) each went 2-1 on the day and finished second after falling in their respective championship bouts.True freshman Branson John (174) went an impressive 4-2 on the day, battling through the backside to make it to the third place match before eventually taking home fourth place.
- Jaxon Smith made headlines at the George Mason Patriot with a 3-0 day en route to the title at 184 pounds. Smith picked up three wins overall and two over ranked opponents, including one over No. 9 Chris Foca (Cornell) in the championship.
- Chase Mielnik (197) and Dario Lemus (141) both made appearances in the championship match before ultimately finishing in second place. Mielnik pinned his first two opponents and beat his third by major decision. Lemus won three straight decisions, scoring double-digit points in each.
- After dropping their first matches, Kal Miller (149) and Mekhi Neal (157) each battled all the way back through the backside of the bracket to finish in fifth place.
Ethen Miller picked up two ranked wins en route to a Tiger Style Invite Championship at 157 pounds.Â
About the terps
- The Terps return five 2024 NCAA Qualifiers (Braxton Brown, Kal Miller, Ethen Miller, Jaxon Smith and Seth Nevills) as well as 2022 Qualifier Dom Solis. Brown, both Millers and Smith are all two-time NCAA qualifiers, also qualifying in 2023.
- Maryland also brings in another talented freshmen class including five on the MatScouts' 2024 Senior Big Board in Oscar Williams (No. 100), Mekhi Neal (No. 141), Abram Cline (No. 165), Branson John (No. 182) and Sammy Gautreau (No. 236). Tyler Garvin, Presden Sanchez and Alex Uryniak round out the stellar class.
- Maryland made several staff changes during the offseason, first by promoting Nick Brascetta, who has been with Clemsen since he started in College Park, to Associate Head Coach. Additionally, with the departure of assistant coach Devin Mellon who left to pursue opportunities outside of wrestling, the Terps promoted Elijah Oliver and Ethan Laird to full-time assistant coaches. Finally, Pittsburgh alum Cole Matthews was brought in to replace Laird as the Special Assistant to the Head Coach.
2023-24 Season Recap
- The Terps are coming off a second straight strong Big Ten season under Clemsen, highlighted by the program's first-ever multi-win Big Ten season. First, the Terps dominated Northwestern on Jan. 14, marking the most points scored by the team in Big Ten competition since joining the league. Maryland added its second win by way of 28-15 victory over Michigan State on Feb. 11 with five total wins by bonus points.Â
- Maryland hosted the Big Ten Championships for the first time in program history. In front of over 10,000 people in each of the four sessions, the Terps set program-bests in points (39), place (10th) and placers (four: Jaxon Smith, Ethen Miller, Braxton Brown and Seth Nevills).
- For the second straight season, the Terps had five NCAA qualifiers. Before 2023, five qualifiers were the most since 2014. At the 2024 NCAA Championships in Kansas City, MO, the hometown of Ethen and Kal Miller, Maryland finished with 8.5 team points, its most since 2019. Four of Maryland's five qualifiers picked up at least one victory, with Nevills leading the way with two.
- The Terps also saw success at open tournaments. Kal Miller became a two-time Tiger Style Invite Champion in early November in his hometown. Smith finished in second place at the illustrious Cliff Keen Invitational, picking up a semifinal victory over former NCAA Runner-Up Tanner Sloan of South Dakota State. Finally, Brown took home first place at the George Mason Patriot Open that same weekend, just a couple weeks after bumping up to 133 pounds.
Four Terps finished on the podium at the 2024 Big Ten Championships.
Jaxon Smith and
Ethen Miller have both placed at Big Tens in each of the past two seasons.Â
Staff connections
- Maryland has a pair of staff connections heading into the Rider Quad.Â
- Assistant coach Ethan Laird will return to his alma mater of Rider. Laird came to the Terps after graduation from Rider University in 2023. During his six years at Rider, Laird was a four-time NCAA Qualifier (three times at 197 pounds and once at heavyweight). In the 2022-23 campaign, he finished sixth at the NCAA Wrestling Championships at 197 bounds, becoming Rider's 19th All-American in program history. Laird also finished his career with 100 career wins.
- Additionally, Cole Matthews, the Terps' Special Assistant to the Head Coach, will meet his alma mater, Pittsburgh in the Terps' first match of the day. In his six years as a Panther, Matthews won over 100 matches in his career, qualified for NCAAs in his final five seasons, and reached All-American status in 2022 when he finished in fifth place. Matthews also won two ACC Championships (2022 & 2023) and was the USA U23 Freestyle World Team Trials Champion (2022).
