Shyheim Brown pins his opponent within a minute during the Terps bout with Alderson-Broaddus on Nov. 2, 2014 at the Xfinity Center.
As Terrapins 141-pound wrestler Shyheim Brown exited the mat after winning by technical fall against Johns Hopkins, he heard coach Kerry McCoy’s voice on the Terps’ bench.
“Coach told me ‘Welcome back,’” Brown said. “It was definitely good hearing that.”
Brown, who won all three of his matches, contributed to the Terps’ sweep of the Terrapin Duals yesterday at Xfinity Center. McCoy’s squad disposed of Johns Hopkins (49-0), Kutztown (35-10), Davidson (36-9) and Alderson–Broaddus (40-3) in its first meet of the season.
“The most exciting part of the day was we got to get so many guys some matches,” McCoy said. “Everyone got a chance to get out there and get some experience and help the team, so that was exciting.”
Brown, who earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Championships last year, is already an accomplished college wrestler, but several Terps competed in their first career dual meets this weekend.
Among the newcomers was 157-pound Justin Alexander, one of three Terps wrestlers to win four matches.
Alexander is the brother of Geoffrey Alexander, who, after finding success in open competition as a redshirt last season — he finished 25-2 and won four open tournaments — started for the Terps at 133 pounds yesterday.
Even so, McCoy said he was impressed by the performance of Geoffrey’s younger brother, praising the redshirt freshman’s toughness and grit on the mat.
“Justin Alexander did a great job today,” McCoy said. “You could tell in that last match he was exhausted, but he wasn’t going to allow himself to not go out there and fight hard and get that win.”
At 197 pounds, Rob Fitzgerald also went unbeaten in four bouts and won by fall twice. Though a redshirt senior, Fitzgerald has wrestled sparingly during his career and holds a 15-9 record.
The Downington, Pennsylvania, native will hope to fill the void left by former Terp Christian Boley, who won 25 matches and anchored the Terps’ 197-pound weight class last season.
Fitzgerald finished the meet with an unblemished record, but he acknowledged areas in which he can improve. He said he plans to work on avoiding early takedowns and hand fighting going forward.
“This is the first time I’ve ever really competed in college, so I’ve gained film,” Fitzgerald said. “Something to get better on for this coming week.”
Instead of seeing 125-pound Tyler Goodwin, who compiled a 15-10 record as the starter last year, McCoy used 125-pound Josh Polacek, a redshirt junior who wrestled four times last season. And at 184 pounds — former Terps standout Jimmy Sheptock’s weight class — redshirt freshman Arashdeep Gill wrestled in place of 184-pound Tony Gardner, who had five wins after moving down to 174 pounds last season.
Even with some wrestlers beginning careers and others simply revving up for another campaign, the Terps dominated their opponents.
“It was actually kind of weird going through the same routine with the refs coming and talking to us,” Brown said. “It was like, ‘Wow, all over again.’ So I’m getting myself ready for another season, and I’m excited.”
