Heading into the weekend’s ACC championships, Terrapin wrestler Brendan Byrne won eight of his previous nine matches.

That one loss was against Virginia Tech’s Jarrod Garnett.

Saturday night, when Byrne went into the finals for the 125-pound weight class, he had his shot at revenge against Garnett – and got his redemption.

With a 7-6 decision against the No. 12-ranked wrestler in the weight class, Byrne received an individual ACC title, furthering the Terps’ first-place lead in the tournament.

Using Byrne’s victory, the Terps went on to win a second straight ACC championship, the program’s 22nd overall. The Terps finished with 70 points, edging Virginia by two points for the second year in a row.

“It’s always nice to beat a guy who beat you earlier in the season; it shows you’re improving and peaking at the right time,” Byrne said.

Notching his first title, Byrne will go down in the university’s history books as the first-ever 125-pound ACC champion.

In the next championship bout at 133 pounds, No. 11 Steven Bell was on the mat for the Terps up against North Carolina’s Mike Rappo, defending his title from a year ago. Bell went down 4-1 early but snagged a couple takedowns and a three-point near fall to win 11-7.

No. 10 Alex Krom completed the trio’s sweep when he beat Virginia Tech’s No. 18 Chris Diaz with a decision of 8-5 in the 141-pound championship. Krom’s title is the second straight for the Terps at 141, as Jon Kohler won the title last season.

“Byrne, Bell and Krom have been setting the tone all year, and they set the tone again with their victories,” coach Kerry McCoy said. “It was another great week for those guys.”

The Terps found a way to win despite Hudson Taylor coming up short in the 197-pound weight class. Taylor, who entered the tournament as a heavy favorite, went into the championship battle against No. 19 Brent Jones, who he beat 12-0 earlier in the season.

Jones stunned Taylor and the Terps when he got Taylor on his back, pinning him in 38 seconds. The loss was Taylor’s first in ACC play in two seasons.

With Taylor finishing in second, the Terps needed to find a spark from somewhere else on their roster. Heading into the championship round, the Terps had already earned important victories in the consolation bracket.

At 165 pounds, Brian Letters took down Virginia Tech’s Matt Epperly 8-6 in the third-place match. The very next match, Terp freshman Corey Peltier did the same when he beat Duke’s Voris Tejada 4-3. Peltier entered the weekend unseeded.

Redshirt freshman Kyle John, 157 pounds, and sophomore heavyweight Patrick Gilmore both finished fourth.

“Without a doubt, those guys are the reason we won the championship,” McCoy said of his consolation placers. “There’s an old adage in our sport that championships are won in the trenches. The bonus points we got in some of those matches really got us in the hunt.”

The Terps also secured four NCAA automatic qualifiers with Byrne, Bell, Krom and Taylor. Gilmore and Letters could possibly secure a wild-card berth announced by the NCAA on Wednesday.

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