Just after the second period in Saturday’s 157-pound bout against North Carolina, Terrapin senior wrestler Adam James went over to coach Pat Santoro for instructions, while his opponent, Brian Baglio, crumpled to his knees at the edge of the mat. The referee called for an injury timeout, but Santoro offered James his own take on the situation.
“He’s tired! He’s tired!” Santoro yelled.
Conditioning appeared to be the deciding factor as James took the match 8-3, and it continued to dictate the weekend as the Terps outlasted Virginia Tech (27-18), North Carolina (24-18) and Duke (21-12) to move to 4-0 in the ACC for the first time since 1993.
Santoro and several wrestlers said their sudden success has come as a result of increased workout intensity, upped since the team began the season 1-7 against non-conference opponents. The new workouts include a rigorous 20-minute treadmill routine – “the intervals” they call it – in which the wrestlers alternate between five-minute jogs and 50-second sprints.
“I think we’re in better shape than anyone in the ACC,” said James, who went 3-0 in his last weekend at home. “For me, I know I can fall back on those intervals when I’m out in my matches. … You can run sprints in the hallway, but see, then you can stop. If you stop on the treadmill, you’ll bust your face.”
Busted faces were all the rave Saturday, as the Terps (6-7) literally beat up their conference foes. North Carolina’s Alex Maciag had to face Terp Mike Maceroli with bloody tissues shoved in his nostrils, and after a tie-up with Terp Andrew Schlaffer, Duke’s Daniel Shvartsman emerged looking busted up as well. Match after match, the Terps wore down their opponents to the point they could strike with just seconds left on the clock.
On three separate occasions against Duke, Terp wrestlers trailed with under a minute left and still pulled out victories. Freshman Alex Krom (141 pounds) was behind Duke’s Philip Wrightman 7-5 with just 35 seconds to go before scoring a one-point escape and two-point takedown to win 8-7.
At 149 pounds, Schlaffer seemed doomed staring at a three-point deficit with only 10 seconds remaining. But suddenly the sophomore received a point for stalling, opening the door for a dramatic two-point takedown at the buzzer to tie the match 7-7. The excitement spilled into overtime, where just five seconds in, Schlaffer scored another takedown to win, the crowd and his teammates still standing from the previous attack.
They were on their feet again at 165 pounds, when senior Adam DeCosmo turned a 4-3 lead for Duke’s Aaron Glover into his own 5-4 victory with just 17 seconds on the clock. The win was a thrilling end to a 3-0 weekend for DeCosmo and a 7-2 showing overall for seniors DeCosmo, James and Luke Stauffer.
“My legs were dead, but it was just mind over body,” DeCosmo said. “It’s at the end when you feel like you’ve been hit by a truck that you need to turn it on. That’s one thing coach stresses – not giving up points at the end of a match.”
The Terps didn’t give up points at the end – they gained them. And rather than giving up after a 1-7 start, they’ve gained ground and earned a place atop the ACC.
“We told them it wouldn’t pay off right away, that it would take two or three weeks to kick in,” Santoro said. “Well, now it’s kicking in. There’s a fine line to follow between pushing them too hard or not, but so far we’ve found it.”
Contact reporter Jason Fraley at fraleydbk@gmail.com.