Chase Mielnik stepped up to the mat with history for Maryland wrestling on the line.
The redshirt senior had a chance to clinch the win for the Terps and give them a program record third Big Ten win on the season. His bout came at a pivotal point of Maryland’s dual against Wisconsin — it held a slim five-point lead entering the penultimate battle.
Seven minutes later, Mielnik flexed and spiked his headgear to the mat as an explosion of sound rocked the Pavillion. The veteran finished off a comeback victory, scoring nine unanswered points to clinch an eventual 24-13 win for the Terps at home on Friday.
“He did a great job,” coach Alex Clemsen said. “He just really stayed the course and battled every position. He was definitely the fresher guy at the end.”
Braxton Brown wins his 11th straight match
Redshirt junior Braxton Brown entered Friday perfect in duals this season, with bonus points in more than half of his wins en route to a No. 11 ranking in his class according to InterMat, But one of his toughest tests of the season stood across from him on the mat in redshirt freshman Zan Fugitt, the 24th-ranked wrestler at the 133-pound class.
After a scoreless first period, Fugitt notched the first points of the bout, picking up an escape after starting from the bottom. Brown responded quickly, dropping down from a headlock to a single leg and driving Fugitt to the mat for a takedown. He then rolled Fugitt over, recording two nearfall points before giving up the escape.
[Maryland wrestling tops Michigan State, 27-11, for program-best Big Ten start]
Brown started the third with an escape from the bottom to extend his lead to 6-2. Fugitt, needing to score quickly for any chance of staying in the match, pressured Brown — but Brown’s defense was impeccable. He turned one of Fugitt’s shots around for a takedown of his own and rode out the rest of the match, picking up the major decision win for Maryland (8-5, 3-0 Big Ten).
“I’ve been really just trying to have fun,” Brown said. “I think that’s where some of this defense is coming from. We’ve worked on the basic sprawl and whatnot … it shocks them, because it’s not something they’ve seen before.”
Ethen Miller remains undefeated
Ethen Miller, ranked No. 6 by InterMat, has just been too much for opposing 157-pounders this season. The redshirt junior beat everyone in front of him at his new weight class, giving him a 14-0 record entering a bout with redshirt junior Luke Mechler.
Both wrestlers picked up reads on the other in a scoreless first period, with Miller pressing for most of the time. He came close to getting Mechler down in the closing seconds of the period, but after a review the refs determined that there was no takedown.
Mechler started on the bottom and escaped for a 1-0 lead, but that was the last advantage he held. Miller took him down late in the second with a clean trip off a single leg attempt and rode out the rest of the period.
Miller controlled the third. After an early escape, he shut down any takedown attempts before they began with forward pressure, allowing him to cruise to a 5-1 decision win.
[Maryland wrestling defeats No. 10 Michigan, 19-18, in Big Ten opener]
“He’s a tireless worker, and he’s got a lot of faith in what we’re doing right now and in himself, and that’s a really good combination,” Clemsen said. “He’s seeing everybody’s best shot, and he’s doing his thing still.”
Jaxon Smith gives Maryland a cushion with his fifth straight win
Wisconsin (4-6, 0-2 Big Ten) had won the last two bouts entering the 184-pound match, trimming Maryland’s lead to 14-13 with three matches left. Lucky for the Terps, they had one of the nation’s best at the weight making the walk to the mat in No. 13 Jaxon Smith.
The redshirt junior walked freshman Matthew Jens down early, searching for a takedown before eventually finishing a single leg with a trip halfway through the first for a 3-0 advantage. Jens got the escape, but Smith went right back after him. He found another takedown in the second and rode out the rest of the period, picking up a riding time advantage of over a minute going into the third.
There, Smith started to pile it on. He found another two takedowns, coming up just short of a technical fall victory with a 14-3 major decision win to give Maryland an 18-13 lead with two matches left.
