While Maryland wrestling has shown clear improvements this season, it faced a gauntlet of an opponent on Sunday. Penn State is at the top of the conference and displayed exactly that.
The Nittany Lions, who have a top-10 wrestler at every weight class, entered the weekend having yet to allow an opponent to score double digits in a dual meet this season. The Terps became the first team to do so, but ultimately still fell 35-10 at Rec Hall for their fourth straight loss.
Maryland (8-9, 3-4 Big Ten) significantly struggled at the upper weights. It lost all five matches over 157 pounds, with three of the losses coming via technical fall.
Braxton Brown gets Maryland on the board in the 133-pound class
Coming off a win over No. 9 Dylan Shawver against Rutgers, No. 11 Braxton Brown was set to face another top opponent in No. 7 Braeden Davis. But the sophomore couldn’t compete due to an injury, which brought out redshirt freshman Kyison Garcia for Penn State (12-0, 6-0 Big Ten).
The first period was uneventful. Both wrestlers spent the opening three minutes picking up reads with feints and hand fighting, but neither came close to finishing a shot.
[Maryland wrestling drops third straight in 21-20 loss to No. 12 Rutgers]
Brown started from the bottom and quickly went to work in the second period. The redshirt junior jumped to his feet, and when Garcia tried a mat return, ducked under and turned the attempt into a reversal. Garcia escaped later in the period, but didn’t seem eager to engage with Brown, content to end the period without any major offensive attempts.
In the third period, Brown took firm control. He rolled Garcia over immediately, picking up two nearfall points before Garcia got back to his stomach. Brown quickly realized that Garcia couldn’t make a move from the bottom, forcing Garcia to his back again for four nearfall points. Brown rode out the rest of the period to take a 9-1 major decision.
Ethen Miller stays undefeated with win over No. 1 opponent
While there were multiple elite matchups on Sunday, the highlight was No. 6 Ethen Miller against top-ranked Tyler Kasak at 157 pounds. Each competitor entered the day undefeated this season.
Both wrestlers spent the early part of the match in a feel-out period, attempting to get to their respective offense by utilizing different looks. Neither found an advantage.
[Maryland wrestling’s Seth Nevills wants to improve against top competition]
Kasak started the second period on the bottom and quickly escaped, scoring the first point of the match. The sophomore then advanced on Miller, who defended all his attempts effectively but was given a warning for stalling. The redshirt junior timed up a shot well and got deep on a single leg, but Kasak wriggled out of it.
Looking for the first takedown of the match, both wrestlers shot at the same time, appearing to collide heads. Kasak went down immediately, and after an injury delay was put in concussion protocol and couldn’t return. Miller received the win by injury default, raising his hands amid boos from the Penn State faithful.
Maryland goes winless at upper weight classes
The Terps were competitive in the first half of the dual, winning two bouts to only trail 14-10 at intermission. Then, the Nittany Lions completely dominated as Maryland couldn’t stop the relentless offense coming back at it in the upper weights.
Freshman Alex Uryniak, redshirt junior Jaxon Smith, and redshirt senior Chase Mielnik each got steamrolled by some of the nation’s best in their weight classes, all losing by technical falls in uncompetitive matches.
Freshman Branson John and graduate student Seth Nevills both put up a good fight against their second-ranked opponents, keeping their matches competitive enough for decisions, but neither could find their own offense.
