Lou Ruland and Corey Peltier also earned bonus points with major decisions at 133 and 184 pounds, respectively, to give the Terps (13-4) the narrow two-point victory, their third consecutive since falling to No. 16 Virginia Tech on Jan. 23.
“The guys fought hard and really competed well,” said head coach Kerry McCoy. “Today was another reminder that we can compete with the best teams in the nation, individually and as a team…I am very proud of our team and very happy about the performance today.”
Maryland took an early seven point advantage over the Eagles (13-6) thanks to a Shane Gentry overtime decision against Nick Arujau at 125 pounds and Ruland’s 11-1 major decision over Thomas Williams at 133.
It was American, however, which won the next three bouts thanks to a trio of top-20 wrestlers: No. 14 Matt Mariacher, No. 10 Ganbayar Sanjaa and No. 1 Steve Fittery, who topped No. 14 Kyle John 13-4 to give the Eagles the 10-7 edge.
At 165 pounds, No. 3 Josh Asper squared off against American’s Patrick Graham, who handed Asper his first loss of the season on Dec. 29 at the Midlands Championship. This time however, Asper easily handled Graham by earning a 7-1 decision to keep the Terps on pace with American.
Coming off of an emotional 3-2 loss to fourth-ranked Henrich of Virginia on Friday, No. 19 Letts had a huge opportunity to help Maryland not only take, but also pad, the lead against Tanner Shaffer.
Early on in the 174-pound match, Letts made his seniority known as he outscored Shaffer 6-2 after the first period with three takedowns. Letts added another pair of takedowns in the second and, by the end of the third, led 19-4 plus an overwhelming three minutes of riding time.
With the technical fall, Letts improved to 23-6 on the season, but more importantly gave the Terps a five-point lead with just three matches remaining.
Corey Peltier extended the Terrapin lead to 17-10 with his 11-3 major decision over Thomas Barreiro and, despite the final two matches going in favor of the Eagles, Maryland escaped the District with the 19-17 victory, the team’s first win over a ranked opponent of the season.
The Terps will look to add to its winning ways as they travel south to take on North Carolina State and Duke on Saturday, Feb. 19. Maryland will honor its seniors on Sunday at 1 p.m. when George Mason travels to College Park, Md.
Results:
125-Shane Gentry (MD) dec. Nick Arujau, 8-7 TB2 (3-0)
133- Lou Ruland (MD) major dec. Thomas Williams, 11-1 (7-0)
141- No. 14 Matt Mariacher (AU) dec. No. 16 Jon Kohler, 4-2 SV (7-3)
149- No. 10 Ganbayar Sanjaa (AU) dec. Ben Dorsay, 8-4 (7-6)
157- No. 1 Steve Fittery (AU) major dec. No. 14 Kyle John, 13-4 (7-10)
165- No. 3 Josh Asper (MD) dec. Patrick Graham, 7-1 (10-10)
174- No. 19 Mike Letts (MD) tech. fall over Tanner Shaffer, 20-4 [6:41] (15-10)
184- Corey Peltier (MD) major dec. Thomas Barreiro, 11-3 (19-10)
197- No. 18 Daniel Mitchell (AU) dec. Christian Boley, 8-6 (19-13)
HWT- Ryan Flores (AU) major dec. Spencer Myers, 15-7 (19-17)
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now