Maryland Wrestling started the new year on the mat sending 14 wrestlers to Chattanooga, Tennessee for the Southern Scuffle.
The tournament started off well for the Terps. Ethen Miller dominated his first bout, winning 20-1. The winning continued with No. 13 Michael North winning his first bout by decision.
In the round of 32, Miller couldn’t find the same success. Miller came up short in the final seconds of his bout with Oklahoma State wrestler Jordan Williams. Williams was able to earn a 5-4 victory, the winning point coming from an escape.
The rest of the round of 32 matchups followed a similar pattern. Terps’ wrestlers were 4-9 in the round of 32 bouts, the only wins coming from Braxton Brown, Dominic Solis, No. 10 Jaxon Smith, and No. 18 Jaron Smith.
Of the four to make it to the round of 16 only Jaxon Smith was able to come away with a victory in the round of 16. Smith quickly beat his opponent by earning a pin in the first period of the bout. The victory secured his spot in the quarterfinals.
Brown fell behind early in his bout and couldn’t climb back. He lost in a decision 5-1, his only point coming from an escape.
Solis couldn’t muster a win in his round of 16 bout either. Solis was behind 3-0 going into the third period. He was able to score two takedowns and an escape but that wasn’t enough. Solis lost due to a ride time point that was awarded to Little Rock wrestler Triston Wills, which made the loss a 6-5 decision.
Jaron Smith followed suit losing his round of 16 bout by decision.
The consolation rounds provided a path to a medal for Jaron Smith and the other 12 Terps. Of the 13 that fell into the consolation brackets Chase Mielnik, Brown, and both Miller brothers made it to the round of eight.
In their first matches in the consolation round of eight Brown earned a dominant 8-0 victory. Ethen Miller was able to come away with a victory as well as Mielnik, who came from behind to secure another day of wrestling.
Jaxon Smith continued in the championship bracket taking on Oklahoma State’s Luke Surber in the quarterfinal bout. The two were tied 1-1 with less than 20 seconds left in the bout.
Smith was able to take control and quickly earn a takedown that seemed to be rivaled by a reversal from Surber. After a challenge from head coach Alex Clemsen was invoked, the reversal was taken away and Smith earned a 3-2 decision win pushing him through to the semifinals in the 197-pound weight class.
The wins from Jaxon Smith, Ethen Miller, Mielnik, and Brown all secured them a chance to wrestle in the second day of action on Monday.
The team sat in eighth place with 38 total points as of Sunday night.
Monday started the same way Sunday did with a Braxton Brown victory. Brown was able to earn a decision win over Virginia Tech wrestler Cooper Flynn.
Ethen Miller followed in Brown’s footsteps earning a close 2-1 decision victory that came down to a crucial riding time point that gave Miller the edge.
Chase Mielnik couldn’t find the same success. Mielnik struggled to gain any momentum in his bout losing by pin in the second period to Oklahoma State’s Kyle Haas.
The action continued in the consolation brackets with Brown taking on No. 23 Caleb Smith from Appalachian State. The two were in a close battle throughout, but with an escape point, it looked as though Brown had pulled away, up 4-2 in the third.
Smith scored a takedown moments after and the two set up for a sudden victory in overtime. There, Smith was able to outmaneuver Brown and score a takedown to earn the sudden victory win, ending a strong tournament performance for Brown.
Miller had better success in his consolation round of four bout. Following a 0-0 first period, Miller struck a late takedown in the second to earn a 2-1 lead. He scored four points in the third to secure a decision victory and a place in the consolation semifinals.
The Terps added another wrestler to the consolation semifinals as Jaxon Smith lost in his first bout of the day in the championship semifinals. Smith and his opponent Binghamton wrestler No. 20 Lou DePrez took a hard-fought battle into the tiebreaker rounds.
After earning an escape in the first tiebreaker round Smith was up 4-3. Deprez had a total of eight seconds in riding time so either Smith needed to not allow an escape or outlast his opponent in riding time.
Deprez was able to escape Smith’s grasp as the riding time clock stood at three seconds. With the score tied and the match winding down, Smith made a flurry of moves coming close to a takedown but to no avail. Smith made one last ditch effort, almost flipping himself over in the process, but it proved unsuccessful.
Smith and Miller went on to win their consolation semifinal matches both by decisions. Setting up a pair of third-place bouts to close out the tournament.
Miller’s bout was tough matchup against Stanford’s No. 17 Jaden Abas. Abas was able to defeat Miller earning an escape and two fall points. Smith medically forfeited his third-place bout ending his tournament run with a fourth-place finish.
The Maryland team scored a total of 58.5 team points, a score good enough to land them in the top ten among the 21 teams that competed.
The Terps will have a short time to recover from the two-day affair. The Terps will face their first conference opponent of the year when Indiana comes to College Park on January 9.
