The Terrapin Wrestling team unofficially opened their season last weekend with the annual intrasquad Red & Black Wrestle-Offs won by the Red team 25-9. The real season doesn’t start until this weekend when the team travels to Buffalo to play in the Buffalo Open, an individual tournament.
But while the football team’s high-profile shortcomings have been under the magnifying glass for the better part of the Fall, the wrestling team is quietly about to begin its season as the No. 6 team in the country, their highest ranking ever.
I got a chance to catch up with Terps’ coach Kerry McCoy tonight, and while I don’t want to give away too much because there will be much more in Thursday’s Diamondback, I figured it couldn’t hurt to at least tease the audience with some key tidbits.
Here is how the team will open up at each weight class this weekend:
125- James Knox
133- Steven Bell
141- Alex Krom
149- Jon Kohler
157- Brian Letters
165- Josh Asper
174- Mike Letts
184- Corey Peltier
197- Hudson Taylor
Heavweight (285)- Pat Gilmore
Any conversation about wrestlers to watch for this season has to begin with two-time All-American senior Hudson Taylor. Last year Taylor finished 38-8 and topped the season off with his second-consecutive third place finish in the NCAA Championships. He is one of the best wrestlers in the country again and has proven he can be leaned on.
Challenging Taylor for the mythical ”best wrestler on the team” are the two other All-Americans, Alex Krom and Steven Bell, and Letts, who redshirted last season but McCoy said belongs in the conversation with the three seniors.
Right behind them are the trio of Asper, Peltier, and Gilmore. Brian Letters is a former ACC Champion, but according to McCoy there are a few more wrinkles yet to be ironed out as he tries to return to 157 pounds after wrestling last year at 165.
The real questions are at 125, where fifth-year senior James Knox has won the starter’s role, for now, after defeating Pat Strizki at the Wrestle-Offs. And at 149, where Jon Kohler will try to wrestle at 149 this season after spending last season at 141.
But as McCoy mentioned, “When you have the right horses in your stable, you are gonna be pretty good.” And that is exactly what Terps have. But they also have massive expectations this season, which I will touch on in greater detail on Thursday.
If the Terps’ field hockey team wasn’t running amok on competition on their way to the best start in school history, the wrestling team would have a legitimate claim to the also mythical “best sport on campus” award I will be keeping a close eye on.
Check back on Thursday, and over the weekend as I try to cram the preview and weekend updates, as well as a weekend review into the next few days to whet the appetites of those hungering for wrestling knowledge.
Mike Lemaire is the 2009-2010 Terrapin Wrestling beat writer. He can be reached at lemairedbk@gmail.com.