With only six wrestlers qualifying, the Terrapin wrestling team’s National Championship hope were already dim, but the Terps went to Omaha, Neb. this week determined to at least improve on last year’s 10th-place finish.
But after a first day in which every Terps’ wrestler except 197-pound star Hudson Taylor lost, the chance to improve upon last year’s finish has become unlikely.
There is still a lot of wrestling left and a lot of points that can be scored, but after the first day, the Terps are tied with Bucknell and Cal Poly with nine points, good for 29th in the team standings.
Despite Taylor’s two wins and berth in Friday’s quarterfinals, all five of the other Terps in the field lost at least once.
125-pound James Knox narrowly lost his opening match to No. 8 seed Matt Steintrager of Central Michigan and then lost to No. 9 seed Jarrod Patterson in the consolation bracket to eliminate him from the tournament all together.
The remaining quartet — 141-pound Alex Krom, 133-pound Steve Bell, 157-pound Kyle John, and 165-pound Josh Asper — all won their first matches only to lose in the second round, sending them all to the consolation bracket where they will fight for their tournament lives Friday.
“I’m very disappointed with today,” said head coach Kerry McCoy in a prepared release. “It’s no secret that we had high expectations coming into this weekend. The good thing is we’re still in the tournament. Tomorrow is a new day. They get a chance to bounce back. It’s in our hands and we have a chance to fight back and be All-Americans.”
Here’s the breakdown of each remaining wrestler’s chance at earning All-American status.
133- Steve Bell
In a rematch of a dual Bell won by decision on Jan. 17, the redshirt senior and No. 9 seeded Bell soundly defeated Purdue’s Akif Eren, 6-0, in the opening round. The win set up a rematch with No. 8 seed Tyler Graff of Wisconsin.
Graff smashed Bell at the National Duals on Jan. 10, winning by major decision 18-5, and Friday was no different as Graff once again handled Bell easily, 13-5.
Now Bell is left to pick up the pieces, starting tomorrow with a match in the consolation bracket with Flint Ray of Utah State. Ray entered the tournament unseeded, but wrestled Michigan State’s Franklin Gomez close in the opening round and should provide a stiff test for Bell.
The consolation bracket is set up in such a way that if Bell is wrestling his best tomorrow, he could easily win two matches in a row before he would face anyone of note.
If he does win two matches tomorrow, he would wrestle the loser of the quarterfinal match between No. 2 seed Daniel Dennis of Iowa and No. 10 seed Nick Fanthorpe of Iowa State. Bell has already narrowly beaten Fanthorpe at the National Duals, 3-2, but will face an undoubtedly stiffer test in the consolation bracket with so much at stake.
The key for Bell and 141-pound Alex Krom will be to score as many bonus points in their matches as possible. Wrestling against unranked guys will give the duo an opportunity to win convincingly and help the team climb back up the standings.
141- Alex Krom
Krom received an unlucky break when he drew All-American Chris Drouin from Arizona State in the opening roud. But Krom shut out Drouin 5-0 and looked like he could blitz his way into the quarterfinals. But Krom, the No. 8 seed, ran into Levi Jones in the second round, the No. 9 seed from Boise State.
Jones unexpectedly beat Krom soundly, 5-1, forcing one of the Terps’ best hopes for All-American status into the consolation bracket far earlier than he had hoped for.
Krom will be heavily favored in his first match tomorrow against unseeded Anwar Goeres of Binghamton, and should the seeding hold, he could be staring down a second match against Virginia Tech’s Chris Diaz who he beat to win the ACC title just two weeks ago.
As with Bell, should Krom win those two matches, it would set up a potential showdown with either No. 2 seed Jamal Parks from Oklahoma State or No. 10 seed Tyler Nauman of Pittsburgh. If I had to bet on one of the Terps in the consolation bracket to advance all the way through and claim All-American status, it would be Krom whose intensity and competitive drive will likely have him ready to wrestle tomorrow.
157- Kyle John
John lost a tight match in the opening round to Oregon State’s Keegan Davis, 7-5. And after receiving a bye in the first round of the consolation bracket, John will square off with Central Michigan’s Steve Brown tomorrow.
The No. 12 seed in the tournament, Brown won his first match before losing his second match to American’s Steve Fittery. The Terps and the Chippewas squared off earlier in the season, but in the 157-pound match John went up against Donnie Corby and handled him 8-2.
Brown should prove to be a more stronger opponent and I think that John will end up losing his first match tomorrow and exiting the tournament.
165- Josh Asper
After watching the redshirt freshman dominate a lot of his opposition this season, McCoy had really high hopes for Asper entering the tournament. Asper easily handled Penn’s Steve Burak in the opening round before narrowly losing to unseeded Nick Amuchastegui of Stanford.
Thanks to an earlier upset, Asper’s road through the consolation bracket will be extremely difficult, starting with No. 8 seed Shane Onufer of Wyoming.
Asper has the ability and conditioning to beat Onufer who was crushed in his opening round match by Central Michigan’s Tyler Grayson, who Asper narrowly lost to Nov. 27, but he will need to wrestle his absolute best to do so.
197- Hudson Taylor
The only Terp still alive in the main portion of the bracket, Taylor earned two unseeded wrestlers in his first two matches as a benefit for being the No. 3 seed, and the two-time All-American dispatched them both in convincing fashion, although he failed to pin either.
Like any quarterfinal match, Taylor will not have an easy time tomorrow but should be able to outlast No. 6 seed Eric Lapotsky of Oklahoma. If he does, that would set up a potential match with No. 2 seed Craig Brester of Nebraska, potentially the most competitive match of the entire tournament.
Almost all the pundits agree No. 1 seed Jake Varner (Iowa State) is an unstoppable force and that Taylor won’t be able to crack him should he make it to the finals, but beating Brester will be a solid consolation prize. The two have met twice in their careers.
Taylor beat Brester for third two seasons ago, and then Brester returned the favor in the semifinals last season, relegating Taylor to third as well. But first he needs to make it through Lapotsky and give the Terps at least one chance for redemption in what has been an otherwise disappointing start to the NCAA Tournament.
Michael Lemaire is the Terrapin wrestling beat writer. He can be reached at lemairedbk@gmail.com.