Jaxon Smith found himself as the only Terp not eliminated from the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational tournament Friday after five of Maryland’s six wrestlers lost in consolation bracket bouts.
Smith faced NC State’s Trent Hidlay in the finals after defeating San Diego State’s Tanner Sloan. But Smith could not find a takedown against Hidlay.
The only scoring through two periods was an escape from Hidlay to begin the second period and a stalling call issued against Smith. An escape at the top of the third pulled Smith within one, but Hidlay finally put Smith on his stomach, and that’s all he needed for a 5-2 victory. The loss placed Smith in second, the highest of any Terp in the tournament.
Kal Miller, the reigning two-time 141-pound Tiger Style Invitational champion, was out of the tournament before any wrestling had even begun. The Terps ruled Miller out due to unspecified health concerns, leaving the team with only six representatives fighting on day one.
Maryland’s other Miller brother was cleared to wrestle Friday. But he had an early exit.
After winning his opening bout 5-1 against Binghamton’s Michael Zarif, 149-pound redshirt sophomore Ethen Miller gave up a takedown in extra time against Rider’s Quinn Kinner — both wrestlers had only one point at the end of regulation, each earning an escape and nothing more. Miller suffered his first technical fall defeat since February of last season to Ohio’s Derek Raike in his only bout in the consolation bracket, falling 16-1.
The 197-pound Smith saw nothing but success in his two bouts. His first victory was a 7-1 win over Purdue’s Ben Vanadia, and he then came out on top in a tightly contested fight against Northern Iowa’s Wyatt Voelker, after which Northern Iowa coach Doug Schwab argued with Maryland coach Alex Clemsen about the validity of Smith’s takedown. Smith was scheduled to fight Oklahoma State’s Luke Surber, but Surber withdrew for medical reasons, placing Smith in the semifinals.
Smith was the only wrestler wearing a Terps singlet on Saturday. He punched his ticket to the finals with a win over Sloan in an 8-2 decision victory, as Sloan couldn’t take down Smith once in the fight despite being the top seed in the tournament. Smith then fell to Hidlay, 5-2, to finish as his weight class’ runner up.
Heavyweight Seth Nevills had a characteristically up-and-down performance. He found himself on the wrong side of an upset against Columbia’s Nolan Neves, falling 6-3 in his first bout. Nevills then won two bouts in the consolation bracket, one in a 2-0 decision against Wyoming’s Kevin Zimmer and another by fall against Antonio Ramos of Air Force.
But as the seconds ticked down in the first period of Nevills’ fight against Oregon State’s Boone McDermott, the Terps’ 285-pound wrestler found himself lifted into the air and thrown down against the mat, and six seconds later McDermott was declared the winner by fall. Neither wrestler had scored any points in the match.
Three of the six Terps at the tournament did not win a single bout. 133-pound graduate student King Sandoval exited the championship bracket with a second-period technical fall at the hands of Arizona State’s Julian Chlebove, and then lost 9-3 in a rematch with Purdue’s Dustin Norris. 165-pound redshirt sophomore Gaven Bell lost by fall to Julian Ramirez of Cornell, and then by a 11-2 major decision to California State Bakersfield’s Guillermo Escobedo. 184-pound redshirt junior Chase Mielnik suffered a technical fall in the second period to NC State’s Dylan Fishback, and then lost in a 7-4 decision to Wyoming’s Quayin Short.
But Smith’s second place finish gave the Terps a positive from their weekend in Las Vegas.
Maryland will next wrestle as a team in a dual meet against Morgan State on Dec. 10.
