Photo courtesy of Samantha Osborne/Maryland Terrapins
The Terrapins (4-0) continued their win streak with a victory over the Morgan State Bears, winning 43-3 on Friday night.
Maryland wrestling racked up five technical falls in its shutout victory against Morgan State, with Dario Lemus and Chase Mielnik pinning their opponents for true falls. It is the first time under the Alex Clemsen regime that the Terps have secured more fall victories than decision victories.
Chase Mielnik turned in the fastest victory in the match, pinning senior Nathatic Kendricks in just 27 seconds. In his first season at 197 pounds, Mielnik has secured two pins in only four dual meet bouts, matching his dual meet win total from last season when he fought at 184 pounds.
“I think [1]97 fits my style a lot better,” Mielnik said. “When they asked me if I would do it, it was a no-brainer.”
Clemson, who last week described Mielnik as a “draft horse,” had a unique bit of praise for Mielnik as a person.
“I would let Chase date my daughter,” Clemson said. “So a kid [of] that quality of a human being is starting to have the results you want him to have, and that’s amazing to see.”
Dario Lemus, who Clemsen has coined the “Mexican Wolverine,” secured his first pin of his college career. His bout with freshman Myrin Nixon made it to the first few seconds of the second period before he flipped the Bears wrestler on his back for the fall.
The only loss of the night for the Terps came from Branson John, who found himself on the wrong side of a single-leg takedown with five seconds remaining in the bout. The final score was 3-2, though Clemsen appeared adamant that John had gotten a takedown earlier in the period.
“If I had the brick to throw again, I’d probably throw it,” Clemsen said. “[John] probably should have just sat on his butt in the center and evaded with eight seconds left. We were up by two, we could have given up a stall call.”
Prior to John’s decision loss, the Terrapins had won 17 consecutive bouts between the opening tri-meet and the shutout victory over American. Mielnik said he felt like the team was more dominant than the year before.
“We were just talking about it in the locker room, I think this team is just different, especially from many teams before,” Mielnik said.
Clemsen echoed Mielnik’s sentiments about the advancement of the team.
“I think this team is learning how to win, and learning how to be good,” Clemsen said. “Sometimes you play to the level of your competition, sometimes you wrestle to the level of your competition. When you do that, bad things happen. We didn’t do that tonight.”
The Terps will next travel to Fairfax County for the George Mason open before taking on Pittsburgh on the road.
