Maryland wrestling (4-6, 2-5 Big Ten) will finish off this season’s conference play in Piscataway, N.J. against No. 14 Rutgers (10-5, 3-4 Big Ten) as it looks for a program-record third Big Ten victory.
The Terps snapped a four-meet losing skid Sunday with a 28-15 victory over Michigan State. The win marked the first time in program history Maryland had won more than one Big Ten meet in a season, although the wrestlers have higher aspirations.
“We talked about in the beginning of the year [that] we want to have more than one win this year,” captain Dom Solis said. “Our goal was three.”
The Terps secured their first Big Ten victory in program history last season, with a come-from-behind 19-18 victory over Purdue. The Boilermakers led the Terps 18-10 with two bouts to go, but a pin from Jaxon Smith and a 3-2 decision victory from former Maryland heavyweight Jaron Smith gave the Terps the nine they needed for their first conference victory since leaving the ACC.
A win on Friday for Maryland won’t be easy — the Scarlet Knights are 8-0 against the Terps since they joined the conference in 2015. The most recent match between the two schools was a 28-7 Rutgers win, in which Ethen Miller and a then-125-pound Braxton Brown secured the lone victories for Maryland.
Rutgers is coming off of a 35-3 loss against No. 1 Penn State, during which No. 10 heavyweight Yaraslau Slavikouski gave up an 8-3 decision against Penn State’s unranked Lucas Cochran. The loss brought the Scarlet Knights’ losing streak up to four meets, each loss coming to a Big Ten opponent.
Jaxon Smith has reached a new career highest Intermat ranking at No. 4 after Oklahoma’s Stephen Buchanan plummeted from No. 2 to No. 6. Smith started the season as the No. 8 197-pound wrestler and had been ranked at No. 5 since mid-December. His most recent match was a 18-2 victory by technical fall against No. 30 Kael Wisler. Smith’s opponent against Rutgers could be a trio of options, headlined by No. 22 John Poznanski.
No. 28 Kal Miller’s likely opponent Friday is No. 21 Mitch Moore. Miller has struggled in his recent bouts, winning just one of his last five since Jan. 19. Following his loss to No. 29 Jordan Hamdan, Maryland coach Alex Clemsen suggested that Miller had cut his weight too close and was more fatigued than he should have been towards the end of his match.
One of the most even duals of the meet should occur at the 133-pound class, when No. 16 Brown faces No. 9 Dylan Shawver. The matchup will be the lone in which both wrestlers are ranked inside the top-20 in their respective weight class.
The match is set for a 7 p.m. start at Jersey Mike’s Arena.
