Feb. 13, 2008

No. 23 Wrestling Pins Its Way Past American, 37-14

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Maryland's three ranked wrestlers from 174 to 197 pounds combined for three pins and 18 points as the No. 23 Terrapins defeated American, 37-14, on February 13 at Comcast Pavilion. Sophomore Mike Letts and junior Josh Haines both picked up their falls in under 30 seconds and sophomore Hudson Taylor's second period pin was his 16th of the year.

The Terps started with a six-point advantage with a forfeit win at 125 and then sophomore Steven Bell pushed the lead up to nine with a 7-5 overtime win at 133 pounds. Down 4-2 heading into the third, Bell started down and scored a reversal to tie up the score. Matt Mariacher took the lead with an escape with 33 seconds left, but Bell had the riding time bonus point to force the extra session.

In overtime, Bell won with a takedown 23 seconds in.

The Eagles closed the gap to 9-5 with a technical fall win at 141 pounds, but freshman Eric Medina gained four of those points back with a major decision at 149 pounds to make it 13-5. Medina recorded three takedowns, a reversal, and accumulated over five minutes of riding time for the win.

NC State Tripped Up by UNC Greensboro, 23-17

RALEIGH, N.C. - Heavyweight Ryan Hsu took a 5-2 decision over Bobby Isola in the final match of the evening to clinch a 23-17 dual-match victory over NC State in college wrestling action at Reynolds Coliseum. The Wolfpack lost its third match in a row and fell to 8-10-1 for the season. The Spartans improved to 9-7.

The match got off to a poor start for the Wolfpack when 125-pounder Taylor Cummings wound up getting pinned by Mitchell Johnson from a neutral position with three seconds remaining in the first period. No. 16 Jeff Hedges made it 9-0 UNCG with a 6-4 decision over NC State's Darius Little in the 133-pound match.

Joe Caramanica, ranked No. 5 nationally at 141, got NC State on the board with a 17-2 technical fall as time expired in the final period. Caramanica won for the 71st time in his career, which ranks 20th in school history. With the Wolfpack in the scoring column, Darrion Caldwell gave the Wolfpack the lead at 11-9 when he pinned Marcus Hannah at 1:43 at 149 pounds.