March 27, 2000

COLLEGE PARK, Md.-- When the season started in November, head coach John McHugh found himself struggling to fill a lineup that was hampered with injuries. He was forced to sit five returning starters and looked to the 1999-2000 season as a rebuilding year. Yet his team produced four NCAA qualifiers, the most since 1997, and sophomore Brandon York (Gaithersburg, Md.) won his second individual title at 133 pounds. Instead of rebuilding a lineup, he was suddenly building a solid contender for the next few years. Three other sophomores, Rob Booth (Atco, N.J.), Mark Mansueto (West Chester, Pa.) and Josh Weidman (Hershey, Pa.), also made the trip to the nationals and all four will return to make up almost half of next year's starting 10.

York finished 34-6 on the season and placed in all seven regular season tournaments. In fact, over the past two seasons, he has placed in 11 tournaments and won the individual title seven of those times. His second conference title came with another win over North Carolina's Brad Byers.

Weidman had been Maryland's hottest wrestler at the end of the year, winning 10 consecutive matches. In his last four matches before the nationals, he also defeated both No. 17 Denis Alampiev of American and 1999 ACC champion Jamie Groudle of North Carolina. He also beat Groudle on Jan. 15 in the deciding match of the Terps' 21-19 upset of ACC champion North Carolina.

Mansueto quietly led the Terps with a 10-1 dual record at 141 pounds. After sweeping the ACC regular season to finish at a perfect 4-0, he fell short in the tournament finals, losing to Virginia's P.J. Bory, 6-4.

Booth, at 157, was a leading candidate for the ACC tournament's outstanding wrestler through the first two rounds after pinning Duke's Geoff Anderson at 4:21 and upsetting Don Carlo-Clauss of Virginia, 3-1 until he met the Wolfpack's Scott Garren in the finals.

In addition, 184-pound freshman Sal Aquia (Baltimore, Md.), 174-pound freshman Jake Stork (Mohrsville, Pa.) and 125-pound junior Joe Guzzio (Greensboro, N.C.) will return from redshirting and each have a legitimate shot to win an ACC title.

Aquia had arguably the best season of any Terp, despite not even starting, placing in all four tournaments that he entered. He even defeated this year's 184-pound ACC champion, Corey Bell, from North Carolina, 8-7 at the East Stroudsburg Open.

Stork only competed in 13 matches, but he pinned five of his opponents on the way to a 9-4 record. As a freshman, he competed in a team-high 45 matches and finished at 28-17, leading Maryland with 13 pins, seven more than any wrestler this season.

Guzzio, the younger brother of 1997 All-American Jim Guzzio, was a consistent starter in his first two seasons, appearing in all 22 matches. His sophomore year was highlighted by a win over No. 16 Lee Carroll of NC State, to earn him his second ACC Performer of the Week award. His 50 career wins rank him third on the current roster and he is first with 20 pins.

Freshmen Jeremy Duncan (Platte City, Mo.), at heavyweight, and Matt Pandullo (Severn, Md.), at 125 pounds, both finished in third place at the ACC Championships.

The Terps graduated four strong senior leaders, an area that will be the most difficult to fill in the off-season. Co-captains Mike Tomaino (Allenhurst, N.J.) and Grant Newman (Chesapeake City, Md.) were solid starters and Brian Page (Bowie, Md.) and Robert Takseraas (Kings Park, N.Y.) made regular appearances.

1999-2000 MARYLAND DEPTH CHART
                   Over.	Duals   Career    Fls Tls  Top 3 
125 Pandullo       19-12	 6-5     19-12	2   1	  2
    *Guzzio	 6-5	 0-0	50-36	3   0	  0
133 York      	34-8	 7-1     67-17	4   3	  6
    Takseraas      18-8	 3-0     33-37	2   1	  1
141 Mansueto  	20-13	10-1	44-35	2   0	  1
    Takseraas      18-8	 3-0     33-37	2   1	  1
149 Newman	18-8	 9-2	30-24 	1   1	  2
    Page   	11-12	 0-2	13-18	1   0	  0
157 Booth	        15-16	 6-5	33-30	6   0	  1
    Newman	18-8	 9-2	30-24 	1   1	  2
165 Weidman        28-9	 9-1   	63-34	0   0	  2
    *Stork	 9-4	 0-0	37-21	5   0	  1
174 Tomaino	 6-18	 3-7	22-53#	2   0	  0
    *Aquia	18-5	 0-0   	35-21	2   0	  3
184 Reid	         4-15	 2-5	 4-15	0   0	  0
    Mormile	 5-9	 2-2	 5-9	4   0	  0
197 Vorhies	 6-21	 3-8	 6-21	2   0	  0
    Fehnel	 5-4	 0-0	 5-4	3   0	  1
Hwt Duncan  	24-17	 8-3 	24-17	6   0	  2
*-redshirting this season
#-not including redshirt season

MARYLAND SCHEDULE (8-3, 2-2 ACC)
N20  at E. Stroudsburg Open   NTR
D5   at Penn State Open	  NTR
D11  Coppin State	           W, 40-6
D28  at Wilkes Open	  NTR
J8   at Millersville Invite  6th of 25
J11  at Navy	           L, 12-22
J15* North Carolina	  W, 21-19
J22* at NC State	           L, 9-25
J26  George Mason	           Cancelled
J30  at Bucknell	           W, 31-6
F6   at Congressional Cup1   6th of seven
F12* Duke	                    W, 21-16
F16* at Virginia	           L, 10-27
F19  at Old Dominion	  W, 21-16
     & Delaware State	  W, 43-0
F22  Howard University	  W, 37-3
F24  American#	           W, 30-15
M4   ACC Tournament2 	  4th of five
M16  at NCAA Tournament3      NTR
*ACC dual match
#-Rescheduled from Feb. 9
1-at American University
2-at University of Maryland
3-at St. Louis, Mo. (Kiel Center)

2000-01 Maryland Wrestling Roster
Sal Aquia	         174	R-So.	Baltimore, Md.
J. Bencivenga	174	So.	N. Babylon, N.Y.
Rob Booth	         157	Jr.	Atco, N.J.
Tony Capone	149	So.	Valley Stream, N.Y.
Nick Cilento	133	So.	Colonia, N.J.
Sean Collins 	149 	R-Fr.	Churchville, Pa.
Jeremy Duncan 	Hwt	So.	Platte, Mo.
Ben Dyer	         Hwt.	Fr.	Baltimore, Md.
Eric Fehnel 	197	R-Fr.	Reading, Pa.
D. Finkelstein	133	Jr.	Forest Hills, N.Y.
Joe Guzzio	125	R-Jr.	Greensboro, N.C.
Lance Kearns	174	So.	Annapolis, Md.
Mark Mansueto	141	Jr.	West Chester, Pa.
Chad Masemer	184	R-Jr.	Littlestown, Pa.
J. McKeever 	133 	R-Fr.	Marbury, Md.
Joe Mormile 	184 	So.	Toms River, N.J.
Josh Munsey	149	Sr.	Rockville, Md.
Patrick Ortman	149	R-Fr.	Crofton, Md.
Matt Pandullo 	125 	So.	Severn, Md.
Mark Reid 	184 	So.	Medford, NJ
Paul Reilly	125	R-Fr.	Valley Stream, N.Y.
B. Robinovitz	149	R-So.	Belle Mead, N.J.
Jake Stork	157	R-So.	Mohrsville, Pa.
Bob Vorhies 	197	So.	Morris Knolls, N.J.
Josh Weidman	165	Jr.	Hershey, Pa.
Brandon York	133	Jr.	Gaithersburg, Md.
*Eligibility listed for next season.

Quick Facts...
Head Coach: John McHugh
*Two-time ACC Coach of the Year
*Coached 21 ACC champions
*Coached six All-Americans
*Coached the Terps for 22 years
*Recorded 51 career ACC wins
*Has finished the last 15 seasons with a .500-plus overall record
*Two-time ACC champion as a wrestler (115 and 123)
     at UM: 233-126-8 (22)
    Career: 264-161-8 (29)
2000 Overall Record: 8-3, .727
2000 ACC Record: 2-2, T2nd
2000 ACC Championship: 4th (59.0)
Starters (Ret./Lost): 8/2