The Terps finished far from the upper echelon of the league but had a solid showing.
By Brinkley Smith
Maryland wrestling hosted the Big Ten championships at XFINITY Center this weekend for the first time, looking to take advantage of its home-mat advantage. After posting their highest team score at a conference championship meet since joining the Big Ten, the Terps finished 10th with 32 points, good for their best-ever finish at the event.
They also scored 32 points at the 2017 championships, but finished 11th.
Top-ranked Penn State dominated the tournament, winning the team title by scoring 170.5 points and compiling five individual champions.
Maryland had four wrestlers land on the podium — the most it’s ever had at a Big Ten championship meet. Braxton Brown, who wrestled at 125 pounds last year but moved up to 133 pounds this time around, said in the days leading up to the event that he was “ready for Big Tens to show what the bigger weight means.” He took sixth place in his weight class, the first time in his career he’s placed at the Big Ten championships.
Ethen Miller secured fourth place among 149-pounders, and Jaxon Smith — the Terps’ highest-seeded wrestler in the event at No. 2 in his bracket — finished fourth at 197 pounds. Seth Nevills took eighth in the 285-pound weight class. Chase Mielnik also finished atop the ninth-place consolation bracket for the 184-pound weight class with three straight wins, which he capped with a pin of Iowa’s Aiden Riggins.
Brown, Miller and Smith punched their tickets to Kansas City, Missouri, for the upcoming NCAA championships, set to take place from March 21-23. However, two more Terps could be joining them, with Kal Miller and Nevills looking to secure at-large bids later in the week.
For Ethen Miller, a trip back to Kansas City — his hometown — will be special. Earlier in the week, he said that he plans to “go out there, show the world what I got, just let it fly.” This past weekend, he proved his potential to return to the podium in two weeks.