Cavaliers upset Terps at ACC wrestling tournament

This weekend's ACC Wrestling Championships offered another opportunity for the Terrapin wrestling team to rewrite the school record book, but the weekend was also filled with disappointment — and not just because the team failed to win its third straight team title.

Not only did Virginia, a team the Terps' defeated handily two weeks ago, edge the Terps for the team title, but coach Kerry McCoy watched three wrestlers he had hoped would help the team at the NCAA Championships bow out before they could earn automatic bids. It was a result that may have closed the book on the team's already diminished national title aspirations.

"It's definitely disappointing," 197-pound star Hudson Taylor said. "It's always upsetting when you strive for perfection yet don't achieve what you set out to achieve. But we need to keep things in perspective: The season isn't over, and we still have a lot we can accomplish."

The weekend was not without its positives. Six Terps qualified for Nationals, the most in school history, and the team also had three individual champions, including Taylor, who broke the school record for most pins in a single season. Also, 133-pounder Steven Bell became just the second three-time ACC champ in school history.

But despite all of their achievements, it is hard to overlook the blow the shocking upsets dealt to the Terps' national title hopes.

Out of the four Terp wrestlers who failed to qualify — 149-pound Jon Kohler, 174-pound Bradley Nielsen, 184-pound Corey Peltier and heavyweight Pat Gilmore — Gilmore's first-round loss was the most disappointing.

Due to a bracketing quirk, all the other entered heavyweights received a bye in the first round while Gilmore squared off with N.C. State freshman Eloheim Palma.

The duo faced each other on Jan. 22, and Gilmore escaped with a hard-fought 3-0 decision. The rematch started the same way, and Gilmore clung to a 1-0 lead after two periods. Early into the final period, Gilmore had Palma on his stomach and was working to turn him when the referees stopped the match to fix a clock malfunction.

McCoy said the stoppage definitely affected Gilmore, and when they restarted the match, he just wasn't the same.

"I always tell the guys not to put themselves in a situation where the referees can affect the outcome," McCoy said. "But honestly it seemed like every time I sat down to coach someone, there was a bad call against us. To stop that match in that situation is a terrible thing to do. But now he just needs to keep his head up and we will hope he gets an at-large bid."

Gilmore still had the opportunity to capture an automatic bid in wrestle-backs, but that window quickly closed when, in the first match of the consolation bracket, Gilmore lost in uninspired fashion to No. 4 seed Jack Danilkowicz of Virginia.

Now the redshirt junior, who at one point had hopes of being an All-American, is at the mercy of the wrestling selection committee that hands out at-large bids. The committee will announce its selections on Wednesday.

Unseating the sport's traditional royalty to win an NCAA title was expected to be an uphill climb from the start, but it will be even more difficult now that the Terps will be without the services of injured 174-pound wrestler Mike Letts and possibly Gilmore.

But even with their national title hopes dwindling, an experienced cadre of qualifiers give the Terps a good shot at improving upon last season's 10th-place finish, which will be motivation enough for the wrestlers who still have matches left.

"We might have needed a little kick in the butt to make sure we know what's at stake," Taylor said. "We are sending more wrestlers to Nationals than we ever have before, and we still have an opportunity to perform well at Nationals, which is ultimately what our season will be measured by."

lemaire@umdbk.com