Undefeated, undaunted

At this point in their respective seasons, Christian Boley and his Terrapins wrestling team can best be described in one word: dominant.

Boley went 6-0, climbed 11 spots to No. 9 in the national rankings and earned the ACC Wrestler of the Week title — all in one weekend.

And at Penn in Philadelphia this Sunday, Boley hopes to better his own 15-0 record at 197 pounds and his team's 7-0 winning streak.

The No. 15 Terps will face the No. 17 Quakers with Boley and four other ranked Terps in a match he said will be just like any other.

"That's a good team, they have some good guys and our team's hands are definitely full," Boley said. "If everyone wrestles to their ability, we should be able to beat them. But we're just going to treat it like any other."

Boley is scheduled to wrestle the Quakers' eighth-ranked Micah Burak, who defeated Boley when they met last season. But he's ready for the challenge, he said, especially after his successful weekend.

The Terps defeated American a week ago, and Boley sealed the team's victory with a Hulk-like takedown of then-No. 8 Daniel Mitchell. Boley then dominated the Nittany Lion Open on Sunday, defeating five different wrestlers from across the country to take the championship title for his weight class.

And as if his weekend weren't impressive enough, he was awarded his first ACC Wrestler of the Week honor, joining Josh Asper and Kyle John as the third Terp this season to win the award.

"The award is an honor, but I feel like I don't really deserve the respect as much as my teammates and my coaches do," Boley said. "It's really a tribute to my team."

Boley, to his credit, has earned his way through unorthodox measures.

He does all of his cardio workouts with his mouthpiece in, he said. The plastic protector prohibits his air intake, so running with the mouthpiece mimics game-time conditioning, making Boley more fit for competition.

"Sometimes I look dumb but it really contributes," he said. "I try to do the little things right and put myself in the best position to better myself and not waste my time. It's about putting in time when people aren't around and doing things you won't get praise for."

Boley said he is also relentless when it comes to fixing his mistakes. He plans extra workouts to make sure he's physically ready for his matches.

"If I make a mistake, I'll stay after practice to get it right," Boley said. "I don't take ‘no' for an answer. It won't be perfect the first time, or the 100th time, but it will get better."

Boley said he began wrestling when he was in kindergarten, modeling his moves after his older brother. When he was in middle school, his brother made it into the New York state tournament, and he wanted to do even better.

"I was young, and that was a really big deal," he said. "Ever since then, my mom has always made sure we were busy with sports and activities instead of watching TV and wasting our lives away."

In high school, Boley was a two-time All-American and won the national tournament his junior year. He was heavily recruited by coach Kerry McCoy, who coached Stanford at the time. When McCoy got the coaching position at this university in 2008, he continued to recruit Boley.

"[McCoy] wasn't just recruiting my talent, he was also recruiting me as a person, recruiting my morals and what I aspired to be," Boley said. "He was a good fit. He has great, great knowledge and has been able to teach me a lot. He's also a very successful African-American male, so it's great to have him as a role model."

McCoy provides his wrestlers with motivational quotations to help inspire them before matches, and Boley said he sometimes even looks for his own.

His favorite? He couldn't remember it verbatim, but the theme, he said, is, "that greatness lives in all of us, but most of us won't reach it due to fear or lack of confidence."

He added, "That quote includes a lot of things that I aspire to do. I'm not scared to fail. If I don't try, I won't be but where I am now."

egan@umdbk.com