Wrestling's McCoy returns to alma mater with plenty on line

Terrapin wrestling coach Kerry McCoy will be returning to his alma mater this weekend — as the opposition.

The Terps will travel to Penn State on Sunday for the Nittany Lion Open, a tournament which features over 400 wrestlers from more than 20 different schools. A former All-America wrestler for the Nittany Lions, McCoy is excited to return to his old stomping grounds and see the Terps compete against some of the top wrestlers in the country.

"It's a special trip for me," McCoy said. "It's going to be really good for us to be there and see where we stand against some of the nation's best."

The competition for the Terps will be stiff, though. The tournament features numerous wrestlers ranked in the nation's top 20, making this the toughest field the Terps will have faced this season.

But the Terps do have some talent of their own. Almost the entire team will compete this weekend, and with three wrestlers nationally ranked by www.D1CollegeWrestling.net — 157-pound Kyle John, 165-pound Josh Asper and 174-pound Mike Letts — the Terps will have plenty of firepower to compete.

"Expectations are high," Letts said. "It's pretty exciting to bring our whole team up there and showcase our abilities. I think we should have all of our starters place and our backups do really well, too."

"We want to place a lot of guys," McCoy said. "We're doing well, we have some momentum. … I expect to come back with some champs."

Nonconference open matches such as these are all means to an end for the Terps, said McCoy, who understands they must continue to perform at a high level if they want to fulfill their ACC and NCAA Championship goals.

"It sounds cliché, but our focus is always March," McCoy said. "Every week is a step toward then. … We have to continue to build, continue to get better and measure ourselves against the nation's best."

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