Wrestling wins again in Battle of the Beltway

The Terrapins wrestling team had beaten American the previous five meetings before this weekend's. On Friday, in one of the most high-profile installments in the Battle of the Beltway yet, that number increased to six.

The undefeated No. 20 Terps took down the No. 7 Eagles, 23-14, winning six of the 10 individual matches at Comcast Pavilion and ultimately retaining the garish belt trophy designed specifically for the local rivalry.

The deciding match came after an 8-3 final decision for the Terps' 184-pound Ty Snook, which upped the team's lead to 20-11. 197-pound Christian Boley entered the circle with American's No. 8 Daniel Mitchell, who had beaten Boley in their previous encounter.

Boley was down 5-4 going into the third period of the match. He quickly earned a point for an escape, evening the score at five. With 30 seconds left in the final period, the 20th-ranked Boley, in a standing position, lifted Mitchell off the ground and dropped him down to the mat, earning two points and grabbing the lead.

His Hulk-like takedown sealed his 7-6 final-decision victory over Mitchell and sealed a Terps victory.

"I didn't play into his strengths and I played into mine," said Boley, who advanced his personal record to 10-0. "I just put myself in the best situation to win, and I got it done. I was extremely happy."

Coach Kerry McCoy said he knew before the match started that Boley was going to come out on top.

"Christian made his mind up a long time ago — I may even say last year when he wrestled that kid — that the next time he faced him he was going to beat him," McCoy said. "There was no doubt in his mind going into his match today that he was going to win."

But Boley was quick to acknowledge that he didn't do it alone. Five of his teammates also won individual matches against their cross-town rivals. The meet increased the Terps' record this season to 7-0 and kept the Eagles (0-4) winless.

"Knowing you're going to win the match but getting those extra bonus points anyways for the team, that's what's important and that's what's going to take us all a long way," Boley said. "We have to keep looking out for each other's backs. American's ranked pretty high, and it's a good win, but we're not wrestling just to win dual meets. We're wrestling to win national championships."

After their victory over American, the Terps went up to Penn State for the Nittany Lion Open, an individual tournament that featured 475 wrestlers and 10 ranked teams.

Boley was the only Terp to win a championship in his weight class yesterday, out-wrestling five opponents to maintain his undefeated record.

174-pound Jimmy Sheptock won an overtime decision to make it to the finals for his individual weight class, but lost a close match to take second place. Frank Goodwin, Josh Asper and Spencer Myers each made it to their individual semifinal rounds.

egan@umdbk.com