In a mixed weekend for the Pack, the men’s wrestling team on the road defeated American University 25-18 while losing to the University of Maryland 27-12.
Starting as underdogs against American (4-5), who were ranked No. 9 in the nation heading into the matchup, the Pack (4-5) won six out of the 10 bouts, two of them by pin falls to register one of the most historic victories in the program’s history.
Coach Carter Jordan felt the victory said a lot about his team.
“The mark of a solid team is to do well on the road and beating a team of that caliber,” Jordan said. “With five freshman and two sophomores, it says a lot about the character of the team and the work ethic they put in.”
Jordan gave credit to the Eagles and felt it was a task accomplishing what they did against a team of that stature.
“American University has four really good guys and the other six are really solid,” Jordan said. “They have beat some really good schools this year.”
Jordan felt the victory would go down as one of the proudest moments in the program’s history.
“It was a huge win for the program, a huge win for the kids,” Jordan said. “It’s a payoff, this is why we are working so hard.
I can’t remember the last time we had a win over a top-10 team. I think we have to go back to 1993 for that.”
However Maryland despite being ranked lower than the Eagles, proved too much of a mountain for the Pack as the Pack won only three of their matchups, one of them by forfeit.
Jordan felt Maryland had a really solid line-up coming into the game.
“Maryland has one guy ranked No. 2, they have two returning All-Americans,” Jordan said. “They have got a bunch of guys ranked in the top 30 so from top to bottom they are a really, really solid team.
They beat Virginia Tech bad, and Virginia Tech is ranked No. 15.”
Jordan felt the loss was a part of the process and something they had to take in the stride especially with a team as young as his.
“Most of the guys are just young so these are kind of ups and downs.,” Jordan said. “There are some nights where you can look like world beaters and some nights where you look like you are under a lot of pressure.”
Jordan however reserved special praise for senior Darius Little who is ranked No. 11 in the nation in his weight category.
“Darius has had a great couple of week’s here,” Jordan said. “He has beat three ranked guys in the last 10 days. He keeps climbing up the rankings.
I was really proud of his effort. He dominated the match from whistle to whistle.”
State takes on No. Oklahoma State next. Jordan felt it would prove to be a good experience as his team looks to qualify for the NCAA championships.
“Next weekend is going to be tougher,” Jordan said. “We got to wrestle the best we can and try to qualify for the NCAA tournament.
And we will look to go out there and play as hard as we can.”