MARYLAND WRESTLING NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS THUR.-Sat., MARCH 16-18 ST. LOUIS, MO. All DAY - ScottRADE CENTER 2-16 (0-9 B1G) WATCH ESPN - TV: ESPN 2017 CHAMPIONSHIPS NCAA THURsdaY - MARCH 16 FRidaY - MARCH 17 SatURdaY - MARCH 18 10:00 AM - GatES OPEN 9:00 AM - GatES OPEN 9:00 AM - GatES OPEN Championship 11:00 AM - SESSION I 10:00 AM - SESSION III 10:00 AM - SESSION V atch M 4:30 PM - GatES OPEN 5:30 PM - GatES OPEN 5:30 PM - GatES OPEN SCHEDULE 6:00 PM - SESSION II 7:00 PM - SESSION IV 7:00 PM - SESSION VI 2016-17 Schedule (2-16, 0-9 Big Ten) October MARYLAND’S QUALIFIERS 30 Red vs. Black Wrestle-Offs Black, 17-14 Weight Yr. Rk. Name Record Hometown/Last School November 6 at Southeast Open NTS 133 R-Sr. --/-- Billy Rappo 16-13 Holland, Pa./Council Rock South 13 at Binghampton Open NTS 20 vs. Lock Haven1 L, 20-18 141 R-So. --/#19 Ryan Diehl 9-5 Berkeley Springs, W.V. at Virginia1 L, 22-13 at Wolfpack Open NTS 149 R-So. #13/16 Alfred Bannister 22-5 La Plata, Md./Bishop McNamara 27 vs. Princeton2 L, 25-9 vs. Columbia2 W, 30-9 285 So. --/-- Youssif Hemida 20-11 Mamaroneck, N.Y./Mamaroneck at Mat Town Open NTS December # - NCAA Seed/InterMat Wrestling Individual Rankings 9 vs. North Dakota State L, 22-12 at George Mason W, 38-3 QUICK HITTERS 11 #12 RUTGERS* (BTN) L, 21-13 Made for March 22 at Wilkes Open NTS • The University of Maryland wrestling team has qualified four wrestlers for the 2017 NCAA 29-30 at Midlands Championships 17th (36 pts) Championships March 16-18 in St. Louis, Mo. • Redshirt senior Billy Rappo (133), redshirt sophomores Ryan Diehl (141) and Alfred Ban- nister (149) and sophomore Youssif Hemida (285) will all wrestle in their first career NCAA January Championship event this weekend. 7 at F&M Open NTS • Maryland’s four qualifiers is the most since the 2013-14 campaign when the team sent five 8 #12 ILLINOIS* L, 30-15 wrestlers to Oklahoma City. NAVY L, 23-16 • All matches will be streamed via ESPNU, Watch ESPN and ESPN3. The finals will be broad- 13 at #16 Michigan* L, 2-16 cast live on ESPN at 8:00 pm ET. 15 at Michigan State* L, 19-17 20 PURDUE* L, 29-6 Bill Scrap-O 22 vs. #4 Ohio State* (Good Counsel HS) L, 30-12 • Redshirt senior Billy Rappo has come into his own down the stretch of his final collegiate season, winning 10 out of his last 15 matches. February • Rappo earned the final AQ bid from the Big Ten in thrilling fashion, defeating Wisconsin’s Eli 3 INDIANA* L, 22-19 Stickley 7-5 in sudden victory to qualify for his first NCAA Tournament this weekend. 4 at Messiah Open NTS • Rappo won his final three Big Ten dual matches which included a fall over Tristan Law (Penn 10 NORTHWESTERN* L, 23-16 State). Rappo is the only wrestler to pin a Nittany Lion at Rec Hall this season, and the first to 12 at Penn State L, 45-6 do it since December 14, 2014. 18 at Rider L, 23-20 • Rappo dropped down to 133 pounds at the Midlands Championships, and took out two seeded at Drexel L, 20-12 opponents in the opening rounds. • Rappo finished the year 16-13 overall, and is one win away from tying his career high for March season wins (17). 3 4-5 Big Ten Championships 11th (32 Points) 4 Hemida Riding a Heater 16-18 NCAA Championships All Day • Sophomore Youssif Hemida has put together a stellar second half of his sophomore cam- 1 2 paign, going 12-4 over since January while finishing seventh at the BigTen Championships. - Cavalier Duals (Charlottesville, Va.); - Grapple at the • Hemida earned an at-large bid to NCAAs after finishing 20-11 overall in his sophomore cam- 3 4 Garden (New York, N.Y.); - Bloomington, Ind.; - St. paign. Louis, Mo. • Three of Hemida’s losses over that stretch came at the hands of top-4 opponents, while all four * - Big Ten match; All times Eastern and p.m. unless otherwise were ranked in the top-15 via InterMat Wrestling. noted; HOME MATCHES IN CAPS & BOLD; Rankings via the • Hemida picked up a ranked win to end the regular season on Feb. 19, defeating #17 Joey NWCA Coaches Poll Goodhart, 6-4 in SV-1. It was his fifth sudden victory win of the season. Bannister Earns #13 Seed Page 2 MARYLAND TERRAPINS WRESTLING MARYLAND WRESTLING • Alfred “Baby J” Bannister earned the No. 13 seed in the 149-pound bracket after finishing 6th at the Big Ten Championships and going 22-5 on the year. • Bannister kept fans on the edge of their seats this season, winning six of his matches by either sudden victory or tiebreaker. Bannister has won 13 of his matches by one or two points, with four of his five losses all being decided by one point. • Bannister defeated five ranked opponents this season, and finished undefeated in duals (11-0). Baby J opened his 2016-17 campaign with 14 straight victories. Diehl Surprises at Big Ten Championships • Ryan Diehl raised some eyebrows in the 141-pound bracket at the Big Ten Championships, knocking off three ranked opponents to eventually finish fifth. • His fifth place podium finish was the best-ever for the Terps in three years as members of the Big Ten, as the Berkeley Spring,s W.V. locked up an automatic qualifier bid to his first-ever NCAA Championship. • After dropping his opening match to fourth-seeded Colton Crystal (Nebraska) and receiving a forfeit, Diehl started off the evening session with a win over 13th-ranked Christopher Carton (Iowa) in a back-and-forth 11-9 affair. • Diehl rode that momentum into a stunning first period pin over 10th-ranked Jimmy Gulibon of Penn State. Diehl was hitting his spots early, then caught Gulibon on a counter shot and put him on his back for a 46-second fall. • Diehl added another highlight win to his Big Ten Championship resume on Sunday, defeating #11 Tommy Thorn (Minnesota) in the fifth place match with a convincing 12-2 major decision. At Last Year’s NCAAs • Geoffrey Alexander (133) was Maryland’s lone qualifier at last season’s NCAA Championships. • Alexander won one match to become just the 10th Terrapin on record with 100 career wins while also finishing as a four-time NCAA qualifier. McCoy Announces 2016-17 Captains • Kerry McCoy announced on October 18 that redshirt senior Billy Rappo, redshirt sophomore Alfred Bannister and sophomore Youssif Hemida were selected as team captains for the 2016-17 season. The trio was voted as team captains by their teammates in addition to input from the coaching staff. • “I’m really excited about these guys, they all bring different levels of experience to the table for our program,” said McCoy. “Most importantly, they connect well with our group. We’ll expand that leadership group into other members of our team who will be advocates to our program. But these three will really represent the changes and shift in focus that we need for our team. They’re going to lead us as we gain momentum and we get better as a program.” Hemida a Hit on Freestyle Circuit • Sophomore Youssif Hemida (285) highlighted Maryland’s freestyle performances on the mat this past spring/summer, as he finished as an UWW Junior Freestyle All-American and University Freestyle All-American. • Hemida shined for the Terps in Las Vegas at UWW Nationals, winning four matches including three by tech fall to garner All-America honors. The Mamaroneck, N.Y. native took fourth in the 120 KG bracket to earn a spot at UWW Worlds in Irving, Texas. • He would later win six matches at University Freestyle Nationals in Akron, Ohio finishing seventh in the 125 kg bracket to secure his second All- American nod of the spring freestyle circuit. • The Maryland heavyweight split time as the squad’s starter last season, and had a solid showing in open tournaments including a win at the Messiah Open. Hemida’s marque moment came in UMD’s dual vs. Michigan State, as he pinned Dimitrus Renfroe with two seconds remaining to clinch his first Big Ten win. B1G WRESTLERS OF THE WEEK (16-17) 2016-17 BIG TEN STANDINGS November Conference Overall W-L-T Pct. W-L-T Pct. N8 C. Medbery, Sr., WIS J10 J. Nolf, So., PSU Penn State 9-0-0 1.000 13-0-0 1.000 N15 C. Medbery, Sr., WIS J17 S. Micic, Fr., MICH Iowa 8-1-0 .889 12-2-0 .857 N21 K. Snyder, Jr., OSU Ohio State 7-2-0 .778 11-2-0 .846 N. Tomasello, Jr., OSU N29 B. Pfarr, Sr., MINN Nebraska 6-3-0 .667 12-3-0 .800 December J24 B. Nickal, So., PSU Rutgers 6-3-0 .667 12-4-0 .750 Illinois 6-3-0 .667 9-3-0 .750 D6 L. Massa, Fr., MICH J31 I. Jordan, Sr., WIS Minnesota 5-4-0 .556 6-5-0 .546 D13 A. Rubinetti, Fr., NU February Michigan 4-5-0 .444 8-6-0 .571 D20 D. Hughes, Fr. MSU Wisconsin 3-5-0 .375 5-5-0 .500 F7 T. Gilman, Sr., IOWA Purdue 3-6-0 .333 8-7-0 .533 January Indiana 2-7-0 .222 9-9-0 .500 F14 N.