Over the weekend, the Hopkins wrestling team headed to College Park, Md. to participate in the annual UMD Terrapin Duals.
Facing off against much larger, Division I schools like West Virginia and Maryland, Hopkins put up a good match despite coming up short of what they had hoped for.
The Blue Jays first faced off against the West Virginia Mountaineers with a few very close matches but a disappointing loss of 43-0.
Sophomore Paul Bewak and junior Henry Stauber both narrowly missed wins, with Stauber conceding to his opponent only after overtime came into play.
The Jays did considerably better when facing Maryland, earning their only six points of the day when sophomore Christian Salera won by default off a UMD injury.
Bewak and Stauber both held their own, and both also lost by small margins. The final score against UMD was 40-6.
Hopkins also had a less-than-satisfactory meet at the Messiah invitational on Saturday, placing ninth out of nine teams.
But while the Blue Jay wrestling team may be off to a rough start, the future is looking bright.
Pre-season they were ranked 18th in the nation, the best ranking the program has ever received. Four of the Jays, Paul Bewak, Reid Mosquera, Henry Stauber and Paul Marcello also ranked in the nation’s top ten.
One of the highlights of this weekend’s matches was Evan Krumheuer’s performance in the Messiah invitational.
Garnering two pins before losing out to a fourth-seeded opponent, Krumheuer had one of the best showings for the Jays.
“We battled hard this weekend against some very good opponents,” Krumheuer said. “For the part of the team wrestling at the Messiah tournament, we went in and did what we could against a good lineup of fellow Division III teams. I think everyone learned a lot about what they are doing well and what they still need to work on for this season. For the rest of our guys wrestling at Maryland, the story is much the same. They fought against some of the best guys in the country and showed that a Division III team can still hang with Division I teams.
Despite the hard loss the Jays faced, Krumheuer said he’s optimistic about the team’s future.
“[The loss] tells us that we can’t rest on our laurels and that we have a lot of work to do if we want to reach our end of the season goals,” Krumheuer said. “Our motto this year is ‘Finish.’ We may have had a bit of rough go of it this weekend, but we have confidence that we will be at our peak level of performance when the time is right in February and March.”
Looking toward the rest of the season, Krumheuer cited some of the team’s chief goals.
“Our team has set high goals and is looking to not only repeat as Centennial Conference Champions, but also to be one of the top teams in the country with a high placement at the National Championships in March,” he said.
The next Hopkins wrestling match is this Saturday, when Hopkins travels to Wilkes University to compete in the John Reese Duals.
