Maryland @ Michigan

Michigan defeated Maryland 18-18 at the Bahna Wrestling Center in Ann Arbor, MI on January 10, 2025. The final scoreline belies how the dual was decided: three bonus-point outcomes ultimately determined the result in a back-and-forth Big Ten matchup.

Christian Tanefeu’s major decision at 125 pounds was one of Michigan’s key blows, a 12-4 major that delivered four team points and kept the Wolverines in the mix. Maryland answered in a big way when Braxton Brown at 133 pounds put together a fall over Nolan Wertanen, a six-point swing that tightened the score and gave Maryland a momentum burst. Those two bouts underscored how bonus scoring, not narrow decisions, carried the day.

The clearest turning point came at 197 pounds, where Jacob Cardenas put a capstone on Michigan’s bonus scoring with a 15-0 technical fall. That five-point victory supplied the extra margin Michigan needed after the pin by Brown, and it proved decisive in the overall team outcome. Between Tanefeu’s major and Cardenas’s technical fall, Michigan’s bonus production outweighed Maryland’s singular pin.

In a dual decided by bonus points, both teams found ways to score big moments, but Michigan’s combination of a major decision and a dominant technical fall made the difference on January 10. The meet will be remembered for those three high-value results rather than a string of close decisions.