After a full season of hard work, some coaches may find it difficult to motivate their squads to get to practice and finish the season strong. But when it comes to the Finesilver twins, Duke head coach Glen Lanham may have another problem on his hands.
“I had to take the key from the wrestling room because they kept sneaking in here and working out. That’s something we haven’t had to do in the past, so when I say you need to take the day off, you need to take the day off,” Lanham said. “Finally, I had to take the key at the desk [at Wilson Gym] and make sure they couldn’t get it…. To get them excited about wrestling, you don’t have to do much but put a mat and a referee out there.”
But for the twins, the early mornings and non-stop commitment is something that comes as second nature.
“We had high school coaches who have preached, ‘The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is extra,’ so you get in the room, you observe, you stay after and you do extra,” Zach Finesilver said. “That’s what is going to get you from ordinary to extraordinary. The coaches at Duke have just perpetuated the thought of that.”
In the final week of preparation before Sunday’s ACC championships at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville, Va., the Finesilvers have buckled down to help lead No. 21 Duke into the postseason. No. 9 Mitch Finesilver enters the tournament as the No. 2 seed at 149 pounds after a perfect 5-0 record in conference duals alongside Zach Finesilver, who grabbed the No. 4 seed at 141 pounds after redshirting last season.
Although Zach redshirted the entire 2014-15 campaign, Mitch had his redshirt pulled midseason to compete at 133 pounds, where he made a run at the conference championship as the No. 6 seed—out of six grapplers—to qualify for the NCAA championships as a freshman. Although Zach was forced to watch from the edge of the mat, he used his redshirt season and Mitch’s run as motivation to achieve a 24-6 overall record this year and set himself up for the postseason.
“It’s been awesome watching how [Zach] has grown [in his redshirt year],” Mitch Finesilver said. “I tell him pretty much all the time, ‘Bro, you’re doing great. You’re doing better than I was doing last year. Just go out and wrestle hard. You’re doing awesome and I’m proud of you.’”
But Mitch has a lot to be proud of for himself this season as well, taking his new weight class by storm. After moving up to 149 pounds, the sophomore has strung together the best record on the team and spent the majority of the regular season in the top 15.
Despite the challenges that a new weight brings to the table, Mitch's development last season has put him in place to grab a spot in the conference championship bout for the second season in a row with just one win following a first-round bye.
“Last year definitely helped mentality-wise,” Mitch said. “I always tell myself, ‘You can be a six seed at ACCs and come in and qualify for nationals,’ so in that way it helped me. Also, it gave me a great base going forward and that’s why I think I’m having the success I am this year.”
Zach has also taken a lot of what he learned last season in the practice room to heart en route to the conference tournament. After witnessing his brother's success, the redshirt freshman said he was motivated by his brother, dad and coaches.
Since the 141-pound weight class receives four automatic bids to the national tournament from the ACC, Zach has to win at least his first bout to reserve a spot at Madison Square Garden on the national stage. He will look to do just that when he takes on No. 5 seed Nick Zanetta of Pittsburgh, an opponent who he defeated 8-1 earlier this season at the Pitt Duals.
Although both siblings face stout competition in a conference that is experiencing one of its most successful seasons in recent memory, Lanham considers his two grapplers to be up to the challenge.
“I don’t want to get myself in trouble [saying who is more competitive]. It depends what day it is. When I look over I see Mitch getting [the best] of Zach, but Zach will say, ‘Coach, you’re probably not looking at the right time.’ They’re both really competitive guys,” he said. “In that weight, you know you have to be ready to wrestle…. I feel sorry when it’s groups of three and you have the two of them in the same group and you have another guy, because then it’s rough. Those guys are constantly coming at you.”
After making the joint decision to come to Durham, the Finesilvers now face the ultimate opportunity Sunday to become ACC champions and qualify for the NCAA tournament together—not just as teammates, but as brothers.
“It would be awesome [to have Zach and Mitch in the NCAA tournament together]. Those guys put in [the work],” Lanham said. “Everybody dreams of having a twin brother when you’re out there and wrestling, just somebody who you can look at and say, ‘Hey, we’re doing this together.’ They push each other like nobody else. They get on each other. It’s funny to watch them wrestle when they compete because they don’t give one another anything.”
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