After a grueling weekend in the Big Apple, the Blue Devils capped off another record-shattering season on the mats beneath the lights of the World’s Most Famous Arena.
Redshirt senior Conner Hartmann led the way for No. 22 Duke at Madison Square Garden in New York at the NCAA Division I championships, garnering his third straight All-America honors at 197 pounds and becoming the first Blue Devil to reach the podium in three consecutive seasons with his seventh-place finish. As one of four wrestlers representing Duke on the national stage, Hartmann guided the Blue Devils to a 31st-place finish out of 72 teams with 11 points.
The fifth-seeded Hartmann squeaked through the first day of competition with two wins against familiar ACC foes. The Port Orchard, Wash., native dispatched Nick Bonaccorsi of Pittsburgh in the first round, before upending N.C. State’s Michael Boykin in a nail-biting triple-overtime finish, 3-2. But in Friday’s quarterfinals, the 197-pounder hit a brick wall against Iowa’s Nathan Burak—the fourth-seeded grappler in his class.
Although Hartmann defeated Burak in the 2014 tournament, the Hawkeye came away with the 5-2 decision this time around to send his Duke opponent into the consolation bracket. With just one more win needed for All-America honors, Hartmann dispatched Ryan Wolfe of Rider with a convincing third period, scoring seven points in the final frame to notch the 7-0 victory Friday evening.
In a rematch of this year’s ACC title matchup, Hartmann fell to No. 6 seed Jared Haught of Virginia Tech for the first time in his career, 5-2, after not being able to get to his offense. But despite the setback, the Blue Devil rallied in the seventh-place matchup against No. 7 seed Brett Harner of Princeton Saturday morning, capturing seventh place with a strong 11-2 major decision.
The redshirt senior finishes his career at Duke as a four-time NCAA qualifier with fifth-, six- and seventh-place finishes in the NCAA tournament in his last three campaigns, respectively, as well as two ACC titles to cap off his career.
Aside from Hartmann, two other Blue Devils made it to the second day of competition—just the second time in program history that three Duke grapplers have survived the first day.
At 149 pounds, No. 14 seed Mitch Finesilver advanced past the opening day for the second consecutive year after winning his opening match against Brown’s Steven Galiardo, 7-2. But despite early momentum, the sophomore fell to No. 3 seed Lavion Mayes of Missouri in the second round to fall into the wrestlebacks.
With a long road ahead of him to reach the podium, Finesilver rattled off two consolation bracket wins against Colt Cotton of Buffalo and No. 6 seed Jason Tsirtsis of Northwestern—a rematch of the Wildcat's 5-0 Feb. 19 victory—to set him up with a do-or-die match to reach the podium.
But with his season on the line, the Greenwood Village, Colo., native fell just short of All-America honors, dropping a tightly contested match against No. 9 seed Justin Oliver of Central Michigan. Despite a flurry of action in the final 30 seconds, Oliver fended off the Blue Devil’s advances to end Finesilver's tournament hopes with a 6-5 defeat.
Finesilver finishes his second campaign under Duke head coach Glen Lanham with a 31-9 ledger, becoming the 12th grappler in program history to reach 30 wins in a single season.
Redshirt junior Jake Faust suffered a setback in his first match at 165 pounds, sending him into the consolation bracket like Finesilver. Although Faust scored a 2-0 victory against Ohio’s Austin Reese Thursday evening to ensure he would see action Friday, his first NCAA bid ended the next morning, when he fell 5-2 to Geno Morelli of Penn State.
First-time NCAA qualifier Zach Finesilver's debut on the national stage came to an end on day one. The redshirt freshman dropped his pigtail match 7-6 to Appalachian State’s Michael Longo at 141 pounds before finding himself overmatched against Harvard’s No. 10 seed Todd Preston in the wrestlebacks. But if his twin brother’s success in his second campaign under Lanham is any indication, Finesilver should be poised for another tournament run for Duke next season.
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