Duke began the new year traveling down to Chattanooga, Tenn., to compete in the 2024 Southern Scuffle. Throughout the two-day tournament, 12 Blue Devils wrestled against opponents from 20 different schools, including No. 18 Stanford, No. 19 Oklahoma and No. 22 Indiana.
The event was a disappointing one for Duke, who finished 14th overall with a cumulative record of 10-25. Notably, only five Blue Devils won a single match, while just four moved on to the second day. Several of Duke’s upperclassmen, particularly Logan Agin (125 lbs) and Gaetano Console (165 lbs) failed to replicate the stellar form they have shown throughout this season. While Agin and Console have at times carried the load for a young Blue Devil squad, neither wrestler yielded a win in Chattanooga.
“Looking at my upperclassmen, they’ve just got to do better,” head coach Glen Lanham said after the matches. “We’ve got to get them to the point where they can wrestle harder. We finished 14th with [seven] guys not scoring, and we got to have our upperclassmen carry the weight for us a little better than that. So not a good showing on that [end].”
Senior Connor Barket (285 lbs) was one of the few upperclassmen who did “carry the weight” for Duke (4-5). The West Lafayette, Ind. native finished with a record of 3-3, placing eighth in his weight class thanks to major decision victories against Chattanooga’s Kaleb Snodgrass and Gardner Webb’s Peyton McComas, and an impressive win by fall over North Colorado’s Xavier Doolin.
Freshmen Raymond Adams (133 lbs) and Kwasi Bonsu (197 lbs) were also bright spots for the Blue Devils. Each of the two young wrestlers finished with 2-2 records, moving onto the second day after defeating much more experienced opponents. Lanham praised Adams and Bonsu’s willingness to apply what their coaches have taught them.
“Raymond Adams and Kwasi [Bonsu], with those two freshmen you can just look at the progression of [listening to] what we’re trying to teach them,” Lanham said. “They’re not getting beat by the same thing over and over again. For both of them, it [was always] going to be a strength issue. They have high school strength and they’re wrestling in a college environment. But look at what they’ve done. They’ve put in work and extra effort and now they’re starting to see success.”
While Duke may not have started the year in dominant fashion, the Southern Scuffle represents one of the toughest challenges the Blue Devils will face all season. As the team begins its conference schedule, it will greatly benefit from having faced such tough opposition.
“When you’re wrestling, the fear of the unknown is always the thing that overwhelms people,” Lanham said. So for our guys to face tough competition early and to know what that feels like, it takes questions like, ‘Am I worthy?’ or ‘Am I supposed to be here?’ out of their minds. When you know you can compete at that level, then you’re able to calm those nerves down.”
After a long stretch of road matches, Duke finally heads back to Durham Jan. 8 for its home opener against Appalachian State in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
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Rodrigo Amare is a Trinity sophomore and assistant Blue Zone editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.