Aidan Wallace rang in the new year with his first-ever victory against a ranked opponent. Less than 24 hours later, he doubled that number.
Duke sent 15 wrestlers to compete at the Southern Scuffle this weekend in Chattanooga, Tenn. Wallace, a redshirt freshman, picked up the first ranked victories of his career, advancing to the finals after going undefeated on Saturday. Twenty-ninth-ranked heavyweight Connor Barket also advanced to compete on Sunday thanks to some impressive performances over the weekend.
“It's a tough tournament. It's a great measuring stick to get our guys in line,” head coach Glenn Lanham said. “We have a lot of ACC stuff coming up right now, so it’s pretty good to get our guys in place as far as that goes.”
Wallace had a career day Saturday, going 4-0 against opponents from Northern Colorado, Chattanooga and Little Rock. His standout performance on the day came against Campbell’s Domonic Baker, who was ranked 28th nationally coming into the match. Wallace handled business with an 8-4 victory over Baker, marking the first ranked win of his career and sending him to the semifinals the next day.
On Sunday, Wallace continued to impress, defeating 32nd-ranked Tate Picklo of Oklahoma on the back of a 10-6 decision. Wallace became the first Blue Devil to appear in the finals of the Southern Scuffle since 2022. In the championship match he faced 13th-ranked Gunner Filipowicz of Army, where Wallace fell short 18-3 on a tech fall.
“He comes from a great high school program at [Bergen Catholic]. They turn out the national champions and all-Americans at that school,” Lanham said of Wallace. “He had a great tournament to beat two nationally-ranked tournament guys.”
Despite his loss in the final, Wallace now leads Duke for wins this season with 20, followed closely by Barket, who has 19. Barket started the weekend out strong, posting a 12-1 major decision victory in the opener followed by a 4-1 decision victory in his second match. However, he closed out the day with a 21-6 loss on a tech fall to Penn State’s Cole Mirasola.
Barket registered a fall the next day against Gabe Christenson of Virginia, before recording a 10-2 major victory over Bellarmine’s Daulton Meyer to cement his seventh-place finish on the weekend.
“We knew that was going to be a tough match, but I was excited he closed it out with a win,” Lanham said.
Duke now prepares to take on undefeated N.C. State Friday a few miles down the road in Raleigh.
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