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Cornely, Dudziak Turn In Successful Showings At U.S. Freestyle Nationals
4/19/2005 1:00:00 AM | Wrestling
April 19, 2005
EVANSTON, Ill. - Blue Devil senior Frank Cornely and freshman Konrad Dudziak represented the Duke wrestling team at the United States Freestyle Nationals over the weekend. The event is considered to be the most elite college freestyle event in the nation. Cornely took home a sixth-place finish at 185 pounds, garnering freestyle All-America status. Dudziak also turned in an impressive performance, finishing 12th at 211.5 pounds.
Cornely's journey started with a pigtail match against Kurt Brenner of the Angry Fish Wrestling Club, which he won, two periods to none. He followed with a dominating performance against Justin Peterson of Wisconsin Wrestling Club and a low-scoring affair against Doug Umbehauer of Rider Wrestling Club. In the round of 16, Cornely continued his perfect period streak, winning both periods against Alex Pavlenko of Sunkist Kids, each by a 2-0 score. In the quarterfinals, he won in similar fashion, 1-0 and 3-0, over Keith Gavin of Pittsburgh Wrestling Club. That set up a semifinal match-up with two-time NCAA finalist Ben Askren of Missouri.
Cornely started off with a first period victory, 2-0, but Askren turned the tables by tying the second period at 1-1 and then dominating the third period to send Cornely to the consolation bracket. From there, the Duke senior wrestled the third-place finisher at the NCAA Championships, Jake Herbert of Northwestern. Herbert took advantage of his home territory with a strong two period victory. Cornely's placing match was closer, but he fell to Tyrell Todd of the Cliff Keen Wrestling Club in three periods, leaving him with an impressive sixth place finish and a 5-3 record for the weekend.
Dudziak, a freshman who was fresh off a national title in his native Poland, also had a terrific weekend. He started out with a two-period win over Stanford's Ian Bork. His next match came against Joe Gulotta of Wildcat Wrestling Club, who managed to defeat Dudziak in two periods. The long march through the consolations for the Blue Devil began with dominating wins of 3-0, 6-0 and 1-0, 7-0. Dudziak continued his hot streak, winning a 4-3, 6-0 match over Jarred Massey. The run would end there, however, as Dudziak lost a tight, 1-0, 1-1 match to eventual eighth-place finisher Justin Bronson of the Minnesota Storm. Overall, Dudziak went 4-2 on the weekend.
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