Blue Devils Place Four In Top Eight At Southern Scuffle

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Blue Devils Place Four In Top Eight At Southern Scuffle

12/30/2008 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling

By: Duke Sports Information

GREENSBORO, N.C.?Led by five wrestlers in the second day of the Southern Scuffle, Duke University captured three top eight finishes in the annual tournament hosted by UNC Greensboro. The Blue Devils finished with a third-place showing, a seventh, and an eighth-place finish. As a team, the Blue Devils finished 13th in the 28-team field with 44.5 points. Cornell took home the overall title with 139 points.

Konrad Dudziak, Dan Tulley, and John Barone each earned medal honors, while Willy Mello brought home an award wrestling unattached. The finish by the Blue Devils is the best since they placed three in the top six in 2003-04.

Leading the way for the Blue Devils on day two was Dudziak with a third-place finish at heavyweight. Winning both of his matches on the first day of competition, Dudziak earned a third decision, 4-2, over David Marone of Virginia Tech to move into the semifinal round. He met up with No. 2 seed and ninth-ranked nationally Jermail Porter of Kent State. Fourth-seeded Dudziak, battled but was unable to get past Porter, losing by decision 8-4.

Dudziak rebounded with a fall in 5:32 over Dustin Porter for a berth in the third-place contest against top-seeded Mitch Monteir of Cal-State Bakersfield. The native of Bayonne, N.J. triumphed with an 8-4 decision over seventh-ranked Monteir for third place overall. Posting a 5-1 record in the tournament and ranked 11th nationally, Dudziak pushes his record to 23-2 on the season.

Tulley brought home seventh-place honors for the Blue Devils at 197 pounds. After going 3-1 in the opening day, Tulley continued his hot streak with a victory over Odie Delaney of the Citadel in the fifth round of the consolation bracket. He advanced past the next opponent with a medical forfeit before dropping a narrow 5-4 decision to eighth-seeded Cameron Simaz of Cornell. In a tightly contested dual, Tulley emerged victorious in overtime, 3-1, for seventh place.

Rounding out the placewinners for Duke was Barone with an eight-place finish. Barone started the day with a setback as third-seeded Josh Patterson of Binghamton registered a fall in 4:31 to move into the semifinal round. In the consolation bracket, Barone fell to seven seed Tommy Spellman of Virginia Tech by fall in 2:52. The tough matches continued for Barone in the seventh-place bout as he lost to Mikal McKee of UNC Greensboro by decision 9-5. Barone finished the tournament with a 2-3 record and now stands at 24-5 on the season.

Also lining up for the Blue Devils today were Mello and Aaron Glover in the consolation bracket at 184 pounds. Wrestling unattached at the tournament, Mello continued his stellar performance with a pair of falls to advance to the consolation quarterfinals. He needed just 2:12 to beat Jeff Jacobs of East Stroudsburg and used only 3:29 to drop Ryan McGarity for a berth in the quarterfinal bout. Despite a valiant effort, Mello could not get past Obie Simpson as he fell 1-0. Mello and Kyle Kiss of North Carolina were scheduled to compete in the seventh-place match, but Kiss was unable as Mello took the medical forfeit victory for the seventh-place award.

Glover opened the day with a 9-5 decision over Matt Coleman of Edinboro, but could not get past Kiss as the Tar Heel spoiled Glover's bid for a quarterfinal appearance. Glover moved his season record to 10-5 with a 4-2 record in Greensboro.

The Blue Devils open the New Year on Jan. 3 at the N.C. State duals.

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