Duke Captures 3 Titles at Appalachian Open

Saturday, January 24

Boone, N.C.

All Day

Duke University

Appalachian State Open

Duke Rides Fast Start to 19-13 Win at Michigan State

Duke Captures 3 Titles at Appalachian Open

1/24/2015 6:40:00 PM | Wrestling

By: Duke Sports Information

BOONE, N.C.—Blue Devils Trey Adamson, Connor Bass and Mitch Finesilver each captured titles in their weight classes to lead the Duke wrestling team to a successful outing at the Appalachian State Open. The Blue Devils placed 10 wrestlers among the top four across the nine divisions in which Duke was represented.

Duke placed at least one wrestler in the top four in each of the weight classes in which a Blue Devil was represented and grabbed the top two spots at 174 pounds.

Finesilver, a true freshman, picked up his first career tournament title at 133 pounds, while redshirt junior Trey Adamson outlasted classmate Randy Roden in the championship bout at 174 pounds for his first tournament win. Bass, competing unattached, rounded out the winning trio at 157 pounds.

Adamson dominated action at 174 pounds, posting two technical falls, a second-period pin and a major decision en route to the top spot. The Riverton, Utah native improved to 8-6 overall for the year with his four victories.

At 133 pounds, Finesilver was equally as impressive with a first-period pin, a major decision and a commanding 8-2 semifinal win. He bested NC State's Jamal Morris in the semifinal before dispatching Shorter's Aldon Isenberg 11-3 in the final. Zach Finesilver just missed placing among the top four, falling in the consolation semifinal.

Much like the other two Blue Devils to take home top honors, Bass dominated his opponents. He started the day with a pin and added a 15-5 major decision to advance to the title match where he edged NC State's Rodney Shepard 6-2.

Roden earned runner-up honors after edging Duke freshman Luke Farinaro in his second match of the day and cruising past Gardner-Webb's Brett Stein 8-3 to set up a title bout with Adamson. The final match was all Adamson as he got the better of Roden 20-4.

Joining Roden as a runner-up was redshirt junior Evan Botwin at 141 pounds. Botwin continues his outstanding season, going 3-1 overall. Included in his three wins was a career-best pin in just 27 seconds, which is the second fastest this season and just five seconds shy of tying for the 10th fastest in Duke history.

Fresh off of earning a spot in the NCAA Coaches poll, Dorsey had an excellent showing with second-place honors at 165. The Austin, Texas native picked up two wins before facing 2014 All-American Thomas Gantt in the final. Dorsey battled hard against Gantt, suffering an 8-2 setback.

Freshman Grant Leeth, competing unattached, rolled through the consolation bracket to place third overall. Leeth lost his second match of the day, but rebounded in a big way with consecutive falls and back-to-back technical falls to move into the consolation semifinal. The Kearney, Mo., native pinned Brian Hamann early in the second period to set up a third-place bout with NC State's Cohl Fulk. In a high-scoring affair, Leeth edged his ACC foe 16-12.

Redshirt freshman Spencer Neff and redshirt junior Brendan Walsh rounded out Duke's top four-finishers with fourth-place showings at 197 and heavyweight, respectively. Neff, after dropping his semifinal match, cruised into the third-place match with a convincing 9-2 decision before dropping a 9-6 decision in the consolation final.

Walsh lost his opening contest in overtime to move down into the consolation bracket. He rallied with a fall and technical fall to advance to the consolation semifinal. With a chance to place on the line, Walsh bested Newberry's Daniel Adkins 9-1 to earn a spot in the third-place match where he narrowly lost 6-5 to Virginia Tech's Brandon Taylor.

Included among the wins for all of the Blue Devils was a victory by Brendan Fowler at 197 pounds. A two-time All-American for the men's lacrosse team and a two-year member of the Duke football team, Fowler wrestled officially for Duke for the first time and for the first time since high school and captured a win in his opening bout.

Duke returns home next Saturday, Jan. 31 in a trio of duals with American, Drexel and Appalachian State.