Pair of Duke Wrestlers Etch Names in Guinness Book of World Records

DURHAM, N.C. – Last week, Dash Hort, a redshirt freshman on the Duke Wrestling team, prevailed as the winner of the Blue Devils' world-record-setting basketball knockout game.

For Hort and his teammates, including runner-up Owen McGrory, participating in the world's largest knockout game was not planned. They discussed attending for the first time at lunch earlier that day.

"We weren't doing that," Hort said he decided when he first heard about it at trainer's table. "We had an ECON 204 exam Thursday, so we had to study for that." Ultimately, after some convincing from friends, the group of wrestlers decided to attend the event.

Early in the game, the line moved slowly. Hort and his friends contemplated leaving -- "We knew what the odds of winning were. It was a sunk cost."

As the line, shrunk, however, Hort and has friends decided to wait it out and see if they could make a run at wining the competition. "At one point, we were three out of 100," he said. "Then it goes down to 60 people left; that's a five percent chance to win."

"After about two hours, everyone remaining was able to fit on the court and we realized that winning was actually possible," McGrory added.

To prevent any close calls, Hort and his group stuck together.

"It was pretty smooth sailing, especially towards the end," Hort added. "At that point, everyone started getting hot. Everyone was hitting their shots."

Ultimately, it came down to Hort and McGrory, with Hort knocking out his teammate to win.

"I got Owen [McGrory] out at the end," Hort said. "He shot and missed. I don't know what was going through his head; he turned back like he was going to pass it to somebody. When I shot it, it felt good off the hand."

Hort made the winning shot to win the competition. He would receive a $1,000 prize for his victory, which he says he will split with his friends. The event lasted from 6:30 p.m., to just after 10:00 p.m.

Hort, who has not played organized basketball since his time playing in youth recreational leagues, went on to say that making the Guinness Book of World Records was not something he anticipated.

"It's such a random thing that has no particular value, and I wouldn't say I'm particularly talented at basketball in any sense," Hort said jokingly, "but it's very cool to do something you would have read [in the Guinness Book of World Records] as a kid."

McGrory said, "I've never really tried to be a part of any record, so I guess this one was kind of by accident, but it's still pretty cool. This is one of my more memorable experiences at Duke."

Duke's record 711 participants bested the previous world record by just 10 participants, which was hosted by the Dallas Mavericks in the plaza area outside of American Airlines Center in October 2015.

Duke wrestling will be back in action on March 8 in Blacksburg, Virginia, for the ACC Championship.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils wrestling, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeWRES".

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Pair of Duke Wrestlers Etch Names in Guinness Book of World Records

Players Mentioned

Dash Hort

Owen McGrory

Duke information

Pair of Duke Wrestlers Etch Names in Guinness Book of World Records

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Players Mentioned

Dash Hort

Owen McGrory

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Duke information