Completed Event: Wrestling versus NCAA Championship on March 20, 2025 , , NTS
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Final
Wrestling
vs NCAA Championship
Wrestlers Take Aim At ACC Titles
3/4/2004 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
March 4, 2004
by John Roth
Blue Devil Weekly
DURHAM, N.C. - Duke junior Levi Craig sometimes catches himself in class thinking, "What can I do to get better?" Not better in academics, but better on the wrestling mat, where the Blue Devil veteran has developed into a contender for postseason glory.
Craig is one of three Duke wrestlers who went undefeated in Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season matches and will likely be awarded No. 1 seeds in their weight classes when the annual ACC championship meet takes place this Saturday (Mar. 6) at Virginia.
Duke has never won the ACC team title, but the Blue Devils went 3-1 in the league this winter and have several individuals who could vie for championships and the automatic NCAA berths that accompany them. Craig will take aim at the 174-pound title after going 4-0 during the ACC season. Freshman Christian Smith won his four ACC matches at 125 pounds and senior Adam Benitez did the same at 133 pounds, making both of them the favorites to earn top seeds. Junior Frank Cornely (3-1) at 184 pounds, senior Andy Soliman (2-2) at 149, senior Tim Marcantonio (2-2) at 197 and fifth-year veteran Michael Mitchell (2-2) at 165 also could find themselves battling for championships and trying to earn points to improve the Blue Devils' team chances.
Duke hasn't had an ACC wrestling champ since Matt Mapes in 1998, and the program featured just four conference titlists throughout the entire decade of the 1990s. But head coach Clar Anderson is optimistic that this could be the Devils' best tournament in years. "We're going in hoping to win," he said. "If everyone does exactly what they did during the season, N.C. State would win it and we'd probably be second. But there were a lot of close matches. We feel we can win some of the close ones, and if we upset a few kids we can be right there." The flip side, of course, is that with so many narrow decisions during the regular season, there are no indisputable favorites. It would not be surprising if a few No. 1 seeds lost their openers against opponents they barely defeated during the regular season.
Duke's overall dual match record was 9-7 this year. In ACC play the Devils defeated Maryland (25-9), North Carolina (21-13) and Virginia (21-17) while falling last week to N.C. State (18-12). A couple of the league rivals were not as strong as usual, and Duke took advantage with a lineup that features some strong freshmen plus some maturity in the upper weight classes. "This may be the most balanced team I've ever coached," said Anderson. "There aren't many weak spots."
One of those mature veterans is Craig, described by Anderson as a steady workhorse of a wrestler with no frills but who also makes few mistakes. Craig had a losing record last year and is breakeven at 18-18 this year. But he won four close ACC matches -- by scores of 2-0, 4-2, 6-3 and 7-4 -- and hopes he can prove that was no fluke in the tournament.
"I should be the No. 1 seed," he said. "Now I want to prove I'm the best by dominating and stepping up my level of wrestling. I know I have to win the ACC title to reach nationals. It would be nice to win the ACC, but what I'm really looking forward to is nationals and this is the ticket to nationals."
Craig said renewed commitment to training and a better mental outlook helped him improve this year. "I realized early in the season that I had a chance to win the ACC and go to nationals, and that became my focus," he said. "I knew I could do it, and it was just a matter of stepping up my game.
"It's the same with our team. Our coaches told us, 'If you want to win, we can do it.' We have the talent, it's just a matter of getting down to it."
Smith, the rookie at 125 pounds, went 28-12 during the regular season. All of his ACC matches were close. His 9-4 win over N.C. State's Jeremy Hartrum last week was his most impressive. Benitez, the senior who had an 11-22 record last season, went 23-10 this year. He bounced back and forth between 141 and 133 pounds in early-season tournaments before settling in at 133. He had a 16-3 record in that class, including a perfect 11-0 mark during the dual match season. Benitez and Smith are training partners.
"Adam is awesome," Smith said. "He's a very sound wrestler with a lot of skills. If he wrestles what he's capable of, he's one of the top guys in the country."
This week, the challenge will be to see which Duke guys can finish tops in the ACC. All 10 ACC champs, plus five wild cards, receive automatic bids to the NCAA meet Mar. 18-20 in St. Louis. Mitchell is the only member of the current team who's been to nationals, qualifying at 165 pounds in 2002.
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