Duke Wrestlers Put In Strong Performances And Place 23rd At Reno Tournament

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Duke Wrestlers Put In Strong Performances And Place 23rd At Reno Tournament

12/23/2006 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling

By: Duke Sports Information

RENO, Nev. - Duke put in a solid showing in their annual western tournament, as the team competed this past week at the Reno Tournament of Champions. Redshirt sophomore Aaron Glover picked up a team-high three wins on the day, and redshirt senior Daniel Shvartsman made his return to the team with a quarterfinal berth. Sophomore Addison Nuding and junior Wes Kuser also turned in strong efforts on the day to lead the Blue Devils.

Glover started his day at the 165 pound weight class with a loss to a Stanford opponent, but then stormed through the consolations with three wins. He started with a narrow victory over Cal State Fullerton's Bryan Tice, 6-5, with the decisive point scored by riding time advantage. Glover won a little more comfortably in his next match, with a booming, patented pin out of the neutral position. He followed that with a tight 3-1 win over University of Oregon's Jake McCoy. Glover's day ended against eventual top eight place winner Johnny Nunez of Boise State University.

Shvartsman, who trained for his final collegiate campaign in Moscow during the fall semester, had a reacquaintance with folkstyle wrestling. He began with an 11-4 victory over Bill McKeel of Minnesota State, and then knocked off the number five seed, Derek Kipperberg of Oregon State, to reach the quarterfinals. The win featured Shvartsman's second pin of his college career, as he caught Kipperberg flat from neutral to end the match. In the quarterfinals the 149 pounder ran into eventual fifth place finisher and number four seed Brandon Doyle of Cal State Bakersfield, and faltered late in a 10-5 loss. He then succumbed to Central Michigan's Brandon Carter, who went on to take sixth, by a 5-2 margin.

Addison Nuding had the best beginning on the team, scoring a pin out of a cradle in the first period of his first match against Newberry's Dustin Harvey. Unfortunately, that put him up against the eventual runner-up and top seed Josh Zupanic of Stanford. Nuding took a loss there, but came right back with a solid 6-0 victory against Shaun Smith of The Citadel. Nuding fell out of the 157 pound bracket of the tournament in the next match with a 7-2 loss to a top eight placewinner, Keegan Davis of Oregon St.

Westley Kuser also had a good run in the consolation bracket after dropping his opening match. Recovering from a 6-4 defeat, the 141 pounder from Pennsylvania returned with a pin against Tony Washington of Newberry College, and then scored a big win over a Big 10 wrestler, with a 7-5 decision against Nick Bertucci of Purdue. Kuser lost his next match to finish the day 2-2.

Also scoring wins for the Blue Devils were upperweights John Barone and Dan Fox at 174 and 184 pounds, respectively. Barone, coming back from a few small injuries, won his opening match by a commanding 8-1 score. Fox had the misfortune of wrestling the eventual champ in his opening match but came back to pick up a nice 10-5 victory over the University of Wyoming's Preston Pavich.

The Duke team has gone home for the holidays, but will return to action soon with the prestigious Southern Scuffle tournament in Greensboro, N.C. on Dec. 29 and 30. The home season begins shortly thereafter with matches against Princeton and Davidson on January 6, which will also feature the first annual Duke Wrestling Reunion.

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