Wrestling Completes Day One At Southern Scuffle

Monday, December 29

Greensboro, N.C.

All Day

Duke University

Southern Scuffle

Three Dual Meets On Tap For Duke In Raleigh

Wrestling Completes Day One At Southern Scuffle

12/29/2008 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling

By: Duke Sports Information

GREENSBORO, N.C.?The Duke University wrestling squad turned in a solid first day of competition at the annual Southern Scuffle hosted by UNC Greensboro. Two Blue Devils went unbeaten on the day, advancing to the quarterfinals of the championship bracket, and five overall moved on to the second day of competition. Duke sits in 15th-place in the 31-team field.

Completed in the first day of competition were the first three rounds of the championship field as well as three rounds of the wrestleback bracket. The second day of action kicks off at 9 a.m., with the quarterfinals or the championship bracket and the fourth round of the wrestlebacks.

Juniors Konrad Dudziak and John Barone both went undefeated on the day to move into the quarterfinal round tomorrow. Dudziak and Barone both are seeded among the top six in their respective classes.

Seeded fourth at heavyweight, Dudziak opened the day with a major decision victory, 10-0, over Zac Walsh of Bloomsburg University. He followed that up with another commanding major decision win by a score of 13-2 against Ziad Haddad of North Carolina. He is scheduled to take on David Marone of Virginia Tech in the quarterfinal round with a potential bout against second-seeded Jermail Porter of Kent State in the semifinal round.

Barone headed into the two-day tournament as the No. 6 seed at 184 pounds. He breezed through his opening two duals as well, beating Hofstra's Anthony Tortora by decision 7-3. The native of Shirley, N.Y., put himself into the quarterfinals with a 9-1 major decision over Tom Kocher of Lock Haven. Barone will take on No. 3 seed Josh Patterson of Binghamton in his quarterfinal match.

Senior Aaron Glover posted a strong opening day of action at 165 pounds. Glover kicked off the tournament with a pair of victories before dropping a decision to the No. 2 seed. In the first round, he posted a 9-3 decision over Joseph Bayer of Liberty. He added a convincing major decision, 14-6, over Mike Alvarez of Princeton in the second round before meeting second-seeded Jarrod King in the third round where he lost a 5-0 decision to the Edinboro wrestler. Glover bounced back, winning by decision 5-4 over Michael Cuthbertson of Boise State to stay alive in the wrestlebacks.

Also competing unattached at 165 pounds, sophomore Willy Mello rebounded with a pair of wins after a tournament-opening setback to earn a spot in the fourth round of the wrestlebacks. Dropping his first bout by decision 9-3 to Anthony Bongarzone, Mello came back with two standout showings. He got past George Mason's Kramer Whitelaw by a 4-0 decision and needed just 4:18 to register a fall against Ray Ward.

Senior Dan Tulley rounds out the Blue Devil contingent who survived the first day of competition. Wrestling at 197 pounds, Tulley posted a 3-1 record and will compete in the fourth round of the wrestlebacks in day two. After losing his opening dual by decision, 6-4, he posted a major decision victory, 15-6 over Peter Sturgeon of UNC Greensboro. Tulley put together two more strong performances with 5-2 and 6-1 wins by decision in the next two respective rounds. He will go up against the Citadel's Odie Delaney in round four of the wrestlebacks.

Live results will be available for tomorrow's action. The day kicks off at 9 a.m., with the championship finals starting at 5:30 p.m. The medal rounds for places third through eighth start at 2 p.m.

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