Dudziak Captures ACC Heavyweight Title

Saturday, March 7

Blacksburg, Va.

11 a.m.

Duke University

ACC Championship

Dudziak Captures ACC Heavyweight Title

3/7/2009 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling

By: Duke Sports Information

BLACKSBURG, Va.?Duke University heavyweight Konrad Dudziak defeated North Carolina's Justin Dobies 7-5 to become the 21st Blue Devil to capture an Atlantic Coast Conference wrestling individual title tonight at the ACC Championship. Dudziak captured Duke's 28th overall ACC individual crown as the Blue Devils took sixth overall with 30.5 points.

Maryland captured the title, while Virginia took second place by two points. Virginia Tech took third after going 0-5 in title tilts.

Earning the top seed in the tournament, fifth-ranked Dudziak posted a pair of victories on the day to improve to 27-2 overall. His victory gives him an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship, Duke's 28th wrestler to earn a spot in the NCAA Championship field.

Dudziak moved into the championship tilt with a narrow 4-3 decision over Patrick Gilmore of Maryland. In the title match against Dobies, Dudziak jumped to a 2-0 lead with an early takedown. Dobies tied it up at two, but it was Dudziak registering four points in the final period to earn the 7-5 decision.

Duke last captured an ACC individual title in 2005 with Frank Cornely at 184 pounds.

Redshirt junior John Barone added a third-place finish for the Raiders at 184 pounds, beating Mark Jahad of N.C. State with a 10-2 major decision in the third-place match. The victory pushed his career wins total to 106, surpassing Bradd Weber's record 105. The Shirley, N.Y. native also beat his own single-season wins mark by win as he moved to 36-6 on the year.

Seeded second, Barone opened the day with dominating 16-0 technical fall win over Jahad to move into the semifinals. He met third-seeded Rocco Caponi of Virginia in the following match, losing a 7-3 decision. Moving to the consolation bracket he dropped Maryland's Brady Nielson in a 4-0 decision to set up the rematch with Jahad.

With the ACC's 184-pound division having two automatic bids to the NCAA Championship, Barone will wait and see if he is awarded a wild card. The additional wildcards will be announced on March 11.

Moments before Barone earned third-place honors at 174 pounds, junior Voris Tejada took fourth in a tough 4-3 decision to Corey Peltier of Maryland. Earning the third seed in the tournament, Tejada finished the day with a 1-2 record to close out the season at 23-17.

Receiving a bye in the opening round, Tejada took on No. 2 seed Anthon Trongone of Virginia Tech for a bid to the championship match. Trongone snuck past the Duke junior with a 3-2 decision. Tejada rebounded in the consolation bracket with a 3-1 decision over Ray Ward of N.C. State before falling to Peltier in the third-place match.

Putting together a strong showing to close out his rookie season was Peter Terezza at 125 pounds. Terezza posted a 1-1 record to take fourth overall. He opened the day with a thrilling upset of fourth-seeded Mike Moreno of N.C. State. Earning the 8-6 decision over Moreno pitted Terezza against top-seeded and 12th-ranked Jarrod Garnett of Virginia Tech. Garnett rolled to the title tilt with a fall in 6:03 against the Duke youngster to send Terezza into a rematch with Moreno.

Duke's Dan Adamo also took fourth place after moving into the third-place match with a forfeit from Peter Yates of Virginia Tech. Adamo lost to No. 4 seed Kellon Balum by an 8-3 decision in his final match of the year to close out the season with a 15-15 record.

The NCAA Championship will be held in St. Louis, Mo., on March 19-21. There will be 330 wrestlers with 33 in each weight class.