Kerr-Brown Takes Home Wolfpack Open Title

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Kerr-Brown Takes Home Wolfpack Open Title

11/16/2014 5:47:00 PM | Wrestling

By: Duke Sports Information

Results

RALEIGH, N.C.—Redshirt senior Immanuel Kerr-Brown wrestled his way to the top spot to headline a strong day of action by the Blue Devils at the annual Wolfpack Open on NC State's campus. Duke placed 11 wrestlers among the top six and had two in the title matches with Kerr-Brown and Conner Hartmann bringing home the hardware.

Kerr-Brown, coming off of a third-place showing at the Hokie Open, cruised past the competition with a technical fall, pin and 8-3 decision to land in the semifinal round against teammate Connor Bass. The veteran leader edged his sophomore counterpart 3-2 to advance to the title match where he dominated Jake Spengler of Virginia Tech 12-5.

At 165 pounds, Jake Faust battled through three narrow decisions to find his way in the championship final. All three of Faust's wins were by two or fewer points, with his semifinal victory coming in overtime. In the title bout, Faust fell to NC State standout Tommy Gantt in a 17-6 major decision.

It was an all Duke final at 184 pounds as sophomore Jacob Kasper and Alec Schenk squared off in the consolation final. Both posted falls in their early matches before suffering narrow losses in the semifinals. Kasper jumped out early in his final match of the day and never looked back en route to the 8-0 major decision. Schenk, competing unattached, has found the podium in both of his tournaments this season.

Brandon Gambucci, in his first action of the 2014-15 season, wrestled his way to a third-place finish in his new weight class of 141 pounds. The redshirt senior needed just 2:19 to finish his first two matches, scoring first-period pins to start the day.

Gambucci suffered a tough 7-4 decision to Alfred Bannister of Maryland in the quarterfinal round. He rebounded with a 4-2 decision over teammate Evan Botwin in the consolation bracket and added his third and fourth first-period pins in the final two matches of the evening for fifth-place overall. His final pin came in a career-best 23 seconds.

Also picking up fifth-place recognition was Marcus Cain at 149 pounds. After losing his first match of the morning, Cain responded in commanding fashion with a pair of falls and four convincing decisions to earn a spot on the podium. Cain improves to 9-2 on the season and has placed in each of his tournaments.

Brian Dorsey took sixth at 174 pounds after taking third at the Hokie Open. Dorsey dropped a quarterfinal bout to Peter Renda, but rallied in the consolation bracket to find his way to the fifth-place match. In his final outing, the Austin, Texas native fell by injury default.

Redshirt junior and No. 5 Conner Hartmann, competing unattached for the first part of the season, remains undefeated on the year with four more wins today. Hartmann faced no obstacles in the early matches and edged Old Dominion's Kevin Beazley 6-4 in the championship final.

Wrestling unattached, Duke's rookies were outstanding yet again. Thayer Atkins and Mitch Finesilver took runner-up honors at 125 and 133 pounds, respectively, and Bailey jack was third at 133. Finesilver had no trouble with his opening matches and edged Maryland's Billy Rappo 12-10 in the semifinal. Finesilver, falling behind early to Nathan Kraisser of Campbell, had his comeback attempt fall just short in the 6-4 decision.

Atkins had a pair of narrow decisions in his first three matches, including a 4-1 decision over NC State's Brenden Calas in the semifinal round. The rookie lightweight had his run ended in the final match with a 10-3 setback to Virginia's Nick Hermann. Jack went 3-1 on the day to place for the second straight week. His lone loss was to the eventual champion Kraisser.

Duke opens its dual season Saturday, Nov. 22 when it hosts No. 10 Nebraska at Card Gymnasium. The dual is set to start at 1 p.m.

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