Hartmann Into Quarters; 3 Blue Devils Into Day 2

Thursday, March 17

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NCAA Championships

Hartmann Into Quarters; 3 Blue Devils Into Day 2

3/17/2016 6:08:00 PM | Wrestling

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By: Duke Sports Information

NEW YORK—Duke redshirt senior Conner Hartmann picked up a pair of wins on the opening day of the 2016 NCAA Wrestling Championships to advance to his third consecutive NCAA quarterfinal. He will be joined at Madison Square Garden on the second day by Mitch Finesilver and Jake Faust.

Duke sits in a tie for 37th place with 4.5 points through the first two rounds. For the second consecutive season and for just the second time in program history, three Blue Devils advance to day two of competition. Action at The Garden gets underway Friday morning at 11 a.m. All matches can be seen on ESPN3.

Hartmann, facing Pittsburgh's Nick Bonaccorsi in the first round for the sixth time in his career, cruised past the Panther senior in an 8-0 major decision. The No. 5 seed at 197 pounds scored a takedown with just over a minute left in the first period and then added three more points in the second period for a solid 5-0 lead. With time winding down in the match, Hartmann took a final shot and scored to make it 7-0 and push his riding time to over a minute to earn the major decision.

Duke's two-time All-American had a heart-stopping 3-2 triple overtime win over NC State's Michael Boykin in the second round. The Wolfpack sophomore scored first with a takedown of Hartmann late in the first period. Hartmann escaped before time ran out to make it 2-1 and neither wrestler scored in the second, setting up a chance for Hartmann to tie with an escape. The Port Orchard, Wash., native needed just a few seconds to tie the match, but was unable to score on offense to clinch the victory as they headed into overtime. After a scoreless sudden victory period, Hartmann rode Boykin out in the second overtime and then escaped early in the third for the 3-2 victory.

Hartmann will wrestle No. 4 seed Nathan Burak of Iowa in the quarterfinals. Hartmann defeated Burak in overtime in the 2014 NCAA Championships en route to his first All-America award.

Seeded 14th at 149 pounds, Mitch had little trouble with Brown's Steven Galiardo, garnering a 7-2 decision in his opening match. After a lot of hand fighting in the first period, Mitch successfully took Galiardo down in the final four seconds for the 2-0 lead. A second stalling call against Galiardo made it 3-0 lead for Mitch in the second and the Duke sophomore cruised to the decision in the third period.

Mitch, wrestling No. 3 seed Lavion Mayes of Missouri in the second round, battled tough in a 5-3 setback. Mayes took a 1-0 lead after a couple of stalling calls against Mitch in the first period. The Blue Devil 149-pounder evened the score with an escape in the second, but was unable to score a takedown on Mayes as he clinched the 5-3 decision with a late takedown. Mitch will wrestle Buffalo's Colt Cotten in the consolation second round Friday morning.

Both Zach Finesilver and Faust dropped hard-fought matches in their first NCAA Championships bouts. Faust bounced back in the consolation bracket to move on, while Zach saw his season come to an end in the consolation bracket.

Faust, squaring off against No. 12 seed Connor Brennan of Rider, dropped his opening bout, 7-3. Brennan took the lead early with a takedown in the first period. Faust escaped, but wasn't able to score on Faust as Brennan sealed the win in the third period with a crucial takedown that led to a riding time bonus point.

Offense was hard to come by in the Faust and Austin Reese match Thursday evening. Both wrestlers defended shots well and it came down to Faust's outstanding second period of riding. The redshirt junior built his riding time to two minutes and escaped in the third to grab the 1-0 lead. He held off late shots from Reese to advance with the 2-0 decision.

Zach, wrestling in the pigtail match at 141, fell to Appalachian State's Mike Longo 7-6 in a reversal of fortunes from the regular season. Trailing 5-3 to start the third period, Zach got the reversal to tie the match early in the final period, but Longo responded just seconds later with his own reversal for the 7-5 edge. The Blue Devils' redshirt freshman escaped to make it 7-6, but was unable to get the takedown in the waning seconds as he fell to the consolation bracket.

Up against No. 10 seed Todd Preston of Harvard in the consolation bracket, Zach fought hard, but couldn't overcome and early deficit from four nearfall points in the first period. The Colorado native finished his season with a 25-14 record in his first year in a Duke singlet.

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