Senior captain Kellan McKeon will represent Duke at 125 pounds. McKeon is 15-6 this season with three falls and two top-four finishes. He is 11-5 in tournaments this year.
Duke will utilize two 141-pound wrestlers in Greensboro. Sophomore Spencer Jasper is 8-9 this season with three falls and a second-place finish at The Citadel Open on Nov. 4 in Charleston, S.C. Jasper's career record at Duke is 20-19. Freshman A.J. Guardado is 10-9 in his first season with two pins and a fourth-place finish at the Davidson Open on Dec. 1.
Redshirt sophomore Michael Degli Obizzi will go at 149 pounds this weekend. Degli Obizzi is 15-4 this year, including a 13-1 mark in tournaments and titles at the UNC Pembroke Open on Nov. 10 and the Davidson Open. Degli Obizzi now boasts a 37-26 record as a Blue Devil.
At 157 pounds, sophomores Voris Tejada and Jared Sernoffsky get the nod at the Southern Scuffle. Tejada has placed in the top five in three of Duke's four tournaments this season. He is off to a 19-7 mark this year and his career .717 winning percentage (38-15) currently ranks 16th all-time at Duke. Sernoffsky has placed in the top three in two meets this season and has a 12-4 mark with three pins. He is 20-10 in his two years as a Blue Devil.
Junior captain Addison Nuding and redshirt junior Aaron Glover will handle the duties at 165 pounds. Nuding is 13-4 on the year with a second-place showing at Pembroke and a championship at Davidson under his belt. Glover took second place behind Nuding with four wins at the Davidson Open in his first action of the 2007-08 campaign.
Redshirt sophomore Ben Wales and redshirt junior Turner Rooney will both compete for Duke at 174 pounds. Wales won The Citadel Open and now holds an 11-8 record this season with one fall. His overall record at Duke is 20-19. Rooney placed second at The Citadel, losing only to Wales at the meet, and has posted a 6-5 mark this year with one pin and a 20-17 all-time record.
Duke's most dominating wrestler at any weight this year has been 184-pound redshirt sophomore captain John Barone, who won at Pembroke and Davidson and placed second at the East Stroudsburg Open on Nov. 17. Barone won a 12-6 decision over the then-No. 8 nationally ranked Marc Bennett of Indiana on Nov. 24. He was named the ACC's wrestler of the week on Nov. 27. Barone's 11-second pin of Mike Walsh of Limestone College on Dec. 1 was the fastest fall in Duke history, breaking an 18-year-old school record. He is 19-1 with six falls in 2007 and 54-17 overall as a Blue Devil, which is good for ninth place on Duke's all-time winning percentage list with a .761 clip.
At 197 pounds, three Duke wrestlers will see action in Greensboro. Redshirt junior Dan Fox is 9-9 in this season with two pins. Redshirt freshman Robert Holbrook is 8-6 and earned a third-place finish at The Citadel Open. Redshirt junior captain Dan Tulley, who holds a 20-27 record at Duke, will take to the mats for the first time in 2007-08.
At the heavyweight division will be redshirt sophomores Wade Van Sickle and Mike Tunick. Van Sickle has three top three finishes this season and has posted a 17-5 record with three falls this season. He is 39-29 overall as a Blue Devil. Tunick went 2-2 with two pins at the Davidson Open in his only competition of the season.
Duke will next compete against Campbell, Gardner-Webb and Anderson College at the N.C. State Duals on Saturday, Jan. 5, beginning at 12 p.m. The Blue Devils first home meet, and only one in January, is Wednesday, Jan. 9 at 7 p.m. versus N.C. State in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
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