Davidson also beat Princeton 30-18, improving their record to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in the Southern Conference. Princeton fell to 0-10 on the season and 0-1 in the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association.
The tri-meet was set up with two mats, so that each team was split into two-- its upper five weight classes and its lower five weight classes. To begin the meet, Duke's upper weights squared off against Davidson's upper weights on one mat, while Duke's lower weights met Princeton lower weights on the other mat. In the second phase of the night, Duke's lower weights wrestled Davidson lower weights, while right beside them Princeton's upper weights grappled with Davidson's upper weights. The last third of the evening saw Duke's upper weights take on Princeton's upper weights, while Davidson's lower weights went at it with Princeton's lower weights.
The Davidson meet began poorly for Duke, as they lost four straight matches in the 165, 174, and 184, and 197 pounds to go down 12-0. Mike Tunick was able to stop the bleeding as he gained six points for the Blue Devils on a forfeit in the Heavyweight class.
From then on it got very interesting as Duke attempted to battle back from six points in the lower weight classes. Kellan McKeon lost an extremely close match 2-1 to Davidson's Ben Altman at the 125 pound level. The Blue Devils had one team point deducted for unsportsmanlike conduct immediately following the match to put them down 15-5. That one-point penalty would turn out to haunt them later on.
Spencer Jasper defeated Chris Panfili after gaining two points in the first period on a take down, and then holding on for a 3-0 victory at 133 pounds. Jasper received his third point for accumulating a minute differential of riding time over his opponent.
After Philip Wightman lost 11-6 to Davidson's Jim Avola at 141 pounds, the Wildcats were ahead of the Blue Devils 18-8 with two matches to go. Knowing that Addison Nuding would score six points on a forfeit by Davidson at 157 pounds in the final match, Daniel Shvartsman needed to come up with a major decision to at least secure a tie, or a technical fall or pin to win the meet for Duke.
Shvartsman went up 7-2 on Scott Matthews going into the third and final period, but was unable to increase his lead any further. He ended up winning his match 7-3, although Duke was defeated overall on team points 18-17. Shvartsman continues to move up on the Blue Devils' career wins list. He currently ranks 12th with 76 career victories. Shvartsman is three wins behind Jim Walsh in 11th place, and 29 wins behind all-time leader Bradd Weber.
In their other head-to-head meet, it was all Duke, as they blew Princeton away. Every match was won by at least five points. The upper weight classes were especially dominant, scoring two major decisions and two pins.
McKeon and Jasper won on forfeits before Wightman, Voris Tejada, and Nuding all won decisions at the 141, 149, and 157 pound weight classes, respectively. For Tejada it was his team-leading 18th win on the year.
At 165 pounds, Aaron Glover scored a major decision over Princeton's Aaron Casp, 19-7. That was followed by John Barone's pinning of Matt Collins at 3:00. It was Barone's fifth pin on the season, which ties him for the team best with 141 pound Westley Kuser. It also improved his team-best winning percentage, which now stands at .700 with a 14-6 record.
Dan Fox scored Duke's second major decision of the evening with a 10-1 triumph over the Tigers' Oliver Noteware in the 184 pound weight class. Patrick Keenum added on a win at 197 pounds with a 5-0 victory over Zach Morse. Tunick closed out the night with a bang as he pinned Kris Berr at 4:19 for his second pin of the year, and six more Duke points.
This weekend marked the first annual Duke Wrestling Alumni Reunion. Over 50 alums returned to catch up with one another and honor legendary Blue Devil coach Bill Harvey. Seven decades of Duke wrestling were represented, including eight individual ACC champions and ten NCAA qualifiers.
Duke will compete next in Raleigh against N.C. State in their ACC opening dual meet on Wed., Jan. 10. Meet time is set for 7:30 p.m. The Blue Devils will return home on Wed., Jan. 24, for another tri-meet, this time with The Citadel and Campbell. That meet will start at 7:00 p.m.
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