Greensboro, N.C. (TheACC.com) — Duke junior Mitch Finesilver was named the Atlantic Coast Conference Wrestler of the Week after leading the Blue Devils to back-to-back dual meet wins over Cal State Bakersfield and Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado.
Finesilver, from Greenwood Village, Colorado, and ranked 11th nationally by InterMat at 157 pounds, scored an 11-5 decision over 17th-ranked Coleman Hammond of Cal State Bakersfield. He led the Blue Devils to a 25-17 decision in their first dual win of the year. Finesilver came back against Tyler Kinn of Northern Colorado to claim an 8-2 decision as Duke edged the Bears, 19-18, on their home floor for their second dual win of the season.
The two wins pushed his overall record to 18-2 on the season, including a 4-1 mark in duals competition. The win against Hammond was his first against a top 20 opponent this year.
Finesilver was chosen from a pool of nominees that included North Carolina redshirt senior Troy Heilmann and Virginia Tech redshirt sophomore David McFadden.
Heilmann, ranked fifth nationally in the 149 pound class by InterMat, won his only match of the week, an impressive, 4-1 decision over 12th-ranked Eleazar DeLuca of Rutgers. The win for the South Plainfield, New Jersey, native pushed his record to 22-3 on the season and 12-2 in duals competition. Heilmann has seven wins over ranked opponents.
McFadden, from West Milford, New Jersey, and ranked fourth nationally by InterMat at 165 pounds, won all four of his matches this week at the Virginia Duals in Hampton, Virginia. McFadden scored a major decision (16-5) over 15th-ranked Anthony Valencia in the Hokies’ 21-15 loss to the Sun Devils in the championship match of the Duals. He also scored impressive wins over Quentin Perez (11-5) of Campbell and DeWaylon Barnes (10-2) of Oklahoma and led 8-1 against Old Dominion’s Ben Schram, before Schram was forced to default due to injury. McFadden improved to 22-0 on the year and 10-0 in duals competition.
The three wrestlers will be competing at the 2017 ACC Wrestling Championship, which will be held on Saturday, March 3, beginning at 11 a.m. in Carmichael Arena at the University of North Carolina.
2017-18 ACC Wrestlers of the Week
Nov. 14—Kevin Jack, NC State (141) and
David McFadden, Virginia Tech (165)
Nov. 22—B.C. LaPrade, Virginia Tech (157)
Dec. 5—David McFadden, Virginia Tech (165)
Dec. 12—Hayden Hidlay, NC State (157)
Dec. 19—Troy Heilmann, North Carolina (149) and
Hayden Hidlay, NC State (157)
Jan. 10—Ryan Solomon, Pitt (285)
Jan. 16—Mitch Finesilver, Duke (157)