Jacob Kasper's steady improvement throughout his time in Durham left him just short of the national championship bout, though he still delivered the best finish of his impressive career as a Blue Devil to lift the team to unprecedented heights.
Kasper finished fourth this week at the NCAA championships at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, winning his first three bouts before dropping the semifinal Friday night. It was the redshirt senior heavyweight's second All-American performance, after he placed sixth last year.
Duke finished 22nd in the team competition, its best result in program history.
Kasper, the No. 4 seed, needed a takedown in a sudden-victory period to win his second match of the competition Friday morning, but responded with a 7-2 win by decision against 12th-seeded Youssif Hermida to advance to the semifinals. There, he lost a 10-5 decision to No. 1 seed and eventual national champion Kyle Snyder.
Kasper rebounded with a pin of Iowa's fifth-seeded Sam Stoll in the consolation bracket Saturday morning, but was pinned in the first period of the third-place bout by No. 6 seed Amar Dhesi of Oregon State to end his career.
Although Kasper was the only Blue Devil to score in the team competition, the four Finesilver brothers all competed for Duke as well.
No. 12 seed redshirt junior Mitch Finesilver beat Casey Sparkman in his first bout by a major decision, but barely lost 3-2 to No. 5 seed Alec Pantaleo of Michigan with a trip to the quarterfinals on the line. Finesilver dominated No. 11 seed Clayton Ream in the consolation bracket before falling to No. 4 seed Joshua Shields by another 3-2 score.
At 165 pounds, Mitch's twin Zach Finesilver lost by a 4-0 decision to second-seeded David McFadden and earned one victory by decision in the consolation bracket before bowing out.
Freshman Matt Finesilver lost his opening bout to top-seeded Zahid Valencia by major decision in the 174-pound weight class before responding with a win in the consolation bracket. His season ended when No. 15 seed Dylan Lydy narrowly beat him in a 5-3 decision Friday morning. Matt's twin Josh Finesilver lost both of his bouts at 133 pounds.
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