Judging by its record, it has been a tough year for the wrestling team. The Blue Devils are 7-6 overall, but they lost all five of their Atlantic Coast Conference matches this season.
Still, one look at the record does not tell the whole story. The Blue Devils have improved considerably from last year's 5-9 campaign, and they have held their own against ACC competition.
Duke lost to Virginia by two points (18-16), and the Blue Devils made solid showings in losses to powerful opponents North Carolina (23-13), N.C. State (26-10) and Clemson (23-13).
There is reason for optimism in the Duke camp as the Blue Devils head into this weekend's ACC Tournament in Charlottesville, Va.
"I've felt that we had a pretty good year all along," head coach Bill Harvey said. "We had two or three matches where we lost two or three overtime matches or one-pointers that could have turned us around. I thought we had a good year. With a few breaks we might have had a lot better year.
"We started out to improve over last year's 5-9 [record], and we certainly did that. Our other goal has not yet been accomplished, and that's to do better in the ACCs than we did last year. I hope we can do that."
Anchoring Duke's squad this season have been three young wrestlers -- freshman Chris Heckel in the 126-pound class, freshman Dan Covatta in the 142-pound class and sophomore Scott Frinzi in the 134-pound class. This trio has combined for 28 dual-match victories.
It is still undetermined whether Heckel will be able to wrestle in the ACCs, as he continues to recover from a knee injury suffered two weeks ago.
"The young guys have done a great job," Harvey said. "Also, [senior 167-pounder] Danny Goffredo's been looking real good in practice. I think he's really focused. [Junior 177-pounder] John Kays is looking good, and [junior 158-pounder Danny] Lilley is starting to come along. Those are the guys that we need to rely on."
Six ACC schools compete in wrestling, and 60 wrestlers will enter the ACC Tournament. The stakes are high -- the top two finishers in each weight class, along with five ACC wild-cards, will advance to the NCAA Championships to be held in two weeks in Chapel Hill.
Duke wrestlers are not favored in any of the weight classes, but the Blue Devils have proven this season that they can hold their own with the best wrestlers in the ACC.
"I think that gives you a lift, knowing that you're on the same level as those guys -- you just have to work on a little bit here and a little bit there," Harvey said. "You go into it a little differently than if you got beat 15-2 or something like that. It does give you a little encouragement to say, `Hey, we're with these guys. We can wrestle with them."'
Now that the end of the season is near, the Blue Devils hope to accomplish that final goal -- make a respectable showing in the ACCs and earn the squad some more conference respect.
"It's a long season," Harvey said. "You start out around Oct. 15, and I'll tell you, by now you've got keep it going because you can get tired pretty quick. We feel that our kids are still pretty spiffy about it, still thinking very positively, and we're looking forward to the ACCs."
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