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Duke Pickett Earns All-American Wrestling Honors in Fargo
Rising sixth former Duke Pickett placed seventh out of ninety-six wrestlers competing at 145 lbs. in this summer's Cadet and Junior Nationals freestyle wrestling tournament in Fargo, ND. He is the only wrestler from Virginia to place in his age group this year, and the only Woodberry wrestler ever to place in the toughest high school wrestling competition in the country.
Duke finished 5-0 on his first day at the tournament, competing in a weight class where nineteen of the competitors were nationally ranked. In his most thrilling match on the second day, Duke defeated Dylan Ness, the nation's top-ranked 145-lb. wrestler, who will compete at the University of Minnesota this year. Duke went on to lose his next match and win his final match.
To turn in such a high-level performance, Duke trained long and hard--coming back strong after being unable to go to Fargo last year because he broke his hand four days before the tournament.
"I had some 'unfinished business' to take care of, and I stayed focused all spring on preparing my best for the tournament," he said in an interview for the Cavalier Wrestling Club. "I trained hard in the wrestling room, but I also wanted to make sure I did everything right outside of the wrestling room--like nutrition, strength training, cardio, video study and review, and mental prep. I wanted to be at the top of my game, and have no regrets regardless of the outcome of the tournament."
Duke is looking forward to his final year at Woodberry. "I am already lifting hard and running sprints in preparation for early football in late August," he said. "I plan on training hard this fall for Super 32 and my senior season."
To read the entire Cavalier Wrestling Club interview, click here.
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Duke finished 5-0 on his first day at the tournament, competing in a weight class where nineteen of the competitors were nationally ranked. In his most thrilling match on the second day, Duke defeated Dylan Ness, the nation's top-ranked 145-lb. wrestler, who will compete at the University of Minnesota this year. Duke went on to lose his next match and win his final match.
To turn in such a high-level performance, Duke trained long and hard--coming back strong after being unable to go to Fargo last year because he broke his hand four days before the tournament.
"I had some 'unfinished business' to take care of, and I stayed focused all spring on preparing my best for the tournament," he said in an interview for the Cavalier Wrestling Club. "I trained hard in the wrestling room, but I also wanted to make sure I did everything right outside of the wrestling room--like nutrition, strength training, cardio, video study and review, and mental prep. I wanted to be at the top of my game, and have no regrets regardless of the outcome of the tournament."
Duke is looking forward to his final year at Woodberry. "I am already lifting hard and running sprints in preparation for early football in late August," he said. "I plan on training hard this fall for Super 32 and my senior season."
To read the entire Cavalier Wrestling Club interview, click here.
Woodberry Forest School is an exceptional private school community for high school boys in grades nine through twelve. It is one of the top boarding schools in the United States and one of the only all-boys, all-boarding schools in the country.
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