He has done it.
Penn State wrestling commit PJ Duke stunned four-time national champion Yianni Diakomihalis not once, but twice, to punch his ticket to the U.S. World Team.
Diakomihalis won the first bout with a tech fall, and most felt that Duke would be lucky to win one match, let alone twice that.
But Duke didn’t get to be a four-time state champ and top-ranked recruit by quitting. He regrouped to beat Diakomihalis in a thrilling 17-10 bout to force a rubber match.
Duke not only beat Diakomihalis in the rubber match: he pinned him to punch his ticket to Croatia in September.
Here’s what PJ Duke did last month: He beat two reigning national champions in the same day. At the Senior World Team trials, Duke took out Antrell Taylor, who won it all at 157 pounds for Nebraska this March, and Ridge Lovett, who did the same at 149.
Yianni knew he’d be in a battle.
“He is 19 and he just beat… of all the other senior-level wrestlers we have available, he beat them,” Diakomihalis told FloWrestling. “This is the No. 2 guy in America. So I’m going to come in there and wrestle him like my World Championship is on the mind. Because it is.”
Now, it’s Duke who will be competing at worlds.
