March 17, 2005
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Two sessions of action at the 2005 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships left the Purdue Boilermakers without a wrestler remaining in the championship bracket and having three of five left in the tournament.
The Boilermakers had a disappointing Session II, going 0-5 on the mat.
In the longest match of the championships so far, junior 184-pounder Ben Wissel (Richmond, Ind.) lost a 3-2 decision to Penn State's Eric Bradley in two tie-breaker periods. In the second and final tie-breaker stanza, Bradley was able to ride Wissel for a full 30 seconds, then scored an escape of his own to take the one-point win.
The 11-minute match equalled that of the match wrestled by Wissel and Bradley one year ago in the 2004 NCAA Championships. In that marathon match, Wissel won 3-2 in two tie-breakers when neither wrestler scored a winning escape, giving the Boilermaker the victory due to a 19-second riding time advantage.
Wissel slips into the consolation bracket's second round, where he will face Ron Howard of Cleveland State on Friday morning.
Two Boilermakers ran into the top seeds in their weight classes, both falling into the consolation bracket for Friday's matches.
At 149 pounds, junior Doug Withstandley (Jackson, N.J.) faced Oklahoma State's Zack Esposito, the 2004 NCAA runner-up in the weight, and fell to the top-ranked Cowboy 11-0. Esposito scored first 19 seconds into the match and used a constant offensive attack to score the major decision.
Withstandley will face Mike Grimes of Northern Illinois in the second round of the consolation bracket on Friday morning.
Freshman Colton Salazar (Midway, Utah) faced off against two-time Big Ten champion Alex Tirapelle of Illinois in a match that ended 5-1 in favor of the Illini grappler. Tirapelle used a first period takedown, a second period reversal and riding time to take the win.
Salazar moves to a consolation bracket match on Friday morning, facing Missouri's Brad Cieleski in the second round of the bracket.
Sophomore 165-pounder John DeCeault (Tinley Park, Ill.) and sophomore 197-pounder Nathan Moore (Indianapolis, Ind.) were knocked from the tournament, each going 0-2 in their first trip to the NCAA Championships.
On Thursday night, DeCeault dropped a 9-1 major decision to Justin Nestor of Pittsburgh, and Moore slipped in a one-point decision to Princeton's Jake Butler, 4-3.
Session III begins at 10 a.m. (CST) on Friday.
PURDUE'S INDIVIDUAL RESULTS, SESSION II
149 - Zack Esposito (OKST) maj. dec. Doug Withstandley (P), 11-0
157 - Alex Tirapelle (ILL) dec. Colton Salazar (P), 5-1
165 - Justin Nestor (PITT) maj. dec. John DeCeault (P), 9-1
184 - Eric Bradley (PSU) dec. Ben Wissel (P), 3-2 tb2
197 - Jake Butler (PRIN) dec. Nathan Moore (P), 4-3