March 19, 2005
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Purdue junior Ben Wissel finished eighth at the 2005 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships at the Savvis Center in St. Louis with a tournament record of 5-3. Wissel entered the championships unseeded and was one of two 184 pounders to earn All-America honors from an unseeded start.
In Saturday's match for seventh place, Wissel (Richmond, Ind.) was defeated by Missouri's Matt Pell 5-2. The match was the third between Wissel and Pell this season, with the Missouri Tiger winning all three.
Wissel started the match strong, taking down Pell at the 33-second mark of the first period. Pell got away for a one-point escape 14 seconds later, making the score 2-1 in favor of Wissel. The first period ended with that score.
In the second period, Wissel chose to start in the bottom position, but was unable to get away from Pell during the two-minute period. After two periods, Wissel led 2-1 on the scoreboard, but Pell owned a 1:46 advantage in riding time.
Pell started the final period on the bottom and scored his second escape six seconds into the stanza, tying the score at 2-2. At the 5:23 mark, Pell scored the first takedown of the NCAA Championships allowed by Wissel, gaining a 4-2 advantage. Wissel was not able to escape from Pell for the remaminder of the match, giving Pell a bonus point for his 3:18 of riding time.
Earlier this year in St. Louis, Pell defeated Wissel in a team dual by 13-5 major decision. The two met two days later at the Missouri Open in Columbia, a 3-1 Pell victory.
Wissel is the 15th All-American to wrestle at Purdue under current head coach Jessie Reyes, and the 47th all-time.
Wissel has steadily climbed the ranks of the 184-pound weight class since his freshman year in 2003.
In his first collegiate season, the product of Richmond High School in Richmond, Ind., placed seventh at the Big Ten Championships to earn a berth to the 2003 NCAA Championships. At the tournament in Kansas City, Mo., Wissel upset 2002 All-American Scott Justus of Virginia Tech, but dropped the next two matches to fall from the field.
In 2004, Wissel moved up to third at the Big Ten Championships, gaining a second trip to the NCAAs. At the national tournament in St. Louis, Wissel won his first two matches, including a win over 2004 Big Ten champion Eric Bradley of Penn State. However, he lost the next two contests, falling one win shy of earning All-America honors.
This year began slowly for Wissel, hampered by a knee injury that would require surgery in December. After missing four weeks on the mat, Wissel came back on Jan. 5 with a major decision win over Dan Gallagher of Penn. A 4-4 record in Big Ten duals earned Wissel a No. 4 seed at the Big Ten Championships. Wissel slipped one spot from his seeding, finishing fifth at the conference tournament. Unseeded at the national event, Wissel posted a record of 5-3 to finish eighth.
2005 NCAA Championships Recap
149 Pounds
Junior Doug Withstandley (Jackson, N.J.) made his second trip to the NCAA Championships and posted a 1-2 record. Withstandley defeated Ryan Hurley of Cleveland State in the first round (7-3) before falling to top-seeded Zack Esposito of Oklahoma State (13-2). Withstandley was knocked ffrom the tournament by Mike Grimes of Northern Illinois (4-3).
157 Pounds
Freshman Colton Salazar (Midway, Utah) went 1-2 in his first trip to the NCAA Championships. Salazar opened the championships with a victory over Columbia's Devin Mesanko (6-1), but fell to Big Ten champion and top-seeded Alex Tirapelle of Illinois in round two (5-1). Salazar was eliminated by Missouri's Brad Cieleski (15-3).
165 Pounds
Sophomore John DeCeault (Tinley Park, Ill.) was making his first appearance at the NCAA Championships and went 0-2 in the tournament. DeCeault lost to 2004 NCAA champion Troy Letters of Lehigh in the opening round (19-4) before falling from the championships in a loss to Justin Nestor of Pittsburgh (9-1).
184 Pounds
In his third trip to the NCAA Championships, junior Ben Wissel (Richmond, Ind.) earned All-America honors, posting a 5-3 record for an 8th-place finish. Of Wissel's eight matches in St. Louis, six came against ranked opponents, going 3-3 in those contests. Wissel recorded major decisions over John Davis of UT-Chattanooga (10-1) and Ron Howard of Cleveland State (10-2). Two of Wissel's losses (vs. Eric Bradley of Penn State and Paul Bradley of Iowa) came by one point after 11 minutes of wrestling in each match.
197 Pounds
Sophomore Nathan Moore (Indianapolis, Ind.) was 0-2 in his first NCAA berth. Moore was defeated in the opening round by Thayer Paxton on Navy (4-3), and was eliminated from the field by Princeton's Jake Butler (4-3).
Team
The Purdue Boilermakers finished 36th in the final team standings with 11.5 team points. Back-to-back defending national champion Oklahoma State won it's third consecutive team crown and 33rd in the program's 91-year history. Top 10 team finishers from the Big Ten Conference were Michigan, Minnesota, Illinois, Iowa and Indiana.
All-American Ben Wissel, 2004-05 Season Recap
Final Record - 22-16
Record vs. 2005 NCAA qualifiers - 9-16
Record vs. 2005 All-Americans - 1-10
Recond vs. Ranked Opponents* - 8-13
Record vs. Current Top 20 - 5-15
* Ranked at time of the match
Worth Noting - Of Wissel's 16 losses to NCAA qualifiers, six came in overtime periods, six came by one point and four came by two points.
Purdue All-Americans, 1993-Present*
1994 - Aaron Moran (167)
1994 - Tony Vaughn (Hwt)
1995 - Frank Laccone (134)
1996 - Frank Laccone (134)
1998 - Tim Dernlan (118)
1998 - Eric Douglas (158)
1999 - Jason Silverstein (125)
2001 - Jacob Vercelli (Hwt)
2002 - Chris Fleeger (125)
2002 - Jacob Vercelli (Hwt)
2003 - Chris Fleeger (125)
2003 - Ryan Lange (174)
2004 - Ryan Lange (174)
2005 - Ben Wissel (184)
* 13 seasons under head coach Jessie Reyes
Ben Wissel, CAREER STATISTICS
Year W L PCT F TF MD TD R N2 N3 BP Notes=========================================================================================================2002-03 22 18 .550 3 0 1 50 8 3 2 12 NCAA Qualifier; 7th at Big Tens2003-04 32 9 .780 1 3 3 93 8 1 5 17 NCAA Qualifier; 3rd at Big Tens2004-05 22 16 .579 0 0 7 75 7 2 2 10 All-American; 8th at NCAAs; 5th at Big Tens=========================================================================================================Totals 76 43 .639 4 3 11 218 23 6 9 39 2005 All-American; 3-Time NCAA Qualifer