March 6, 2005
IOWA CITY, Iowa -
Final Individual Results in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Five Boilermakers will be making the trek to St. Louis for the 2005 NCAA Division-I Wrestling Championships on March 17-19, placing in the top seven in their respective weight classes at the Big Ten Championships.
Purdue placed 10th in the Big Ten team standings with 38.5 points. Illinois was crowned Big Ten champions, finishing first with a team score of 130 points. Minnesota finished second with 123.5 points and Michigan was third with 118.
Illinois and Michigan were co-champions of the Big Ten in the segular season.
The Boilermakers are sending 149-pounder Doug Withstandley, 157-pounder Colton Salazar, 165-pounder John DeCeault, 184-pounder Ben Wissel and 197-pounder Nathan Moore to the NCAA Championships.
125 POUNDS
A seven-point second period by Wisconsin's Collin Cudd kept freshman Brandon Tucker (Broken Arrow, Okla.) from an automatic NCAA spot, falling to the Badger by one, 8-7 in the seventh-place match. With Tucker leading 2-1 after one period, Cudd scored a reversal, two back points and a takedown to jump ahead 7-3. A flurry by Tucker late in the second stanza closed the gap, but it was not enough for the Boilermaker freshman.
149 POUNDS
Junior Doug Withstandley (Jackson, N.J.) returns to St. Louis for his second NCAA appearance following a seventh-place win over Jack Decker of Penn State in convincing fashion, pinning the Lion at the 6:11 mark. The bonue-point win was the first for a Purdue wrestler at the Big Ten Championships since the 2003 tournament in Madison.
Withstandley scored the first points of the match with a takedown two minutes into the contest and dominated from that point on. A reversal and three back points in the second period gave the Boilermaker a 7-1 lead entering the final frame. A quick escape and takedown increased Withstandley's lead to 10-1 before turning Decker for the finishing pin.
Withstandley advances to his second NCAA Championships with a 27-10 record.
157 POUNDS
Freshman Colton Salazar (Midway, Utah) lost in the consolation semifinals to Iowa Joe Johnston, the No. 3 seed, by 12-4 major decision. Johnston scored a takedown in each of the first two periods to own a 5-1 lead heading into the final two minutes. In the last period, the Hawkeye registered three takedowns to gain the bonus point in the match.
In the tournament's fifth-place match, Salazar was defeated by Indiana's Brandon Becker by an 8-0 major decision. Becker grabbed a 5-0 lead in the opening period and used that advantage to slide the Boilermaker into a sixth-place finish in the Big Ten in his first collegiate season.
Salazar advances to his first NCAA Championships with a 14-16 record.
165 POUNDS
Despite a shoulder injury that has hampered him for over one month, sophomore John DeCeault (Tinley Park, Ill.) received his ticket to the NCAAs with a 5-2 decision over Michigan State's Bryan Harney. DeCeault never trailed in the match, taking down Harney in the first and second periods and allowing only two escapes.
DeCeault advances to his first NCAA Championships with an 18-13 record.
184 POUMDS
Junior Ben Wissel (Richmond, Ind.) was taking down by Wisconsin's Brady Reinke with 22 seconds remaining in the match to drop a 4-3 decision. Wissel led early, taking down Reinke just 26 seconds into the match, but was unable to make the advantage hold up.
In the fifth-place match, Wissel wiped out an early takedown by Roger Kish of Minnesota to post a 4-3 decision and grab the five-spot on the podium. Trailing 2-0 in the first period, Wissel scored an escape and a takedown of his own to lead 3-2 after three minutes. The wrestlers traded escapes in the second and third periods, but it was enough to give the Boilermaker 184-pounder the win.
Wissel advances to his third NCAA Championships with a 17-13 record.
197 POUNDS
Sophomore Nathan Moore (Indianapolis, Ind.) could not match the quickness of Penn State's Philip Davis, falling to the Lion wrestler by major decision 11-1. Davis scored a takedown in each of the three periods and added two back points in the first stanza to get the 10-point win.
Moore finished sixth in the championships after falling in the fifth-place match to Tyrone Byrd of Illinois 6-3. Byrd registered two takedowns in the opening stanza and made a 4-1 advantage hold up, successfully defending Moore's repeated shots over the final 40 seconds of the match.
Moore advances to his first NCAA Championships with a 24-12 record.