Dec. 3, 2006
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - The Purdue University wrestling team had a trio of wrestlers capture individual placings at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) Open led by 10th-ranked senior Nathan Moore, who took home the Boilermakers' first tournament championship of the year at 197 pounds.
Joining Moore on the podium were sophomore Jake Patacsil, who went 8-1 at 149 pounds to grab third place, and senior Nick Skinner, who notched a 4-2 record and fifth place at 184 pounds. As a team Purdue recorded a 35-19 record in the tournament led by Patacsil with eight wins, freshman Justin Fraga with five and Moore and Skinner with four apiece.
The No. 2 seed at 197, Moore rolled through the first two rounds scoring major decisions over Minnesota State's Corey Hamitz (15-3) and UNI's Dustin Bauman (10-0). In the semifinals he took down third-seeded Andrew Anderson of UNI, 5-1, and toppled top-seeded Jacob Marrs of the University of Nebraska-Omaha in the championship match, 3-1.
Patacsil took the hard road to the third-place match, falling in the third round to fourth-seeded Jason Rhoten of Minnesota State, 7-3, and having to march his way through the consolation ranks. Back-to-back pinfalls over St. Cloud State's John Denney (1:24) and the University of Illinois' Danny Zemen (5:57) got Patacsil back on track and a 16-0 technical fall over sixth-seeded Charlie Ettelson of UNI moved him into the consolation quarterfinals. He scored his third pin of the tournament over Nebraska's Derrick Moyer in 1:21 and then took revenge on Rhoten in the consolation semifinals to gain entry to the third-place match. There he dominated fifth-seeded Matt Pyle of Luther College, 7-0, to close his day.
Skinner was also able to achieve vengeance on his first loss of the day as he got a second shot at Illinois' Patrick Brownson in the fifth-place match and took him down, 3-1. After knocking off Cornell College's Andrew Smith (8-7) and No. 4 seed Dallas Mitchell (3-2) in the first two rounds, Skinner took a tough 3-1 loss to Brownson. He rebounded with a 7-1 victory over St. Cloud State's Jairo Sandoval in the consolation quarterfinals, but fell to third-seeded Greg Perz of Eastern Illinois to slide into the fifth-place bout.
The Boilermakers return to action in two weeks (Dec. 17) as they host Ohio University, the University of Indianapolis and Carson-Newman University in the fifth annual Purdue Duals.