Dec. 30, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. - The Purdue wrestling team posted its strongest showing in recent memory at the Midlands Tournament, placing ninth on the strength of junior tri-captain Jake Patacsil's second-place finish at 149 pounds.
The Boilermakers put together a team score of 58 points, 24.5 of which were accumulated by Patacsil. The team point total is 9.5 points better than last year's score of 48.5, while Patacsil's silver-medal showing marks his second straight at Midlands.
Patacsil opened the day with a dominant 19-2 win over 19th-ranked and eighth-seeded Don Fisch of Rider, notching his third of the tournament and sixth of the season. Fisch scored the first two points of the match with a first-period takedown, but Patacsil responded in the second with 14 consecutive back points as he rode Fisch the entire period. After a neutral start in the third, Patacsil scored his first takedown of the match and then tilted Fisch for another three-point nearfall and the win.
In the championship match, Patacsil nearly locked up a pair of cradles and a tight-waist tilt on Iowa's Brent Metcalf. However, Metcalf, ranked sixth and seeded second, managed to stay off his back and ran away in the final period in Patacsil's desperation comeback attempts.
Also climbing the podium for the Old Gold and Black was redshirt freshman Luke Manuel, who placed eighth at 165 pounds. He guaranteed a placing performance by defeating eighth-seeded Tim Palmer of Wisconsin-Lacrosse in his first match of the day. Manuel used a pair of escapes to counter Palmer's first-period takedown and then grabbed two points of his own in the final ten seconds with a takedown on the edge of the mat for the 4-2 win. He finished the day with narrow losses to Iowa Central's Colby Covington and 11th-ranked and seventh-seeded Roger Smith-Bergsrud of Illinois. Manuel was unable to recover from a 5-0 deficit against Covington and finished with a 5-3 loss, and surrendered a third-period escape to Smith-Bergsrud as he fell 3-2 in the seventh-place match.
Sophomores Nick Bertucci and Jason Martin and freshmen Logan Brown and Akif Eren were unable to reach the placing matches for Purdue, all dropping their first bout of the day. Bertucci suffered a hard-fought 6-4 sudden-victory loss to Indiana's Paul Young, while Martin dropped a 13-4 major decision at the hands of 12th-ranked Trevor Stewart of Central Michigan. Brown gave up a late takedown to drop a 4-3 loss to 10th-ranked and fifth-seeded Matt Koz of Tennessee-Chattanooga, and Eren was disqualified from the tournament after failing the second day weigh-ins.
"This was an excellent performance by our guys," said Purdue head coach Scott Hinkel. "Jake (Patacsil) was outstanding throughout the tournament and we got some sparks from some of our young guys, who are really starting to come along. We're all very excited about the coming second half of the season."
Top-ranked Big Ten rival Iowa ran away with the team title, while No. 2 Iowa State finished second and No. 6 Central Michigan grabbed third.
The Boilermakers return to action next weekend as they travel to Philadelphia for dual matches against Rider and Drexel.