Dec. 30, 2007
EVANSTON, Ill. - The Purdue wrestling team exceeded all expectations at the first day of the 45th Annual Midlands Tournament, hosted by Northwestern University on Saturday. The Boilermakers amassed 46 points, good for seventh place overall, with one wrestler still in the championship bracket, while five are still alive in the wrestlebacks.
Junior tri-captain Jake Patacsil is the lone wrestler in the championship bracket, moving on to tomorrow afternoon's 149-pound semifinals where he is set to face 19th-ranked and eighth-seeded Don Fisch of Rider. Patacsil put together four wins on the day with two technical falls, his 19th career pin and a major decision. He also racked up 34 back points to move his career total to 348 and leave him 43 shy of the Purdue career record. Saturday was Patacsil's first action since a rib injury that took him out of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational a month ago.
Joining him in tomorrow's competition are sophomores Nick Bertucci and Jason Martin and freshmen Logan Brown, Akif Eren and Luke Manuel. Bertucci, Martin and Eren all moved through the first two rounds to reach the championship quarterfinals before suffering their first lost. Bertucci picked up his fifth fall of the season at 157 pounds, while Martin upset fifth-ranked and third-seeded Moza Fay of Northern Iowa at 165 pounds and Eren toppled 14th-ranked and fourth-seeded Luke Smith of Central Michigan at 125 pounds.
Brown and Manuel both fell to the respective No. 2 seeds in the 197- and 165-pound brackets, but rebounded with two straight wins to move on to the third session. Brown registered his first collegiate technical fall with an 18-3 win over Chris Flaughter of Southern Illinois, while Manuel finished the day 4-1 and surrendered just one takedown in his five matches.
The Boilermakers received solid performances from senior tri-captain Sean Schmaltz and junior Nick Corpe, who both fell just one win shy of tomorrow's competition, and got a few bonus points from sophomore 157-pounder Sam Patacsil and rookie 184-pounder A.J. Kissel. Schmaltz was 2-2 on the day with a major decision, while Corpe put together a 3-2 mark, and was ousted from the tournament in a controversial match against 10th-ranked and fifth-seeded Nick Hayes of Northwestern.
Sam Patacsil started the day with a 15-0 technical fall, before being knocked out with back-to-back losses, including a double-overtime match against Missouri's Emanual Brooks. Kissel nabbed his team-best ninth pin of the season before his exit and is now tied for 15th in Purdue's single-season history.
Second-ranked Iowa State leads the tournament team standings with 90.5 points, while top-ranked Iowa is close behind with 88.5. No. 6 Central Michigan is in third with 80 points, and Big Ten rivals Illinois (No. 18), Indiana (No. 16) and Northwestern (No. 9) round out the teams ahead of the Boilermakers in third, fourth and fifth.
The Boilermakers are just 2.5 points shy of last year's total, which left them in 12th place at the tournament's end, and hope to surpass both of those marks in tomorrow's final two sessions. The third session of the competition is set to begin at noon (CT), while the championship session is scheduled for 7 p.m. (CT) and will be aired live on the Big Ten Network.