Jan. 20, 2008
ASHLAND, Ohio - Purdue freshman A.J. Kissel led the Boilermaker wrestling squad to a three match sweep at the Wendy's Duals, hosted by Ashland University on Sunday. Kissel pinned all three of his opponents, tying the Purdue single-season fall record with his 15th of the season.
Kissel's trio of falls mark six in a row and the first Purdue wrestler to hit the 15-pin mark since Dave Lilovich set the mark in 1986. He's now 19-7 on the year and is tied for the team lead in wins.
The Boilermakers topped the host Eagles, 34-4, Northern Illinois University, 24-16, and Liberty University, 24-19. Purdue is now 35-1 all-time at the Wendy's Duals.
Kissel, junior 149-pound tri-captain Jake Patacsil and 197-pound freshman Logan Brown were the only Purdue grapplers to post 3-0 marks on the day. Kissel stuck Ashland's Jordan Job in the opening match, battling until the last 11 seconds when he scored the fall. Kissel followed with a 2:16-fall of Northern Illinois's Brad Dieckhaus and a 4:02-pin of Liberty's Christopher Daggett.
Now, 18-4 on the year, Patacsil mixed up his results on the day, posting his 10th technical fall in a 15-0 effort over Nic Albaugh of Ashland, sticking Kalen Knull of Northern Illinois in 1:39 and tallying a 9-0 major decision over Sam Walters of Liberty. The pin was Patacsil's fifth of the season and 20th of his career, while his technical fall was his 10th of the season.
Brown scored decisions over Ashland's Josh Ohl and Northern Illinois's Jake Smith, before stepping it up with a technical fall of Liberty's Brandon Johnson. His win over Ohl came as a 7-5 sudden victory and he edged Smith, 4-2. The 18-2 victory over Johnson marked his second technical fall of the season as he improved to 17-7 overall.
Sophomore Sam Patacsil and freshman Luke Manuel notched 2-0 marks for the Old Gold and Black, while senior tri-captain Sean Schmaltz and freshman Akif Eren both posted 2-1 records on the day. Sam Patacsil captured a 9-2 decision over Ashland's Muhammed Abdul-Rahm and a hard-fought 3-2 victory over Northern Illinois' Bryan O'Connor. Manuel scored a 16-5 major decision against Anthony Bradberry of Ashland and edged out Jesse Linczmaier of Northern Illinois, 4-1.
Schmaltz defeated Ashland's Daniel Madara with a 6-2 decision, fell to 11th-ranked Pat Castillo of Northern Illinois by major decision, 10-2, and bounced back with a 6-3 win over Thomas Mitchell of Liberty. Eren wrestled in similar fashion, taking a 5-3 victory over Ashland's Brandon Davis and a 7-5 win from Liberty's Sean Katz, but surrendering a fall in the last three seconds to Northern Illinois's T.J. Wunnicke.
Purdue is now 8-2 at the end of their non-conference schedule and heads into the Big Ten season on Friday at fourth-ranked Michigan.