Dec. 29, 2008
Tournament Brackets (through day 1) 
EVANSTON, Ill. - The Purdue wrestling team looks to back up last year's outstanding performance at the Midlands Championships with another tremendous showing, completing the first day of competition in seventh place with 49 points. Six Boilermakers are still in the hunt for a spot on the podium, led by senior Jake Patacsil, who's in the semifinals at 149 pounds.
Ten of the 11 Boilermaker wrestlers made it through the first session, with five staying alive in the championship round and advancing to the quarterfinals, and keeping their tournament hopes afloat in the consolation brackets. The Boilermakers scored bonus points in bunches tallying four major decisions, a technical fall and four falls en route to 37 team points. Second-seeded Patacsil notched a major decision and a technical fall, while fifth-seeded 165-pounder Luke Manuel posted a pair of major decisions and juniors Nick Bertucci (157 lbs.) and Jason Martin (165 lbs.) and sophomores A.J. Kissel (184 lbs.) and Logan Brown (197 lbs.) each had a fall. Fellow sophomore Juan Archuleta picked up the other bonus points with a major decision at 141 pounds.
In the evening session of day one, most of the surviving Boilermakers saw their championship hopes go by the wayside. Patacsil was the lone Purdue wrestler standing in the championships brackets after the first day, advancing to the tournament semifinals and guaranteeing himself at least a sixth-place finish. Despite this, four/five more Boilermakers kept placing hopes alive, moving on to tomorrow's final-12 in each of their respective brackets and needing just one victory tomorrow to earn placing points.
Ranked sixth in the nation heading into the tournament, Patacsil opened the day with a 12-7 pigtail victory over Missouri's Andrew Sherry, and then disposed of Harvard's Walter Peppelman in the first round by major decision, 13-3. He made short work of Nick Weaver of Rider in the second round, needing just 5:39 to earn the 15-0 technical fall. Patacsil repeated this performance against 2008 South African Olympian Heinrich Barnes of Oregon State. Ranked 17th in the country, Barnes was no match for Patacsil's dominance on top as the Boilermaker senior turned Barnes for 13 back points and the technical fall.
Manuel, ranked ninth at 165 pounds, posted solid victories in his first two matches of the day, scoring a 10-2 major decision over Northern Illinois' Bryan O'Connor in the opening round, and following it up with a 12-4 major against 2008 NCAA qualifier Ethan Headlee of Pittsburgh. Manuel suffered a narrow 3-1 loss to fourth-seeded and fifth-ranked Jon Reader of Iowa State in the quarterfinals, and will need a win against Matt Pletcher of Rutgers to ascend the podium for the second straight season.
As the No. 6 seed at 184 pounds (12th in the national rankings), Kissel took a first round bye and then scored his 11th fall of the season and 30th of his career in the second round, sticking Arizona State's Jake Meredith in just 1:32. Facing third-seeded and fifth-ranked Louis Caputo of Harvard for the second straight year at Midlands and the second time this season (the first time was in the semifinals at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational), Kissel was bounced from the championship bracket in a narrow 4-2 loss. He rode Caputo throughout the second frame, and reversed him late in the third, but was unable to put him on his back. He will square off against Pittsburgh's Zac Thomusseit for the second time this season, sticking him in 2:24 in their meeting at the Eastern Michigan Open.
Sixth-seeded Logan Brown (No. 10 in the nation), scored three straight takedowns in his opening match against Oregon State's Chad Hanke, taking Hanke to his blades on the third try and earning the 4:15 fall. He backed that win up with a 7-2 decision over Brodie Ambrose of Iowa in the second round, pulling away late with a second-period takedown, and two more in the final frame. Brown met his match in the quarterfinals, suffering a 10-2 defeat. Brown notched the first takedown of the match, but Wisconsin's third-seeded and fifth-ranked Dallas Herbst took control shortly after and captured the trip to the semifinals. Brown looks to bounce back tomorrow in a rematch from last year's NCAA Tournament against fifth-seeded and 11th-ranked Andrew Anderson of Northern Iowa. Brown won last year's match by decision, 6-3.
Junior Nick Corpe was the Boilermakers' only unseeded wrestler to advance to the quarterfinals, taking down James Nakashima of Lincoln College in the first round, 12-6, and toppling Oregon State's Ben Harris in the second round, 5-2. Corpe met up with the tournament's No. 1 seed, second-ranked Jay Borschel of Iowa, in the quarterfinals, and despite a solid match, suffered a 7-2 loss to move to the consolation bracket. He's scheduled to meet Lloyd Rogers of the Chattanooga Takedown Club in tomorrow's round of 12.
Archuleta won his first two matches on the championship side, posting a 12-4 over Raymond Dunning of Adams St. in a pigtail match and edging American's Jordan Lipp 4-3 in the first round. However, his tournament record slipped in the second round, falling to sixth-seeded Dan LeClere of Iowa by a riding-time point, 2-1. He came rolling back on the consolation rounds, toppling unattached Cole Von Ohlen by decision , 5-2, but was finally sidetracked by seventh-seeded and eighth-ranked Ryan Williams of Old Dominion, 6-3.
Bertucci and Martin had very similar starts sticking their first respective tournament opponents, but dropping their second matches to wind up on the consolation side. Bertucci needed just 2:05 to pin Eric Cubberly of Central Michigan, while Martin used just over a minute to flatten Triton College's Miguel Luis. Bertucci drew into top-seeded Chris Bono of the Chattanooga Takedown Club (also the Mocs head coach), and suffered a 9-5 loss in the second round, while Martin lost a 4-2 decision to Northwestern's Frank Battaglia in the first round at 165, but bounced back with a narrow 8-7 decision over Neil Posmer of the Wildcat Wrestling Club in the consolations. Martin suffered a close 4-1 loss to Brian Letters of Maryland in the ensuing round, but Bertucci stayed on, winning matches over Illinois' Clint Arlis and Northern Illinois' Bryan Deutsch. Bertucci just missed the major decision against Arlis, winning 10-4, and stuck Deutsch in 1:46 for his second pin of the tournament. He will square off with Tyson Reiner of Northern Iowa tomorrow for a chance at placing for the second time in his career as he took eighth as a freshman at 141 pounds.
Junior heavyweight Chris Kasten and sophomore 125-pounder Akif Eren both won their openers as well, snagging narrow victories in first-round competition. Kasten notched a 5-2 decision over Big Ten opponent Steve Andrus of Michigan State, while Eren snatched a 8-6 sudden victory from Northern Iowa's Caleb Flores. The Boilermaker pair ran into the respective No. 5 seeds in their brackets in the second round as Kasten dropped a 5-2 match to sixth-ranked Zach Sheaffer of Pittsburgh, while Eren was pinned by No. 8 Anthony Robles of Arizona State in 2:30. The Purdue duo continued to mirror each other in the consolation brackets, suffering narrow losses to exit the tournament. Eren lost to Cleveland State's Jordan Keller, 5-2, while Kasten dropped an 8-5 decision to Northern Iowa's Christian Brantley.
Sophomore Colton Salazar and freshman Jake Fleckenstein both dropped from competition due to injuries as Salazar withdrew from the 157-pound bracket before its start, while Fleckenstein fell to third-seeded and ninth-ranked Steve Bell of Maryland to start the tournament and then injury defaulted to Chattanooga's Josh Statum in the consolation bracket.
Action resumes tomorrow at noon (CST). Check the Purdue wrestling schedule at purduesports.com for periodical team updates.