March 19, 2009
Full Brackets (after Session II) 
Team Scores (after Session II)
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - Purdue finished the first day of the 2009 NCAA Wrestling Championships, hosted by the University of Missouri and the St. Louis Sports Commission at the Scottrade Center, tied for 20th place with 12 team points as all five wrestlers remain alive in tournament competition. Senior Jake Patacsil is leading the way for the Boilermakers, advancing to the quarterfinals at 149 pounds.
Patacsil took care of business in his second-round 149-pound matchup with Central Michigan's 11th-seeded Steven Brown, posting his second consecutive major decision of the championships, 11-2. Neither wrestler managed to score in the first period, and after Brown chose the bottom position to start the second, Patacsil tilted him for a pair of three-point nearfalls en route to a 6-0 advantage. Patacsil continued the ride in the final frame, taking the top position, but Brown earned an early reversal to put himself on the scoreboard. Patacsil didn't hang out on bottom for long, scoring a reversal of his own and racking up two more back points to earn the major decision. Patacsil sq uares off against third-seeded Darrion Caldwell of North Carolina State in tomorrow's quarterfinals, with the winner guaranteeing himself a spot on the podium and NCAA All-America honors.
After the first day of the tournament Patacsil pushed his amazing career back point total to 792, inching closer to the 800-point plateau, and posted his 15th reversal of the season, moving him up to a tie for 14th in Purdue's history on the single-season record list. His 51 career reversals are second all-time for the Boilermakers.
Sophomore Colton Salazar became the second Boilermaker to be bumped from the championship bracket, falling to top-seeded Jordan Burroughs of Nebraska in the second round. Burroughs tallied a trio of takedowns to start the match, finishing the third straight to Salazar's pack to score the 2:27 fall. Salazar moves to the consolation bracket where he'll face Kurt Kinser of Indiana in tomorrow morning's session.
Fellow sophomores A.J. Kissel and Logan Brown suffered similar fates at 184 and 197 pounds, respectively, as Kissel dropped an 11-3 major decision to 12th-seeded Vince Jones of Nebraska and Brown suffered an 11-0 major decision loss to No. 2 seed Jake Varner of Iowa State. Kissel nearly put Jones on his back on several occasions, but Jones managed to slip out of the arm bar and scored a reversal on two occasions on his way to the win. Kissel returns tomorrow morning to face Kenneth Caldwell of Navy, while Brown is set to take on fifth-seeded Dallas Herbst of Wisconsin.
Purdue's 165-pound sophomore Luke Manuel scored the Boilermakers' biggest upset of the season to date, knocking off top-seeded Mack Lewnes of Cornell in the consolation first round, 3-1. Manuel controlled the tempo the entire match, pushing Lewnes all over the mat and forcing the official to hit Lewnes with a stalling warning midway through the second period. With the score knotted at 1-1 late in regulation, Manuel snared Lewnes's right leg and hooked his arm around the head to lock in a cradle and score the match-winning takedown. Manuel advances to meet 11th-seeded Trevor Stewart of Central Michigan in the consolation second round tomorrow morning.
Wrestling resumes at 10 a.m. (CST) tomorrow morning. Visit the Boilermakers' schedule and results page here for continuous play-by-play and results updates.