March 7, 2009
Team Scores and Complete Brackets 
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The Purdue wrestling team advanced five grapplers to Day 2 of the 2009 Big Ten Championships, hosted by Penn State University at the Bryce Jordan Center on Saturday. The Boilermakers sit in 10th place in the team standings with 41 points with potential to grab several more in tomorrow's final session.
The No. 5 seed at 165 pounds, sophomore Luke Manuel scored the bulk of Purdue's early points on Day 1 of the championships, knocking off Illinois' fourth-seeded senior Roger Smith-Bergsrud in the opening round by decision, 2-0. The win moved Manuel into the semifinals, locked up his trip to the NCAA Championships and notched eight points for the Boilermakers. He nearly advanced to the championship match, battling top-seeded Andrew Howe of Wisconsin into overtime, but surrendering a takedown in the final five seconds of the extra period to fall, 6-4. Manuel moves to the consolation semifinals, where he'll battle sixth-seeded Dan Vallimont of Penn State tomorrow.
Fifth-seeded senior Jake Patacsil got off to a slow start, dropping an 11-7 decision to No. 4 seed Kyle Ruschell of Wisconsin in the opening round. He bounced back in the consolation bracket, needing just 4:04 to post a 16-0 technical fall over Michigan's Mark Beaudry and sticking Illinois' Eric Terrazas in a career-fastest 0:48. He advances to meet Northwestern's sixth-seeded Andrew Nadhir in tomorrow's consolation semifinals.
Sophomore Logan Brown, the Boilermakers' No. 7 seed at 197 pounds, went back and forth early, scoring an 11-3 major decision over Ohio State's Cody Gardner in a pig tail match before getting pinned by Michigan's second-seeded Tyrel Todd in 1:37. He rebounded in the wrestlebacks, edging out Michigan State's Tyler Dickenson, 9-8, and avenging a Big Ten Dual loss with a 12-2 major decision over Indiana's sixth-seeded Matt Powless. He's scheduled to face the No. 5 seed, Patrick Bond of Illinois, tomorrow in the consolation semifinals.
Sophomore Colton Salazar ensured his second career trip to the NCAA Championships advancing to the consolation semifinals at 157 pounds. Salazar kicked off the tournament with a 12-10 upset of Ohio State's fifth-seeded Jason Johnstone, and after a loss to No. 4 seed Tyler Safratowich of Minnesota in the quarterfinals, bounced back with a 7-4 decision over Penn State's Tim Darling. He'll square off with Indiana's No. 6 seed Kurt Kinser in tomorrow afternoon's consolation semifinals.
Eighth-seeded junior heavyweight Chris Kasten recovered from a 7-0 loss to top-seeded Daniel Erekson of Iowa in the opening round to earn a 5-0 win over Northwestern's Paul Rands in the consolation bracket. His qualifying hopes ended in the next round as he suffered a 5-2 loss to Indiana's fifth-seeded Nathan Everhart. He remains alive in the tournament and will face seventh-seeded Eddie Phillips of Michigan tomorrow for seventh place.
Freshman Matt Fields opened the tournament with a great upset win at 125 pounds, defeating sixth-seeded Nikko Triggas of Ohio State by decision, 8-3. However, Fields met defending NCAA Champion Angel Escobedo of Indiana in the quarterfinals, dropping a 16-3 major decision, and fell to Wisconsin's Drew Hammen in the consolation bracket on a riding time point, 5-4.
Junior Nick Corpe, sophomores A.J. Kissel and Juan Archuleta and freshman Carson Beebe all lost their first two matches and exited the tournament on the first day. Corpe was pinned by third-seeded Quentin Wright in 5:18 and dropped a 3-1 sudden victory loss to fourth-seeded Dave Rella of Ohio State. Kissel lost decisions to Minnesota's Sonny Yohn, 7-3, and Michigan's sixth-seeded Anthony Biondo, while Archuleta suffered an overtime loss to sixth-seeded Keith Sulzer of Northwestern and dropped an 8-3 decision to Minnesota's fourth-seeded Mike Thorn. Beebe fell to top-seeded Daniel Dennis of Iowa and Matt Ortega of Indiana, losing by major decision, 16-7, to Dennis and taking an 11-4 loss to Ortega.
The final session of the tournament resumes tomorrow at noon with the consolation semifinals, followed by the seventh place matches. Top-ranked Iowa leads the team standings with 110 team points, 25 more than second place Illinois.