Dec. 4, 2009
PRIMM, Nev. - The Purdue wrestling team guaranteed a trio of placewinners and amassed 48.5 team points at the first day of the 2009 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, hosted at the Star of the Desert Arena on Friday. The Boilermakers sit 12th in the team standings, with two competitors still in the championship bracket and one on the consolation side.
The Boilermakers had some tough luck in the opening round of the tournament, drawing into a trio of No. 1 seeds and going 3-7 in their openers. Juniors Juan Archuleta, Luke Manuel and Logan Brown were the winners as Archuleta and Manuel tacked on a pair of bonus points each with falls. Manuel and Brown were flawless on the day, storming to the tournament semifinals with a trio of wins each.
Manuel, the No. 6 seed in the tournament at 174 pounds, kicked off his day with his first pin of the year, sticking Colby Covington of Oregon State in 6:12. He earned his fourth win of the season over a ranked opponent in the second round, taking down 18th-ranked Indiana rival Trevor Perry in a close one, 2-1, and bested Michigan's Justin Zeerip for the second time this season in the quarterfinals, 6-2. He'll face third-ranked Stephen Dwyer of Nebraska tomorrow in the semifinals, in a rematch of last year's semifinal bout at 165 pounds.
Entering the field as the fifth-seed at 197 pounds, Brown was slow and steady throughout the day, earning all three wins by decision. He took down Vince Bordi of San Francisco State in his opener, 8-3, and followed up with a 3-2 victory over Indiana rival Matt Powless in the second round. He capped his day with an impressive 2-1 decision over ninth-ranked Jesse Strawn of Old Dominion in the quarterfinals, advancing to the semifinals for the second straight year. Like Manuel he'll have a rematch of last year's semifinals, set to square off with No. 2 Craig Brester of Nebraska with a trip to the finals at stake.
Salazar was the third Boilermaker to advance to Saturday's action and guarantee himself a placing spot, suffering an upset in his opener, but reeling off four straight wins to cap the day. Drexel's Joe Booth topped Salazar in the first round by major decision, 11-3, but the ninth-ranked Purdue junior came back strong in the wrestlebacks with a 1:16 pin of Illinois' Kyle Dooley. Salazar continued to move through the consolations with an 11-5 decision over Zac Cibula of Rider and tacked on more bonus points in the next round with a 10-1 major decision over Sean Nemec of Ohio State. He squared off with Michigan's Dave Johnson in his Round of 12 match, dominating his Big Ten foe 9-4 and advancing to face Justin Gaethje of Northern Colorado in tomorrow morning's consolation quarterfinals.
After winning his opener with a 6:01 pin of California Baptist's Ian Millan, Archuleta stumbled in his second round matchup with third-ranked Chris Drouin of Arizona State, 8-3. He made a hard charge at the 141-pound podium in the wrestlebacks, moving into the Round of 12 with two more victories. He topped Indiana's Danny Monaco, 6-1, in the consolation second round, and edged out California State Bakersfield's Elijah Nacita, 6-4, in the next bout. His run stopped short with a last-second loss to 16th-ranked Kenny Hashimoto of Northern Colorado. An Archuleta shot in the final 20 second turned into a scramble and Hashimoto came out the back for the takedown just before the buzzer.
Sophomore Matt Fields made a solid run in the consolations at 125 pounds, rebounding from his tough opening draw against 2008 NCAA Champion Angel Escobedo to win three straight. He scored technical falls over New Mexico Highlands' Seth Chavez and UNC Greensboro's Eric Chandler, and blanked Dylan Dabolt of Buffalo, 11-0.
The Boilermakers picked up a few more bonus points in a solid effort at 149 pounds from senior Nick Bertucci. He was 2-2 on the day, falling in his opener to top-seeded and second-ranked Kyle Ruschell of Wisconsin, 7-2, but bouncing back with wins over Benny Garcia of California Baptist and No. 16 Matt Coughlin of Indiana. Bertucci needed just 2:55 to stick Garcia, and shut-out Coughlin in a solid 4-0 victory. He bowed from action against Cornell's Corey Mason, falling just shy in a 5-3 loss.
Junior Akif Eren saw his opening match come against top-seeded and ninth-ranked Tyler Graff of Wisconsin, and gave a gutsy performance in a 14-8 loss. He bounced back with his first fall of the season, sticking Julian Perez of San Francisco State in 3:59, but his tournament ended with a hard-fought 7-6 loss to Michigan's Zac Stevens despite winning the takedown battle, 2-1.
Tomorrow's action starts at 9 a.m. (PST) with the championship semifinals. Keep checking the Purdue Wrestling Twitter Page for more updates, and visit PurdueSports.com for a full recap of tomorrow's event.