March 18, 2010
Interview with Purdue freshman Cashé Quiroga
OMAHA, Neb. - Purdue freshman Cashé Quiroga advanced to the NCAA Championship quarterfinals at 125 pounds to lead the Boilermaker wrestling team in the second session of the national tournament on Thursday evening at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb. The Boilermakers have five wrestlers still alive in competition, and sit tied for 26th place in the team standings with 10 points.
Quiroga put on an unbelievable gutsy performance in his 13-9 second-round win over Joe Langel of Rutgers, coming back from an early 6-2 deficit to advance. The Purdue rookie was first on the board, taking Langel down within five seconds of the opening whistle, but the tide quickly turned in the Scarlet Knight's favor as Langel escaped, earned a takedown of his own and then caught Quiroga in a cradle, nearly pinning him, but settling for a three-point nearfall. After fighting his way off his back and avoiding the fall, Quiroga cut into the lead with a reversal and then ride Langel out to end the first period trailing just 6-4. It was all Boilermakers the rest of the way as Quiroga reeled off four takedowns in the second and third, two in each period, to roll into the quarterfinals and leave himself just one win from All-America honors. He will face an unexpected opponent in tomorrow's first session as Fred Santaite of Boston University upset defending NCAA Champion Troy Nickerson of Cornell to advance.
Quiroga's six takedowns on Thursday increase his outstanding season total to 119, and earn him the seventh-highest single-season mark in Purdue's history, breaking a tie with two-time All-American Ryan Lange's 2002 effort. He's just four shy of the next mark on the list, aiming to surpass Willie Wineberg's 1998 mark of 123 takedowns.
Junior Juan Archuleta picked up a win in the consolation brackets at 141, downing UNC Greensboro's Ivan Lopouchanski by decision, 9-4. It took him a while to get going, ending the first period scoreless, but Archuleta opened up in the second, escaping and scoring a pair of takedowns en route to a 5-2 lead. He continued the attack in the third, posting two more takedowns and earning a team point for advancement with the win. Archuleta will meet Liberty's Scott Clymer tomorrow morning in the second round of consolation bouts, who fell to the wrestlebacks with a 6-5 loss to Seth Ciasulli of Lehigh.
Senior Nick Bertucci and juniors Luke Manuel and Logan Brown fell from the championship brackets at 149, 174 and 197 pounds, respectively, as Bertucci was pinned by top-seeded Lance Palmer of Ohio State in 1:23, Manuel suffered a 3-1 sudden victory loss to eighth-seeded Colby Covington of Oregon State and Brown dropped an 8-0 major decision to No. 2 seed Craig Brester of Nebraska. Bertucci draws into Virginia's Shawn Harris, while Manuel will face Big Ten opponent Dave Rella of Ohio State and Brown is set to battle Brent Jones of Virginia.
Manuel tied the Boilermakers' single-season school record for wins on Thursday with his 40th of the season, matching the 1996 totals from Alex Coriano and Tony Vaughn. Manuel's 95 career victories are tied for 15th all-time at Purdue, and he's also just two takedowns shy of 100 takedowns for the year, looking to become the 14th wrestler in school history to accomplish the feat and join Quiroga and Brown in the club this season. The only time three Boilermakers had 100 takedowns in the same campaign was 1996, when Coriano, Vaughn and Frank Laccone achieved the mark.
Juniors Akif Eren and Colton Salazar were the first two Boilermaker to be eliminated from the tournament as Eren dropped a narrow 4-2 contest to Bryan Ortenzio of Penn, while Salazar suffered an 8-2 loss to eighth-seeded Bryce Saddoris of Navy.
Action resumes tomorrow morning at 10:30 (ET), with the championship quarterfinals and two rounds of consolation competition. Updates will continue to be available at the Purdue Wrestling Twitter Page, and visit PurdueSports.com at the end of each session for updated brackets and team scores.