March 19, 2010
Post-match interview with Cashé Quiroga
OMAHA, Neb. - Purdue freshman Cashé Quiroga continued his Cinderella run at the 2010 NCAA Wrestling Championships, advancing to the national semifinals at 125 pounds at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb., on Friday. Quiroga secures All-America honors with the win, becoming the 39th All-American in Purdue's history, while the Boilermakers are tied for 21st place in the team standings with 20.5 points.
Quiroga picked up the Boilermakers' first bonus points of the championships with a 10-2 major decision over Fred Santaite of Boston University. Santaite got in on the first shot of the match, securing a solid single, but Quiroga displayed incredible defense and determination fighting off the takedown and virtually breaking Santaite's will in the first period. After a stalemate was finally called, Quiroga ignited the offense, snatching a pair of takedowns to build a 4-1 lead. Santaite chose the down position to start the second period and paid for it as Quiroga rode him for the whole two minutes to lock up the riding time point. After escaping to start the third, Quiroga picked up two more takedowns down the stretch the lead to eight and pick up the major decision, his 10th of the year.
Quiroga is the first freshman to secure All-America honors at Purdue since 2002, when volunteer assistant coach Chris Fleeger accomplished the feat at 125 pounds. His four takedowns in the match moved him into a tie for sixth for the highest single-season takedown count in school history matching Willie Wineberg's 1998 total of 123.
Junior Juan Archuleta and senior Nick Bertucci both won their opening matches of the day, but fell from the tournament one win shy of the Round of 12. Archuleta opened the session with a solid 12-7 win over Scott Clymer of Liberty, scoring three takedowns, two reversals and a pair of back points in the victory. The Boilermaker junior opened the match in a flurry, scoring an immediate takedown, and after a quick release taking Clymer to his back for a four-point play and 6-1 lead. Clymer cut into the lead, escaping and starting the second period with a reversal to make it 6-4, but Archuleta notched a reversal of his own and then cut Clymer to make it 8-5 heading to the third. Starting down, Archuleta picked up his second reversal of the match, kicked Clymer and sealed the deal with his 95th takedown of the year.
In his ensuing match with Oregon State's Mike Mangrum, Archuleta led early with a takedown , but things were brought back to level in the second period as he was hit for unnecessary roughness, swiping at his opponent after being poked in the eye. The bout went all the way to a tie break where after being ridden out for 30 seconds, Archuleta tried a hail mary and wound up dropping a 6-3 decision.
Bertucci picked up a major decision in his first match of the day, taking down Virginia's Shawn Harris, 11-3. Bertucci dominated the entire match, putting together four takedowns and his team leading 11th reversal of the season. The final takedown of the match came in the last five seconds, pushing the lead to seven before the riding time point made it eight and earned a bonus point for the Old Gold and Black. His next match with Bucknell's ninth-seeded Kevin LeValley was a crazy one as both wrestlers had trouble finishing takedowns, but LeValley spent the majority of the match on top, earning a 5-1 win.
Manuel got himself into his third consecutive overtime match of the tournament Friday morning, going all the way to a tie-breaker with Ohio State's David Rella before emerging with a hard-fought 4-2 win. Regulation ended at 1-1, trading escapes in the second and third and heading to sudden victory. Manuel nearly finished the match in the first overtime, slipping behind Rella, but the official didn't award the two as the wrestlers rolled off the mat. Manuel opened the first 30-second tie-breaker with an escape to take a 2-1 lead, and followed with a slick double-leg takedown to stretch his advantage to 4-1 with 30 seconds to go. Rella escaped after about a 15 second ride from Manuel, but the Boilermaker junior fought off the desperate takedown attempts and advanced to the next round. The win gives Manuel the Boilermaker's single-season record with 41 wins on the year, surpassing Alex Coriano and Tony Vaughn's 1996 marks from 1996.
However, Manuel fell from the tournament in his next match, suffering a first period mistake to Ohio's Jacob Ison and falling short in a comeback effort to drop a 7-5 decision. After Manuel scored quickly to take a 2-0 lead, Ison escaped and then found himself on the right end of a Manuel shot, catching the Purdue junior in a cradle, earning the takedown and turning him for two back points and a 6-2 advantage. Manuel cut the lead to two in the third period with another takedown, but had trouble finishing takedowns through the match and fell just shy.
Manuel did hit the 100-takedown mark for the year before bowing out of the tournament, joining Quiroga and Brown this season to mark the second time in school history three wrestlers scored 100 takedowns in the same campaign. Manuel is the 14th wrestler in Boilermaker history to accomplish the feat, and his 217 career takedowns surpass teammate Nick Corpe for 15th all-time at Purdue.
Junior Logan Brown lost his first match of the day at 197 pounds, falling to Brent Jones of Virginia by major decision, 11-2. Brown had a series of deep shots throughout the match, but was unable to convert as Jones kept scrambling out and turning them into points. Brown finishes an outstanding year at 33-13 overall with 101 takedowns, good for 15th on the Boilermakers' single-season record list.
Iowa leads the team competition with 73 points, followed distantly by Cornell with 54 and Iowa State and Ohio State with 46.
Quiroga will kick off tonight's session at 7 p.m. (ET), facing third-seeded Matt McDonough of Iowa in the 125-pound semifinals. The session will air live on ESPNU, while live updates and results can continue to be followed through PurdueSports.com.