March 6, 2010
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The Purdue wrestling team had just one individual advance to the semifinals of the 2010 Big Ten Championships on Saturday morning as top-seeded junior Colton Salazar earned a pair of wins to advance and score the bulk of the Boilermakers team points in the opening session. The Old Gold and Black scored 18 points in the first session, sitting in ninth place overall.
Salazar rolled to the semifinals, taking a medical forfeit from Minnesota's Dustin Schlatter to start the day and backing it up with a 13-4 major decision over Wisconsin's eighth-seeded Greg Burke. Salazar put in work, scoring three takedowns in the first period en route to a 6-2 advantage, adding another takedown in the second, and notching a slick reversal and fifth and final takedown in the third to put up the bonus team point. Salazar will match up with Iowa's No. 4 seed Jake Kerr tonight in the semifinals, with a trip to the Big Ten title match and a guaranteed NCAA qualifying spot at stake.
Senior Nick Bertucci scored a win and bonus points for the Boilermakers at 149 pounds, taking a 9-1 major decision from Michigan's Mark Boyer to start the day. Bertucci scored quickly and built up a wealth of riding time in attempts to turn the Wolverine, but ended the first period with a narrow 2-0 lead. The second period quickly saw the lead climb to 4-0 as Bertucci started in the down position and reversed Boyer for his team-leading 10th reversal of the year and 34th of his career, moving him to eighth all-time at Purdue. He closed it out with a pair of takedowns in the third, stretching the lead to eight and grabbing the extra team point. However, Bertucci was quickly ousted from the championship bracket as top-ranked and top-seeded Brent Metcalf pinned the Purdue senior in just 1:08. Bertucci will face Illinois' Eric Terrazas tonight for an automatic bid to the national championships.
Fifteenth-ranked junior Logan Brown defended his No. 7 seed at 197 pounds in a pigtail match with Michigan State's Tyler Dickenson to open the day, but fell in his first-round contest with seventh-ranked and second-seeded Trevor Brandvold of Wisconsin in a hard-fought effort. Brown got off to a slow start with Dickenson, ending the first period scoreless, but rolled out four takedowns and a reversal in the second and third en route to an 11-2 major decision. Brown battled Brandvold to a narrow 4-2 decision, scoring the only takedown of the match, but giving up two escapes, a stalling point and a riding-time point for the loss. Brown was hit for a stalling warning in the first period as both wrestlers found themselves in on shots but couldn't score. Brandvold rode Brown through the entire second, and escaped quickly to start the third for a 1-0 lead, but Brown snagged a takedown for a 2-1 lead, snaking an ankle and grabbing the second leg for two points with just 17 seconds left. Brown looked to ride Brandvold out and force overtime, but the official hit Brown with a second stalling call, giving up a penalty point, and Brown then cut Brandvold and looked for a late takedown with no success. Brown drew into a consolation bye in the first round and will face the winner of 14th-ranked and sixth-seeded Matt Powless of Indiana and Northwestern's John Schoen in the consolation quarterfinals.
Second-seeded junior Luke Manuel suffered a tough 5-3 upset to seventh-seeded Ian Hinton, giving up a pair of third-period takedowns for just his third loss of the season. Manuel falls to 36-3 overall and snaps a 15-match win streak, but will look to wrestleback for third place and an automatic qualifying spot tonight as he'll open the consolations with Indiana's Nick Avery.
Seniors Jason Martin and Nick Corpe, juniors Akif Eren, Juan Archuleta and David Pisarcik and freshman Cashé Quiroga all suffered losses in their first match of the championship, but look to battle back in the consolation bracket this evening. Martin will meet eighth-seeded Conrad Polz of Illinois at 165 pounds, while Corpe, the No. 8 seed at 184, is set to face Aaron Jones of Northwestern. Eren takes his No. 8 seed at 133 pounds to square off with Illinois' Daryl Thomas, Archuleta looks to oust Hoosier rival Geno Capezio at 141 and Pisarcik will meet eighth-seeded Alan O'Donnell of Michigan State at heavyweight. Quiroga will look to rebound at 125 pounds with a contest against Northwestern's Robert Joyce.
Action resumes this evening at 6 p.m.