Dec. 4, 2010
Complete Brackets & Team Scores 
LAS VEGAS, Nev. - The No. 23 Purdue wrestling team sits in 15th place with 37 team points after the first day of competition at the 29th-Annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Senior Logan Brown is leading the way for the Old Gold and Black, advancing to tomorrow morning's semifinals at 197 pounds, while classmate Luke Manuel became the 15th grappler in school history to earn 100 career victories.
The only Boilermaker left in the championship side of the brackets, Brown rolled to the semifinals with a trio of solid wins, pushing his career total to 95 victories and moving into a tie for 16th in school history with Mike McHenry. Brown opened with a physical 5-0 decision over Caylor Williams of UNC Greensboro and followed up with 10-2 major decision over Neil Delaney of Air Force. He capped the night with a 10-4 win over Brandon Palik in the quarterfinals, advancing to face No. 15 Anthony Biondo of Michigan. Brown and Biondo have met twice before, both times in the 2009-10 season and split the decisions.
Despite falling to the consolation bracket on Friday, Manuel kept placing hopes alive with his three wins and moving into the round of 12 tomorrow morning. He took down Matt Weston of West Virginia in the opening round, 6-1, and was upset in the second round by Ohio State's Nick Hefflin in sudden victory in the second round. Manuel rebounded in the wrestlebacks with wins over North Carolina State's Quinton Godley and Duke's Brett Klopp, edging Godley, 5-3, and posting a 15-7 major decision over Klopp. Manuel will face No. 19 Ben Jordan of Wisconsin with tournament placing at stake.
Fifth-ranked junior A.J. Kissel nearly made the semifinals at 184 pounds, going 2-1 on the day, including his 37th career fall. He stuck Ryan Becerra of Grand Canyon to open the day, needing just 2:22 to put him on his back, and followed up with a 7-0 shutout of Cameron Cory to move on to the quarterfinals. Kissel's run stopped there, as he suffered his first loss of the year at the hands of No. 15 Andrew Saunders of UNC Greensboro. Kissel looks to bounce back tomorrow morning against Todd Noel of California State Fullerton.
No. 12 senior Colton Salazar and freshman Kyle Mosier are the other two Boilermakers still alive, looking to get on the podium at 157 and 165, respectively. Salazar went 3-1 on the day, topping Bronson Gerl of California Baptist, Tyler Banks of Hofstra and Curtis Cook of Utah Valley. Salazar notched an 18-2 technical fall over Gerl, needing just the first period to pick up bonus points, and posted matching 8-2 wins over Banks and Cook. Mosier continued the hot start to his Purdue career, improving to 8-1 at 165 pounds with a 3-1 mark, including his team-leading fourth pin of the year. He came up just short against Illinois' Conrad Polz to open the day, falling 7-4, but bounced back with a 15-3 major decision over North Idaho's Jake Mason, a 14-8 decision over Clayton Gable of Air Force and a 2:37 fall over Mike Fucci of Grand Canyon.
Senior Akif Eren advanced to the evening session Friday, but came up just short of placing as he turned in a 3-2 mark. He topped Drexel's Josh Yurasits to open the day, posting a 9-4 decision, but was sidetracked by North Carolina State's Darius Little in the first round, 3-1. Back-to-back wins over Josh Houldsworth of Columbia and Joe Locksmith of Navy pushed Eren near placing, but a hard-fought 3-1 loss to Central Michigan's Scott Mattingly knocked him out of the tournament.
Four Boilermakers fell from the tournament in the opening session on Friday as freshman Camden Eppert, junior Jake Fleckenstein and seniors Sam Patacsil and Roger Vukobratovich were unable to advance. Eppert was 0-2 at 125 pounds, getting edged out by 16th-ranked Steve Bonanno of Hofstra, 5-3, and by Michigan's Sean Boyle, 3-1. Fleckenstein dropped his opener to Indiana's Matt Ortega, 9-3, but bounced back to post a 16-4 major decision over Richard Serna of Western Wyoming and an 8-3 decision over California State Fullerton's Marcus Orona before being pinned by Cornell's Joe Stanzione in 2:51. Patacsil went 1-2 on the day, needing just five minutes to roll out a 16-0 technical fall over Arizona State's Tai Fukumoto, but falling in sudden victory to Donnie Corby of Central Michigan, 5-3, and suffering a 12-8 loss to Michigan's Eric Grajales in a wild match. Vukobratovich was 1-2 as well, opening his day with a 14-4 major decision over Andrew Fulk of Duke, but coming up just short against No. 11 Nathan Fernandez of Oklahoma and getting caught by Dan Miller of Navy at 2:45.
Competition resumes tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. with the championship semifinals, consolation quarterfinals and consolation semifinals. Continue following the Boilermakers' progress via the NWCA Scorebook and the Official Purdue Wrestling Twitter Page.