March 16, 2012
The Boilermakers opened up Friday morning on a roll, winning four of five matches and adding three and a half team points to the total. Sophomore Camden Eppert got things going with a 6-3 decision over Michael Martinez of Wyoming at 125 pounds, scoring takedowns in the first and second period en route to his 14th win of the season. Ninth-seeded classmate Cashé Quiroga followed up with a 6-4 sudden-victory win at 133 pounds, needing a few extra seconds to top Brian Owen of Boise State. Owen scored the first takedown of the match and built up a minute of riding time in the first period, but Quiroga pushed the pace the rest of the way, earning a takedown and ride out in the second and then a reversal in the third to force overtime. Quiroga kept the pressure on the weary Bronco in the extra minute and finished it with another takedown.
The run continued at 157 pounds as junior Tommy Churchard earned his second victory of the tournament, topping Aaron Sulzer of Eastern Michigan, 7-2. Churchard worked the counter-offense through the bout, scoring off of Sulzer's shots in each of the three periods and nearly putting him on his back on two occasions. The win was Churchard's 20th of the season, marking his first career 20-win campaign.
The Boilermakers took their only loss of the round at 184 pounds as freshman Braden Atwood fell to 10th-seeded Jacob Swartz of Boise State, 4-3. Atwood led early, scoring off a two-on-one throw, but Swartz scored a reversal in the second period after starting in bottom position and rode Atwood through almost the rest of the match. Atwood escaped with 10 seconds left in the match to tie the score, but the riding-time point proved the final difference.
Senior A.J. Kissel got off to a scorching start on Friday, posting a 19-0 technical fall over American's Daniel Mitchell. The Boilermaker senior dominated the contest in every position, scoring two takedowns, a reversal and 13 back points, nearly sticking Mitchell on three occasions.
The third round of consolation matches took a turn for the worse as Eppert, Quiroga, Churchard and Kissel were ousted in succession. Eppert dropped an 11-4 decision to 12th-seeded Steve Bonanno of Hofstra, while Quiroga lost a narrow 12-11 bout to Sheldon Mack of Pittsburgh, Churchard suffered a 15-0 technical fall loss to sixth-seeded James Fleming of Clarion and Kissel was pinned in 47 seconds by 11th-seeded Micah Burak of Penn.
Quiroga's match took some crazy turns as the match came down to several stalling calls and two seconds of riding time. Quiroga forced the first stall warning on Mack midway through the second period as Mack was continually backing to the edge of the mat, and the referee followed with a curious stall warning on Quiroga as the Boilermaker sophomore tried to work off bottom in a tripod position. The pair traded takedowns to start the third, and Quiroga added a second and third takedown to take a 10-9 lead on Mack, but then the referee hit Quiroga with a second stalling call with 24 seconds to go, granting Mack a point and forcing Quiroga to release Mack with 1:01 of riding time in his favor. With the score at 11-10, and a riding point pending, Quiroga chased Mack around the mat, getting a second stalling call and subsequent penalty point, but couldn't snare the necessary takedown and suffered the loss.
PURDUE BOUT-BY-BOUT RESULTS
125 - Camden Eppert
1st Round - def. Joe Roth (Central Michigan), D 5-3
2nd Round - lost to #4 Jesse Delgado (Illinois), Fall 5:11
Conso. 2nd Round - def. Michael Martinez (Wyoming), D 6-3
Conso. 3rd Round - lost to #12 Steve Bonnano (Hofstra), D 4-11
133 - #9 Cashé Quiroga
1st Round - def. Shane McGough (Arizona State), MD 19-6
2nd Round - lost to #8 Zac Stevens (Michigan), D 9-14
Conso. 2nd Round - def. Brian Owen (Boise State), SV 6-4
Conso. 3rd Round - lost to Sheldon Mack (Pittsburgh), D 11-12
149 - #12 Ivan Lopouchanski
1st Round - lost to Justin Accordino (Hofstra), D 4-8
Conso. 1st Round - lost to Eric Terrazas (Illinois), D 3-5
157 - Tommy Churchard
1st Round - def. Colton Palmer (North Carolina State), MD 11-1
2nd Round - lost to #3 Jason Welch (Northwestern), D 4-10
Conso. 2nd Round - def. Aaron Sulzer (Eastern Michigan), D 7-2
Conso. 3rd Round - lost to #6 James Fleming (Clarion), TF 0-15 (2:13)
184 - Braden Atwood
1st Round - #4 Steve Bosak (Cornell), D 0-5
Conso. 1st Round - def. Brad Dieckhaus (Northern Illinois), Inj. Default
Conso. 2nd Round - lost to #10 Jacob Swartz (Boise State), D 3-4
197 - A.J. Kissel
1st Round - def. John Weakley (Campbell), MD 12-2
2nd Round - lost to #3 Matt Wilps (Pittsburgh), D 6-11
Conso. 2nd Round - def. Daniel Mitchell (American), TF 19-0 (6:00)
Conso. 3rd Round - lost to #11 Micah Burak (Penn), Fall 0:47