Dec. 6, 2013
LAS VEGAS - Brandon Nelsen was the spark for Purdue in the second session of the 32nd Annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Collegiate Wrestling Invitational Friday in the Las Vegas Convention Center. Nelsen was the lone Boilermaker to pick up win as the trio of quarterfinalists each suffered defeat to drop into their respective consolation brackets. Purdue is 18th in the team standings with 20 points. Oklahoma took over on top with 84.5 points, followed by Nebraska with 75 points. Rounding out the top five are Michigan (72.5), Cornell (68.5) and Northern Iowa (61.5). The third session will get underway Saturday at 9 a.m. PT with the consolation fourth round.
Nelsen picked up his fourth fall of the season by pinning Michael Hammel of Grand Canyon at 5:12. Hammel opted to start the final period from bottom with the match deadlocked at 5-5. Nelsen, who hails from Indianapolis, Ind., rode Hammel and seized the opportunity to get his 22nd-career fall. In doing so, he improved to 7-3 and moved into a four-way tie for 11th on Purdue's career falls list. The redshirt junior will meet No. 4-seed Scott Sakaguchi of Oregon State in the fourth round.
No. 8 Danny Sabatello and No. 11 Chad Welch fell into the 141 and 165 consolation brackets, respectively, after suffering first period falls in the quarterfinals. Sabatello (9-3) will meet Iowa State's Gabe Moreno, while Welch (4-2) is set to take on ninth-seeded Payton Walsh of Navy.
Purdue's third quarterfinalist, No. 6 Braden Atwood, dropped a 6-3 decision to third-seeded Nick Heflin of Ohio State at 197. The 8-3 redshirt junior will meet Utah Valley State's Derek Thomas in Saturday's wrestlebacks.
Follow @PurdueWrestling throughout the day for results. Flowrestling will be live-streaming Saturday's action to its Flotrack Pro subscribers.
Quarterfinal Results
141: No. 1 Logan Stieber (Ohio State) pin No. 8 Danny Sabatello, 0:44
165: No. 3 Daniel Yates (Michigan) pin No. 11 Chad Welch (Purdue), 1:19
197: No. 3 Nick Heflin (Ohio State) dec. No. 6 Braden Atwood (Purdue), 6-3
Consolation Third Round Results
125: Micah Perez (NC State) dec. No. 11 Camden Eppert (Purdue), 6-4
149: No. 10 Brandon Nelsen (Purdue) pin Michael Hammel (Grand Canyon), 5:12
Consolation Fourth Round Matches
141: No. 8 Danny Sabatello (Purdue) vs. Gabe Moreno (Iowa State)
149: No. 10 Brandon Nelsen (Purdue) vs. No. 4 Scott Sakaguchi (Oregon State)
165: No. 11 Chad Welch (Purdue) vs. No. 9 Payton Walsh (Navy)
197: No. 6 Braden Atwood (Purdue) vs. Derek Thomas (Utah Valley State)