BRACKETS // TEAM STANDINGS
EVANSTON, Ill. - Purdue 157-pounder Doug Welch captured seventh-place honors during the third session of the 52nd Ken Kraft Midlands Championships Tuesday in Welsh-Ryan Arena. The seventh-seeded Boilermaker blanked Eastern Michigan's ninth-seeded Brandon Zeerip, 7-0, to become the 34th grappler in program history to place at the tournament.
The Boilermakers closed out with 33 points and are 16th in the team standings heading into Tuesday's final session that features first-, third- and fifth-place matches. Iowa is first with 173 points and is followed by Illinois with 125.5 points. Northwestern is third (103 points) and Edinboro (96 points) and Virginia Tech (94.5 points) round out the top five. The final session starts at 8 p.m. ET and can be seen live on BTN.
D. Welch tallied all of points against Zeerip during the final two minutes of action. After a scoreless first period, Zeerip took bottom in the second. A solid ride out earned D. Welch 2:00 worth of riding time. Even though the match was tied 0-0 heading into the final two minutes of wrestling, Zeerip gave D. Welch an optional start to put him on the board, 1-0. The Boilermaker took advantage of the freebie by taking Zeerip down and worked the tilt for a five count. He continued to build his riding time for the rest of the match, finishing with 3:51.
The redshirt junior guaranteed his spot on the podium by doubling up Wisconsin's Jarod Donar, 6-3, in his first match of the day thanks to a three-point nearfall in the second period, a takedown to start the third and 1:09 riding time. He was denied a shot in the consolation semifinals after falling to Louis Mascola of Maryland, 6-2.
With the seventh-place showing, D. Welch brought home the third 157-pound medal for the Boilermakers since the weight classes changed in 1998. Tommy Churchard was sixth in 2011 and Colton Salazar was eighth in 2009. His 5-2 performance at Midlands pushed his season record to 18-6.
Four of Purdue's five contenders on Tuesday fell one match short of medaling. At 125 pounds, Aaron Assad dropped a 6-2 match to unattached Ethan Lizak. The freshman who wrestles at Minnesota took Assad down once in the first and third periods, escaped in the second and rode Assad for 2:30. The Boilermaker reversed Lizak in the third, but it wasn't enough to pick up the win.
Assad, a redshirt freshman, posted a 2-2 mark in his first Midlands while moving to 9-10 overall in his rookie season for the Old Gold & Black.
Sixth-seeded Danny Sabatello rallied back after falling behind 5-0 in the first period to No. 12 seed Dominick Malone of Northwestern to push the match into sudden victory, but a takedown by the Wildcat with nine seconds left sealed the upset, 9-7. Malone struck quick in the first with a takedown and tilted Sabatello for a five count. Sabatello escaped and answered with a takedown of his own making it 5-3 at the end of the opening period. They each put two on the board in the second, Sabatello with a pair of escapes and a takedown by Malone. Northwestern took bottom in the third and the Boilermaker tilted him for a two-point nearfall evening the score at 7-7 to force the extra 60 seconds.
The match was the first that Sabatello needed extra time this season and was just his third loss of the season. The 17-3 redshirt junior went 2-2 inside Welsh-Ryan Arena.
The feverish battle through the 149-pound wrestlebacks came to an end for 14th-seeded Brandon Nelsen with a 5-3 loss to Virginia Tech's 10th-seeded Sal Mastriani. Heading into the second period, the match was scoreless, but an escape and a takedown by Mastriani opened the scoring. Nelsen escaped making it 3-1 after five minutes of action. The Hokie struck for two more takedowns in the final period and Nelsen escaped from both. The redshirt senior was unable to get a viable shot as time ticked away.
Nelsen put in work at Midlands. He went 5-2 and his seven matches were the most wrestled by any Boilermaker. His record stands at 16-5 midway through his final season in a Purdue singlet.
An escape by No. 10 seed Alex Meyer of Iowa proved to be the difference maker in a 3-2 decision over eighth-seeded Chad Welch at 174 pounds. The two were scoreless after three minutes of action and then Meyer reversed early in the second period. From there, Meyer racked up riding time and pushed it over a minute. C. Welch evened the score at 2-2 with a takedown midway through the third, flipping the riding time, running it under a minute to wipe out the Hawkeyes' potential point. With 16 seconds left in the match and sudden victory looming, Meyer got the match-winning escape.
C. Welch bowed out with a 2-2 showing at the tournament and now stands at 15-8 during his redshirt junior campaign.
The turn of the calendar marks the opening of the B1G schedule for the Boilermakers. They will kick off their conference slate at Nebraska on Jan. 9 and then trek to Wisconsin on Jan. 11. Purdue returns to Holloway Gymnasium to entertain Northwestern in its next home dual on Jan. 16 at 7 p.m. ET.
PURDUE MATCH-BY-MATCH // SESSION 3
125 // Aaron Assad
Consolation Fourth Round: Ethan Lizak, Unattached (Minnesota) // L, D, 6-2
133 // No. 6 Danny Sabatello
Consolation Sixth Round: No. 12 Dominick Malone, Northwestern // L, D, 9-7 (SV1)
149 // No. 14 Brandon Nelsen
Consolation Sixth Round: No. 10 Sal Mastriani, Virginia Tech // L, D, 5-3
157 // No. 7 Doug Welch
Consolation Sixth Round: Jarod Donar, Wisconsin // W, D, 6-3
Consolation Quarterfinals: Louis Mascola, Maryland // L, D, 6-2
Seventh Place: No. 9 Brandon Zeerip, Eastern Michigan // W, D, 7-0
174 // No. 8 Chad Welch
Consolation Sixth Round: No. 10 Alex Meyer, Iowa // L, D, 3-2
Note: Nos. reflect tournament seeds, InterMat rankings are not included