ST. LOUIS - Purdue's four remaining wrestlers suffered their second loss and were eliminated during the third session of the NCAA Championships Friday at the Scottrade Center. No. 11 Danny Sabatello and Nick Lawrence each won in the second round of wrestlebacks, but were denied in the third round. Brandon Nelsen and Chad Welch were defeated in the second round.
Three sessions of competition remain, with Session IV starting Friday at 8 p.m. ET. The complete schedule, along with television and online broadcast information, updated brackets and much more can be found on the 2015 NCAA Wrestling Championships Central page here.
A second period rideout was the difference maker in Sabatello's second round match versus Kevin Norstrem of Virginia Tech. The 1-0 decision sent the No. 11-seed into the consolation third round at 133 pounds where he faced Michigan's 14th-seeded Rossi Bruno.
Sabatello took the Wolverine down with 28 seconds remaining in the first period for an early 2-0 advantage. Just as the second period was crucial in his first match of the day, it was also the match-changing period against Bruno.
Bruno took bottom in the second and 33 seconds in, he reversed Sabatello and got him tilted for a two-point nearfall to close out the stanza with a 5-2 lead. That lead would stand as the Boilermaker was unable to score from a neutral start in the third period.
Sabatello, a two-time NCAA qualifier, exits from the tournament and brings his redshirt junior campaign to a close with a record of 28-10.
For the fourth time this season and a third time in his last nine matches, Lawrence prevailed in sudden victory as he upset 10th-seeded Zachary Horan of Central Michigan, 7-5. The 141-pounder held a 3-0 edge going into the final period. Horan took bottom, escaped almost immediately and took Lawrence down with 1:31 on the clock to tie the match at 3-3. He was initially awarded a two-point nearfall and the Boilermaker popped right out, but upon further review by the officials, the call was reversed making it a 4-3 lead for Lawrence.
Horan got a second takedown with under a minute to go, and with one second on the clock, Lawrence escaped to once again deadlock the match at 5-5 and send it into sudden victory. The winning takedown came 39 seconds in and was confirmed when Central Michigan challenged.
The offense that lifted the redshirt senior to victory in his first match was stifled in a 3-2 loss to Jordan Laster of Princeton in the third round. Lawrence put a pair of escapes on the board in the third period, one starting from bottom and the other after he was taken down.
A native of Westlake, Ohio, Lawrence's Purdue career came to a close in his first NCAA Championships appearance. He finishes with a career best 24 wins in a 24-18 campaign with a four-year mark of 65-47.
Lock Haven's Daniel Neff ended Nelsen's career with a 10-2 loss in the second round of 149-pound wrestlebacks as he was bounced from his second NCAA Championships.
The redshirt senior who hails from Indianapolis, Indiana, closes the door on his most productive season for the Old Gold & Black. Nelsen was 23-14 and averaged 7.5 points per match while leading the team in total points scored with 267.
He registered a four-year record of 84-55 and is scattered throughout the Purdue record book, appearing on three career lists. Nelsen's 45 reversals rank fourth, his 30 pins are sixth and his 124 back points are the 17th most. With 14 reversals in 2014-15, he also landed on the single-season list tied for 18th.
In a match where all the points came via reversals, Welch was unable to get back on top at the end, dropping a 4-2 decision to NC State's Pete Renda in the second round of wrestlebacks at 174 pounds. The loss brought an end to the redshirt junior's season where he finished 21-18 and qualified for his second NCAA Championships.