TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
54th Ken Kraft Midlands Championships
Welsh-Ryan Arena / Evanston, Illinois
Thursday, Dec. 29
Session I / 10 mats / 10:30 a.m. ET
Session II / 10 mats / 8 p.m. ET
Friday, Dec. 30
Session III / 4 mats: semifinals, wrestlebacks, seventh-place matches / 1 p.m. ET
Session IV / 3 mats: finals, third and fifth-place matches / 8 p.m. ET
Purdue Notes / Tournament Information / Brackets, Results / Live Video
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind.- The Purdue wrestling team is set to close out the 2016 calendar year at the 54th Ken Kraft Midlands Championships in Evanston, Illinois. The historic two-day tournament opens Thursday from Northwestern's Welsh-Ryan Arena at 10:30 a.m. ET, with nearly 100 nationally ranked wrestlers from 39 teams. Ten of the 13 Boilermakers slated to compete will be designated as point scorers for the team standings. Brackets are scheduled to be released on Trackwrestling on Wednesday evening.
Last year Chad Welch made history by becoming just the second Purdue wrestler to win an individual Midlands title, winning it all at 165 pounds as the No. 3-seed. Ben Thornton also earned a spot on the podium, going 4-2 on his way to a seventh-place showing at 125 pounds. As a team the Boilermakers tallied 55 points to finish 11th.
The prestige of the Midlands Championships can be found throughout Purdue's coaching staff as three of the four coaches placed at the tournament during their collegiate career. Assistant coach Kendric Maple went back-to-back at 141 pounds while at Oklahoma, winning it all in 2011 and 2012. In 2011 he was named the Art Kraft Champion of Champions as well as the Dan Gable Most Outstanding Wrestler.
During his final season at Nebraska last year, volunteer assistant coach Jake Sueflohn finished third at 149 pounds. As a senior at the 1996 edition of Midlands, head coach Tony Ersland placed eighth at 177 pounds for Iowa.
| PURDUE PROBABLE LINEUP | ||||
| WEIGHT | NAME | YEAR | RECORD | HOMETOWN |
| 125 | Ben Thornton | RS So. | 18-6 | Stoddard, Wis. |
| 133 | Luke Welch | RS Jr. | 12-5 | Newburgh, Ind. |
| Cody Pae | RS Jr. | 5-3 | Fulton, Mo. | |
| 141 | Kyle Ayersman | RS Sr. | 12-6 | Dyer, Ind. |
| Austin Nash | RS Fr. | 2-3 | Florham Park, N.J. | |
| 157 | Alex Griffin | RS Sr. | 16-6 | Lafayette, Ind. |
| 165 | Dylan Lydy | RS Fr. | 11-9 | Indianapolis, Ind. |
| 174 | Jacob Morrissey | RS Jr. | 5-4 | Oconto Falls, Wis. |
| 184 | Tanner Lynde | RS Sr. | 10-6 | Delphi, Ind. |
| Blake Reid | RS So. | 8-4 | Columbus, Ohio | |
| 197 | Christian Brunner | Fr. | 15-7 | East Dundee, Ill. |
| 285 | Tyler Kral | RS Sr. | 16-6 | Crown Point, Ind. |
| Jacob Aven | RS So. | 7-4 | Zionsville, Ind. | |
Head Coach / Tony Ersland
Head Assistant Coach / Tyrel Todd
Assistant Coach / Kendric Maple
Volunteer Assistant Coach / Jake Sueflohn
A CLOSER LOOK AT THE BOILERMAKERS
- It will be the first Midlands Championships of Austin Nash, Dylan Lydy, Blake Reid and Christian Brunner's career.
- Purdue's competitors for Midlands are a combined 100-49 in tournaments through the season and have placed 19 times in four different events.
- For the first time this season, a pair of Purdue wrestlers are in the national rankings released on Dec. 20 ... Ben Thornton made his debut at No. 19 on Amateur Wrestling News' top 20 at 125 pounds after his upset of SIU Edwardsville's Freddie Rodriguez ... Alex Griffin returned to Trackwrestling's 157-pound rankings at No. 22 ... he appeared at No. 18 in the Nov. 29 edition.
- With 16 wins to his credit, Kral is only five wins short of matching his win total from the three previous seasons (21) ... his 16 wins are tied for second-most for the Boilermakers ... he leads the team in decisions (12), riding time points (12) and is tied for the most shutouts (5) ... this season he has set new career marks in bonus point wins, shutouts, back points and total points.
- The Boilermakers hold scoring advantages in all three periods and in extra time matches ... Griffin owns the largest differential in the first and seconds periods at +69 and +56, respectively ... Brunner leads the way in the third at +34.
- Griffin is +152 in total points scored at 209-57, which is tops among the Boilermakers ... he is the only wrestler to surpass 200 total points ... Griffin is averaging 9.5 points per match ... the second-largest advantage is Brunner's +74 (139-65).
- Thornton has scored first in a team-high 18 of his 24 matches (.750) ... he ranks second with 68 points in the first period and has outscored his opponents by 14 in the first ... his 178 points this season rank second on the team and are a career best for the redshirt sophomore.
- Takedown leader Luke Welch has 59 to his credit through 17 matches and averages a team-high 9.9 points per match ... in last season's 31 matches, Welch had 46 takedowns and totaled 169 points ... he has already surpassed the takedown total for a career high and is nearing the point total too with 168.