Purdue Results / Brackets / Live Video / Tournament Information
EVANSTON, Ill. - Of a dozen wrestlers that began the day, Alex Griffin was the lone Purdue grappler to advance into the second day of the 54th Ken Kraft Midlands Championships. The Boilermakers won 16 matches to tally 25 points during Thursday's two sessions inside Welsh-Ryan Arena to sit in 19th in the team standings.
Friday's third session will be broadcast free of charge on BTN2Go starting at 1 p.m. ET featuring four mats of competition. Championship matches will air live on the Big Ten Network and BTN2Go beginning at 8 p.m. The third- and fifth-place matches will be broadcast simultaneously on BTN2Go.
Griffin, the No. 10 seed at 157 pounds, dropped into the wrestlebacks after suffering an 11-2 quarterfinal loss to second-seeded Michael Kemerer of Iowa. The redshirt senior opened with a quick 16-1 technical fall in 2:48 against Oregon State's Bryce Parson. He then scored a takedown in each period en route to a 7-2 upset of the No. 7 seed, B.J. Clagon of Rider, to push him into the quarterfinals.
Griffin (18-7) must win a consolation match vs. Iowa State's Colston DiBlasi in order to guarantee a podium finish. The unseeded Cyclone has won three of his four Midlands' matches by fall.
Purdue had a trio of wrestlers that picked up a consolation victory during Thursday's evening session. Jacob Morrissey put up an 11-2 major decision against unattached wrestler Logan Gruszka, but was bounced from the 174-pound bracket by Rutgers' Jordan Pagano with a 10-3 setback. Morrissey's other win in the tournament also resulted in bonus points, taking 2:55 to blank Weston Dobler of Oregon State 18-0 in his opening bout.
Like Morrissey, Tanner Lynde started with a technical fall against an Oregon State opponent. The 184-pounder shut Bob Coleman out 15-0 in 3:41. His second tech came in wrestlebacks, ousting Sacred Heart's Elliott Antler 16-1 in 2:58. Lynde nearly stuck 10th-seeded Michael Macciavello of NC State, but time expired before the call could be made as he lost an 11-8 decision, forcing him to bow out.
No. 12-seeded Tyler Kral started the second session with a thrilling 5-4 win over Maryland's Youssif Hemida that was decided in the second tiebreaker. The heavyweight's run was ended in his next match by Gage Hutchison of Eastern Michigan in a 10-second fall. Kral won his first two matches of the day, pinning Alex Encarnacion-Strand of CSU Bakersfield in 1:03 and he blanked North Dakota State's Daniel Stibral 2-0.
During the first session, the Boilermakers received bonus points from Austin Nash and Dylan Lydy with major decisions at 141 and 165 pounds, respectively.
Freshman Shawn Streck, who was competing unattached at 285 pounds, turned in a 2-2 performance. Streck won his first bout with a 6-5 decision of Hemida and his first wrestleback match 5-2 over unattached wrestler Antonio Pelusi. Both of his loses were narrow and against seeded opponents: No. 2 Tanner Hall of Arizona State (6-1) and No. 10 Cody Crawford of Oregon State (5-2).
Day 1 of Midlands Championships Complete
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