DUAL INFORMATION
Purdue (7-2, 2-1 B1G) at Maryland (2-9, 0-4 B1G)
Friday, Jan. 20 / 7 p.m. ET
XFINITY Center Pavilion / College Park, Maryland
Purdue Notes / Maryland Notes / Live Video / Live Results
Purdue at No. 11 Rutgers (7-2, 2-1 B1G)*
Sunday, Jan. 22 / Noon ET
Rutgers Athletic Center / Piscataway, New Jersey
*Rutgers wrestles Oregon State on Friday
Rutgers Notes / Live Video / Live Results
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The Purdue wrestling team will make its first-ever Big Ten Conference East Coast swing. On Friday the Boilermakers first double-dual weekend has them at Maryland on Friday with action from the XFINITY Center Pavilion starting at 7 p.m. ET. They will then head north for a Sunday battle with 11th-ranked Rutgers.
For Purdue head wrestling coach Tony Ersland, there are two key points he wants to see his team executing with just five weeks and four duals left in the regular season.
"Progression is what we need to see coming out of these two duals," Ersland said. "This time of year we need to keep progressing towards a consistent performance with a good handle on our strategy and tactics."
The Boilermakers are coming off a 19-12 win over in-state rival Indiana in Mackey Mayhem on Jan. 13. Highlighting the win was an upset by Jacob Morrissey over 19th-ranked Devin Skatzka, a major decision by Christian Brunner and Tyler Kral's win in sudden victory to close out the dual.
"After the Indiana dual I pointed out to the team how Morrissey and Brunner wrestled their match, which doesn't mean it was perfect, but they were wrestling their style and it ultimately earned them the win," Ersland said. "The way those three won are all very good energy things for us to build on. It goes to show that hard work produces good results, but at the same time, we cannot take our foot of the gas. We have to continue to go forward even harder with more focus than before."
Even though it will be just the second time Purdue has met the Terrapins and Scarlet Knights in a Big Ten dual, the Boilermakers have history with both programs. They are aiming to win their second straight over Maryland and even the series at 2-2. Rutgers has won both previous meetings, once in non-conference action and last season in its first Big Ten dual against the Boilermakers.
| PURDUE PROBABLE LINEUP | ||||
| WEIGHT | NAME | YEAR | RECORD | HOMETOWN |
| 125 | Ben Thornton | RS So. | 21-8 | Stoddard, Wis. |
| 133 | Luke Welch | RS Jr. | 15-7 | Newburgh, Ind. |
| Cody Pae | RS Jr. | 10-5 | Fulton, Mo. | |
| 141 | Kyle Ayersman | RS Sr. | 13-7 | Dyer, Ind. |
| Austin Nash | RS Fr. | 9-6 | Florham Park, N.J. | |
| 149 | Nate Limmex | RS Fr. | 8-9 | Ada, Mich. |
| Jeremy Golding | RS Sr. | 10-5 | Spokane, Wash. | |
| 157 | Alex Griffin | RS Sr. | 21-9 | Lafayette, Ind. |
| Gavin Murray | RS Fr. | 5-6 | Cranford, N.J. | |
| 165 | Dylan Lydy | RS Fr. | 13-13 | Indianapolis, Ind. |
| 174 | Jacob Morrissey | RS Jr. | 9-6 | Oconto Falls, Wis. |
| 184 | Tanner Lynde | RS Sr. | 12-10 | Delphi, Ind. |
| 197 | Christian Brunner | Fr. | 16-10 | East Dundee, Ill. |
| 285 | Tyler Kral | RS Sr. | 20-9 | Crown Point, Ind. |
| Jacob Aven | RS So. | 9-7 | 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
A Closer Look at the Boilermakers - The NCAA's first release of national win leaders on Tuesday has Alex Griffin tied for sixth with six technical falls against non-NCAA Division I opponents (only falls and tech falls against opponents from the same division are counted) ... overall, half of Griffin's wins this season have been by tech fall (10) ... he has 20 tech falls in his career, with 30 percent accounting for his 67 career wins.
- Media guides and season stats dating to 2002 have Jake Patacsil with the most technical falls in a season, registering 14 in 2007-08 ... that season he racked up 226 back points.
- Despite a loss against Indiana, Griffin retained a spot in Amateur Wrestling News' top-20 rankings at 157 pounds ... he checks in at No. 19 for his third straight appearance on the poll ... he returned to the top-25 rankings issued by Trackwrestling at No. 19 for his fourth ranking this season the outlet.
- A pair of Boilermaker redshirt freshmen are returning to their home state of New Jersey this weekend ... Austin Nash's hometown of Florham Park is 40 miles from the Rutgers Athletic Center and Gavin Murray's hometown is just 20 miles away.
- Rutgers will be the third ranked team Purdue has faced this season ... the Boilermakers are 6-1 when starting at 125.
- They have used seven different lineups this season and three different lineups in as many Big Ten duals ... Jeremy Golding started at 149 against Iowa and Northwestern and Nate Limmex made his return against Indiana ... Jacob Morrissey was out with an injury against Iowa and Peter Andreotti received the starting nod at 174.
- With starts on Friday and Sunday, Tyler Kral will have started 40 duals in his career ... the next match will be Kyle Ayersman's 95th of his career and the 85th of Tanner Lynde's career ... Morrissey's next match will be the 60th of his career and his next victory will be career win No. 40.
- The Boilermakers own a combined Big Ten dual mark of 12-18 ... they have three bonus point wins with a major decision (197), tech fall (157) and a pin (174) ... Kral, Ben Thornton and Luke Welch each sport a 2-1 mark in Big Ten duals and Morrissey is 2-0.
- The 2016-17 Boilermakers have 22 more wins, including four more with bonus points, compared to this time last season ... there are three grapplers with 20+ wins whereas only Chad Welch had reached the 20-win mark at this time last season ... the 2015-16 team had two wrestlers finish with 20+ wins ... they are also +50 in takedowns in 2016-17.
- To say Kral is surging in his final season as a Boilermaker would be an understatement ... he is looking to make his 12th consecutive start dating to last season, which is currently the longest starting streak for Purdue ... he is only one win shy of matching his win total from the three previous seasons (21) ... Kral has 11 more victories than he did in 2015-16 ... six of the redshirt senior's wins have been shutouts, a career high that is also tied for tops on the team ... his seven dual victories are also tied for the team lead as are his two Big Ten dual wins.
- Christian Brunner's major decision against Indiana was the fifth of the season for the true freshman, moving him into a three-way tie with Thornton and Welch for the team lead.
- With 270 total points scored, Griffin is only eight points behind last season's total point leader, C. Welch, who had 278 ... he has surpassed Brandon Nelsen, the 2014-15 point leader, who had 267, and 15 points off of Cashé Quiroga's mark of 285 in 2013-14.
- Thornton is the second Boilermaker to surpass 200 total points scored ... he has 209 to his credit through 29 matches to average 7.2 points per match ... he is +46 in scoring (209-163), doing most of his work in the first (75-59) and third periods (72-55) ... he has a career best 53 takedowns, 16 more than he had during his rookie campaign.
- Welch continues to be Purdue's takedown leader, a position he has held all season, with 67 ... his 3.0 takedowns per match lead the way, followed by Jacob Aven and Thornton with 1.8 takedowns per match.
- With 152 back points through 30 matches, Griffin ranks fourth on the Boilermakers' season record list ... he's behind Jake Patacsil who owns the top three spots (2009: 293; 2008: 226; 2007: 190) ... he is tied for third on the career standings with Chris Fleeger with 304 back points.
- Morrissey also appears on the career back points list at No. 12 with 156 ... his next hurdle is 165 owned by C. Welch ... Morrissey has 62 back points in 15 matches.