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WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Although it was a night to honor Purdue wrestling's seniors, true freshman Christian Brunner shined with an upset and Luke Welch won a thriller in sudden victory Friday. The regular season finale in Holloway Gymnasium however went No. 18 Wisconsin's way 22-12. The Boilermakers won four weights to close out their dual schedule at 8-7 and 3-6 in the Big Ten Conference.
From first whistle to final horn, the battle at 197 pounds was controlled by Brunner in a 4-1 upset of 11th-ranked Ricky Robertson. Brunner (19-13) took Robertson down midway through the opening stanza and rode the period out. His dominance on top continued into the second period as he rode the Badger for the full 2:00. An escape in the third took Brunner's lead to 3-1 and he earned his fourth point with 1:16 of riding time.
The upset is the first for Brunner over a ranked opponent in his rookie campaign, doing so on his 19th birthday. It also matches the highest ranked opponent a Purdue wrestler has defeated this season.
"I knew he [Robertson] was ranked," Brunner said. "I knew he was good; I've seen him wrestle a few times. I just kind of went out there and had fun with it."
A call reversal with seconds left in the 133-pound match proved to be the momentum swing that Welch needed to beat Eli Stickley, taking a 7-5 decision in sudden victory.
Trailing 5-2, Welch elected for a neutral start in the third period. Time ticked away and with only seconds remaining, he got a high single on Stickley, looked for back points, but neither a takedown nor back points were awarded as time sounded. Immediately Purdue head wrestling coach Tony Ersland challenged the call, which was reversed to award Welch a takedown, making it 5-4, and sent it to sudden victory with his 1:38 worth of riding time.
"I knew I had the takedown," Welch said. "I was just waiting on the call, and if the coaches would challenge it, the refs will see it. Then I heard the other ref say it was a takedown, so I was confident. I was thinking about what was going to go on in overtime and I was already looking for the next points."
The winning takedown came 22 seconds into sudden victory and Welch avenged a 7-1 loss to Stickley from the Las Vegas Wrestling Invitational in December. The redshirt junior picked up his 18th victory, which is the most he has won in a season.
"Going into sudden victory, I knew I had him," Welch said. "The whole match I could feel him slowly starting to wear down. It was a little different match from the last time we wrestled. I knew I was wrestling hard and I knew he couldn't really do anything."
Cody Pae, who has wrestled his entire career at 133 pounds, answered the call and delivered for Purdue at 141 pounds by defeating Cole Martin 6-0.
"They asked me and I was ready to," Pae said. "Something that Coach Ersland always preaches is being ready, so when he asked me, I was ready to go."
After an escape to start the second period, Pae took the Badger down and scored another takedown in the third. He tacked on his final point with 1:01 of riding time to leave Holloway with his arm raised. The win, coming in the 40th match of his career, lifted him to 15-6 on the season.
Even though Pae is a redshirt junior, it was his senior night too as he has opted to forgo his final year of eligibility to graduate in May.
"How about Cody Pae stepping up on senior night!" Ersland said. "On short notice, we brought Cody up and he answered the call. It was great to see him take advantage of an opportunity."
Not only did the win satisfy Pae, but the setting of the match made it even sweeter.
"The win is huge for me, especially having my parents here and it being senior night," Pae said. "It's really exciting for me. I'm glad I was able to take care of business."
At 174 pounds, Jacob Morrissey blanked his fourth opponent of the season with a 4-0 outing against Ryan Christensen thanks to takedowns in the first and third periods. The win brought the redshirt junior's conference mark to 7-1, which is the best Big Ten record since Ivan Lopouchanski went 7-1 in 2012-13. Overall, Morrissey stands at 14-7.
Postseason competition awaits Purdue.
Brunner Upsets, Welch Wins Thriller
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