Dec. 30, 2017 Purdue Results / Brackets / Photos
#BoilerNotes
- Purdue tallied 367 total match points, which was the fifth most among all teams … the Boilermakers earned bonus points in a dozen matches, registering 10 major decisions and two pins.
- Seventh-seeded Dylan Lydy is the fourth 174-pounder to place at the Midlands Championships … his third-place finish matches Luke Manuel (2009) for the highest at the weight for the Boilermakers.
- Eighth-seeded Christian Brunner added to Purdue's success at 197 at Midlands by becoming the fifth to place and the first since Braden Atwood was the 2013 runner-up.
- Unseeded Nate Limmex's fourth-place performance is the best showing ever for a Purdue 141-pouner and he's the first to place at the weight since Juan Archuleta was seventh in 2009.
- Luke Welch and Devin Schroder become the third and fourth Boilermakers to place at 125 pounds … Welch defeated Schroder in a tournament-placing match for a second time this season to take seventh-they squared off in the Michigan State Open finals … three wrestlers on Purdue's roster have now placed at the weight at Midlands … Ben Thornton was seventh in 2015.
- Jacob Morrissey is the second 165-pounder to place in the last three years, the last being Chad Welch, who won the title in 2015.
- Shawn Streck is just the third Purdue heavyweight to ever place at Midlands and is the first since 2011 when Roger Vukobratovich placed eighth.
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. - Eight Purdue wrestlers entered Day 2 of the 55th Ken Kraft Midlands Championships and seven took hardware home with them Saturday. Seventh-seeded Dylan Lydy and eighth-seeded Christian Brunner placed third at 174 and 197 pounds, respectively, to lead the way for the Boilermakers. It marked the first time in nearly a decade that Purdue has had a pair of wrestlers place third or higher at Midlands.
Nate Limmex, who was unseeded at 141, placed fourth while wrestling at the Sears Centre and a trio of grapplers placed seventh: Luke Welch (125), Jacob Morrissey (165) and Shawn Streck (285). Devin Schroder rounded out the award winners by placing eighth at 125.
The Boilermakers' run on both the individual front and as a team was one for the record books. The seven placewinners are the most ever, crushing the previous high of four from 2008, 2006 and 1990. As a team, they totaled 84 points, which is the most they have ever scored at Midlands, topping 2008's performance of 82.5 points.
"I don't like to look back at history," Purdue head wrestling coach Tony Ersland said. "We tell our guys to stay in the moment all the time, so with that in mind, this is a tournament we can build on. We didn't get everything we wanted, so we're still not satisfied, but there were some good performances and a lot of positive things to build on as we move into the Big Ten dual season."
Purdue wrestlers beat 16 higher seeded opponents during the two-day tournament: 11 by decision, three by major decision, one injury default and one medical forfeit were received-both of which counted as a Boilermaker victory. Five grapplers were awarded with a seed and three of them performed above that seed. A trio of the wrestlers that ended on the podium were unseeded.
"We beat a lot of seeded guys this weekend and we had a lot of guys wrestle above their seed," Ersland said. "There is progress and that's what I'm happy about because we are getting better. I thought we competed pretty well majority of the time, even when we lost, we competed pretty well."
Seeds meant nothing to Limmex with four of his five wins coming over a seeded foe. Schroder, who was unseeded, collided with a seeded opponent in all six of his matches and came out as the victor in half of them, including two by major decision. Lydy also upended a trio of higher ranked opponents.
"This was a great tournament for Nate Limmex--I thought he really had a lot of positive things he can take from this tournament," Ersland said. "Dylan Lydy continues to move forward, he's showing a little bit more."
Limmex finished with a 5-2 mark, pushing his redshirt sophomore record to 15-9 and surpassing his win total from last season. Fourth-seeded Tyler Smith of Bucknell halted Limmex in the third-place match 10-4. Like his second-year counterpart, Lydy too has already racked up more wins that a season ago at 20-8. Among his wins was a 7-3 dual loss to Central Michigan's C.J. Brucki avenged in the consolation semifinals, 3-2, and he twice defeated the No. 2-seed Mikey Labriola of Nebraska (unattached), including a 3-2 decision in the third-place match.
"Christian Brunner is also a guy I thought had a noteworthy performance at this tournament," Ersland said. "Devin Schroder came in having knocked off a couple ranked guys already this season, so he knows he can do it and he enjoys that role. He knows he didn't get the respect that maybe he should have and when he starts knocking those guys off he gets excited."
Brunner impressed on Saturday with a 4:54 pin of Clarion's Dustin Conti, rallied in the third period for a 9-5 win over No. 10 Jackson Striggow of Michigan in the consolation quarterfinals and he defeated seventh-seeded and 2016 Cadet World bronze medalist Jacob Warner of Iowa (unattached) 10-6 in the semifinals. The 2016 NCAA qualifier received a medical forfeit from top-seeded Nate Rotert of South Dakota State in the third-place bout to take his sophomore record to 16-5.
Schroder major decisioned a pair of top-10 seeded wrestlers during the tournament: No. 4 Ryan Millhof of Arizona State (12-2) and Minnesota's seventh-seeded Steve Polakowski (10-0). The Northview, Michigan, native, now owns a 14-6 record in his redshirt freshman campaign.
With team tournaments now in the rear view mirror, Purdue's schedule shifts to Big Ten Conference duals. The 4-1 Boilermakers return to Holloway Gymnasium for a double-dual Sunday on Jan. 7. First, they will take on Princeton at 11 a.m. ET, followed by No. 9 Michigan at 1 p.m. The Tigers and the Wolverines will then square off at 3 p.m.
#BoilerNotes
- Purdue tallied 367 total match points, which was the fifth most among all teams … the Boilermakers earned bonus points in a dozen matches, registering 10 major decisions and two pins.
- Seventh-seeded Dylan Lydy is the fourth 174-pounder to place at the Midlands Championships … his third-place finish matches Luke Manuel (2009) for the highest at the weight for the Boilermakers.
- Eighth-seeded Christian Brunner added to Purdue's success at 197 at Midlands by becoming the fifth to place and the first since Braden Atwood was the 2013 runner-up.
- Unseeded Nate Limmex's fourth-place performance is the best showing ever for a Purdue 141-pouner and he's the first to place at the weight since Juan Archuleta was seventh in 2009.
- Luke Welch and Devin Schroder become the third and fourth Boilermakers to place at 125 pounds … Welch defeated Schroder in a tournament-placing match for a second time this season to take seventh-they squared off in the Michigan State Open finals … three wrestlers on Purdue's roster have now placed at the weight at Midlands … Ben Thornton was seventh in 2015.
- Jacob Morrissey is the second 165-pounder to place in the last three years, the last being Chad Welch, who won the title in 2015.
- Shawn Streck is just the third Purdue heavyweight to ever place at Midlands and is the first since 2011 when Roger Vukobratovich placed eighth.
HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. - Eight Purdue wrestlers entered Day 2 of the 55th Ken Kraft Midlands Championships and seven took hardware home with them Saturday. Seventh-seeded Dylan Lydy and eighth-seeded Christian Brunner placed third at 174 and 197 pounds, respectively, to lead the way for the Boilermakers. It marked the first time in nearly a decade that Purdue has had a pair of wrestlers place third or higher at Midlands.
Nate Limmex, who was unseeded at 141, placed fourth while wrestling at the Sears Centre and a trio of grapplers placed seventh: Luke Welch (125), Jacob Morrissey (165) and Shawn Streck (285). Devin Schroder rounded out the award winners by placing eighth at 125.
The Boilermakers' run on both the individual front and as a team was one for the record books. The seven placewinners are the most ever, crushing the previous high of four from 2008, 2006 and 1990. As a team, they totaled 84 points, which is the most they have ever scored at Midlands, topping 2008's performance of 82.5 points.
"I don't like to look back at history," Purdue head wrestling coach Tony Ersland said. "We tell our guys to stay in the moment all the time, so with that in mind, this is a tournament we can build on. We didn't get everything we wanted, so we're still not satisfied, but there were some good performances and a lot of positive things to build on as we move into the Big Ten dual season."
Purdue wrestlers beat 16 higher seeded opponents during the two-day tournament: 11 by decision, three by major decision, one injury default and one medical forfeit were received-both of which counted as a Boilermaker victory. Five grapplers were awarded with a seed and three of them performed above that seed. A trio of the wrestlers that ended on the podium were unseeded.
"We beat a lot of seeded guys this weekend and we had a lot of guys wrestle above their seed," Ersland said. "There is progress and that's what I'm happy about because we are getting better. I thought we competed pretty well majority of the time, even when we lost, we competed pretty well."
Seeds meant nothing to Limmex with four of his five wins coming over a seeded foe. Schroder, who was unseeded, collided with a seeded opponent in all six of his matches and came out as the victor in half of them, including two by major decision. Lydy also upended a trio of higher ranked opponents.
"This was a great tournament for Nate Limmex--I thought he really had a lot of positive things he can take from this tournament," Ersland said. "Dylan Lydy continues to move forward, he's showing a little bit more."
Limmex finished with a 5-2 mark, pushing his redshirt sophomore record to 15-9 and surpassing his win total from last season. Fourth-seeded Tyler Smith of Bucknell halted Limmex in the third-place match 10-4. Like his second-year counterpart, Lydy too has already racked up more wins that a season ago at 20-8. Among his wins was a 7-3 dual loss to Central Michigan's C.J. Brucki avenged in the consolation semifinals, 3-2, and he twice defeated the No. 2-seed Mikey Labriola of Nebraska (unattached), including a 3-2 decision in the third-place match.
"Christian Brunner is also a guy I thought had a noteworthy performance at this tournament," Ersland said. "Devin Schroder came in having knocked off a couple ranked guys already this season, so he knows he can do it and he enjoys that role. He knows he didn't get the respect that maybe he should have and when he starts knocking those guys off he gets excited."
Brunner impressed on Saturday with a 4:54 pin of Clarion's Dustin Conti, rallied in the third period for a 9-5 win over No. 10 Jackson Striggow of Michigan in the consolation quarterfinals and he defeated seventh-seeded and 2016 Cadet World bronze medalist Jacob Warner of Iowa (unattached) 10-6 in the semifinals. The 2016 NCAA qualifier received a medical forfeit from top-seeded Nate Rotert of South Dakota State in the third-place bout to take his sophomore record to 16-5.
Schroder major decisioned a pair of top-10 seeded wrestlers during the tournament: No. 4 Ryan Millhof of Arizona State (12-2) and Minnesota's seventh-seeded Steve Polakowski (10-0). The Northview, Michigan, native, now owns a 14-6 record in his redshirt freshman campaign.
With team tournaments now in the rear view mirror, Purdue's schedule shifts to Big Ten Conference duals. The 4-1 Boilermakers return to Holloway Gymnasium for a double-dual Sunday on Jan. 7. First, they will take on Princeton at 11 a.m. ET, followed by No. 9 Michigan at 1 p.m. The Tigers and the Wolverines will then square off at 3 p.m.