CAREER NOTES
• 2017 USA Wrestling University Nationals 57 kg national champion
• Two-time USA Wrestling University Nationals All-American (2015, 2017)
• Two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection (2015, 2018)
• NCAA Championships 125-pound qualifier (2018)
• Ranks 18th on Purdue’s career takedowns list (227)
2017-18 / AS A REDSHIRT SENIOR
• Stats
Awards & Honors
• Academic All-Big Ten
• Purdue Wrestling’s Most Outstanding Wrestler
Tournaments
• Michigan State Open 125-pound champion (11/5)
• Navy Classic 125-pound champion (11/18)
• Competed at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational as the No. 6 seed (12/1)
• Placed seventh at Midlands Championships as the No. 6 seed (12/29-30)
• Placed fourth at Big Ten Championships as the No. 6 seed (3/3-4)
• Competed at NCAA Championships as the No. 14 seed (3/15-16)
Team Leader
• Longest winning streak (11), longest dual winning streak (8), total points scored (292)
Career Highs Set
• Tournament wins (21), wins over ranked opponents (7), wins (32), decisions (15), major decisions (7), technical falls (2), pins (4), bonus point wins (13), takedowns (77), two- and four-point nearfalls (4, 9), back points (44), first period points (107), third period points (113), total points (292), points/match (6.8), riding time (49:52), dual points (44)
Season Notes
• Returned to 125 pounds after wrestling the last two seasons at 133 ... set numerous career highs with the weight class change ... compared to last season, Welch is +68 in total points scored ... reached the 20-win plateau for the first time in his career ... was one of three Boilermakers to win 30+ matches, a first for Purdue since 2009-10.
• One of four Boilermakers to finish with more takedowns since Cashé Quiroga’s 94 in 2013-14.
• Went 3-2 at the NCAA Championships as the No. 14 seed ... first seeded 125-pounder for Purdue since Chris Fleeger was No. 1 in 2003 ... suffered an 8-6 sudden victory loss to 10th-seeded Ronnie Bresser of Oregon State in the blood round ... opened with a 10-5 win over South Dakota State’s Connor Brown ... his first wrestleback match was a 1:06 pin of Virginia Tech’s Kyle Norstrem, then he overpowered No. 11 Sean Russell of Edinboro with a second period ride out on his way to a 4-3 upset.
• Secured his first NCAA appearance in sudden victory with a 6-4 win over seventh-seeded RayVon Foley of Michigan State in the Big Ten Championships consolation quarterfinals ... Welch became the first Boilermaker to qualify at 125 pounds since Camden Eppert in 2012.
• Wrestled above his No. 6 seed with his fourth-place performance at Big Tens, the best showing by a Purdue 125-pounder since Chris Fleeger won it all in 2003 ... won by injury default in a consolation semifinal matchup with No. 1 Nick Suriano of Rutgers ... second-seeded Spencer Lee of Iowa won the third-place match with a 16-0 technical fall in 3:23.
• Started 14 of 16 duals ... combined with Devin Schroder (LIU Post, Nebraska) for the most dual points in a weight class with 52, sporting a 13-3 record (6 D, 3 MD, 2 TF, 2 FOR).
• Welch’s span of 17 straight weeks in the national rankings was the longest for a Purdue wrestler since older brother Chad was ranked in 13 of the 2015-16 season’s 19 polls ... Luke was ranked as high as No. 12 (1/16).
• Of his 11 losses, eight were to top-10 opponents, two are to unranked opponents and one was to a lower ranked opponent.
• Finished regular season with four of his last five matches being decided by major decision.
• Michigan’s ninth-ranked Drew Mattin came out hot against Welch, but he chipped away and his four-point nearfall in the closing frame of the bout earned him an 11-7 upset ... Mattin held a 6-3 lead after the first period on a pair of takedowns and a two-point nearfall ... Welch reversed the Wolverine and maintained his control on top throughout the second ... Mattin went up 7-5 after he escaped to start the third, only to be takedown down and tilted by Welch.
• Went 4-2 to place seventh at the Midlands Championships ... had a pair of decisions and major decisions ... losses came from No. 10 Ronnie Bresser of Oregon State and Edinboro’s seventh-ranked Sean Russell.
• Won 11 straight to start the season, the longest winning streak of his career ... dropped his first match, an 8-5 decision to Oklahoma’s Christian Moody, in the third round of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Wrestling Invitational ... the 11-match winning streak was the best posted by any of the three Welch brothers to wrestle at Purdue ... it was the longest winning streak since Danny Sabatello won 16 straight in 2014.
• Had four bonus point victories in five matches wrestled to win the Navy Classic ... outscored opponents 43-7 ... had a 17-2 technical fall in the quarterfinals, defeating Navy’s Brant Leadbeter in 6:07 ... recorded the first career pin, a 47-second stick of Ohio’s Coleton Chase in the opening round, and pinned two more.
• Took top honors at the Michigan State Open in an all-Purdue final at 125 pounds by beating teammate Devin Schroder 6-3.
2016-17 / AS A REDSHIRT JUNIOR
• Stats
Tournaments
• Placed sixth at Eastern Michigan Open (11/5)
• Roadrunner Open 133-pound champion (11/20)
• Competed at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational as the No. 9 seed (12/2)
• Competed at Midlands Championships as the No. 14 seed (12/29)
• Competed at Big Ten Championships as the No. 8 seed (3/4)
• University Nationals 57 kg champion (6/4)
Season Notes
• Purdue’s 133-pound starter in 14 of its 16 duals ... tabbed as the starter after splitting the first four duals of the season with Cody Pae ... credited with scoring 30 dual points, which ranked second on the team ... turned in a pair of dual bonus point victories, an 18-7 major decision of Bloomsburg’s Matt Noble and a 22-7 technical fall of Peter Russo of Stanford in 5:19.
• Set career high marks in wins (18), Big Ten dual wins (5), major decisions (5), total points (224), points per match (7.0) ... his 7.0 points per match are nearly two points higher than last season ... won a career-best seven straight matches from Nov. 13 to 20 ... streak tied for the longest of the season for the Boilermakers.
• Wrestled 31 matches last season, scoring 169 points and had 46 takedowns ... with just one more match this season (32), he scored 55 more points and had 26 more takedowns.
• Team leader in takedowns (72), second period point differential (+17) ... topped major decision category alongside Ben Thornton and Christian Brunner with five ... ranked second in points scored in the second (64) and third (88) periods, third period point differential (+28) ... his average of 7.0 points per match ranked second among those that had 20-or more matches ... ranked fourth in total points scored (224).
• Went 4-0 at the Roadrunner Open to win his first collegiate title ... registered three decisions and a major decision ... beat Durbin Lloren of Utah Valley 8-5 in the finals.
• Was 3-2 in extended matches ... the five overtime matches were most on the team ... two of the three wins came in Big Ten duals and were influenced by a successfully challenged call ... deadlocked at 3-3 and halfway through sudden victory, Rutgers’ Scott DelVecchio was awarded a takedown ... the call was overturned and they moved to tiebreakers ... DelVecchio escaped first to go ahead 4-3 ... Welch one-upped the escape with a reversal for a 5-3 victory ... trailing Eli Sickley of Wisconsin 5-2 entering the third period, a challenged no-call awarded a takedown to Welch and 1:38 of riding time sent it to sudden victory ... the winning takedown came 22 seconds, to take a 7-5 decision and avenge a 7-1 loss to Stickley in Las Vegas in December.
• Blanked No. 15 Mitch McKee of Minnesota 4-0 ... Welch rode the second period out in a 0-0 match, reversed McKee 36 seconds into in the third period and received a penalty point for McKee’s third caution ... Welch racked up 2:45 riding time.
• Came back to beat 2016 All-American David Terao 8-4 to claim the 57 kg freestyle championship at the USA Wrestling University Nationals ... Welch trailed Terao, a fourth-place, 125-pound finisher at the 2016 NCAA Championships for American, 4-2 after the opening period ... he stormed back with six unanswered points in the second period to claim the match and title ... in the semifinals Welch defeated 2017 NCAA 125-pound All-American Sean Russell of Edinboro RTC with a 16-6 technical fall in 3:59 ... finished the tournament with a 5-0 record.
2015-16 / AS A REDSHIRT SOPHOMORE
• Stats
Tournaments
• Competed at Michigan State Open (unattached) (11/15)
• Competed at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (12/4)
• Competed at Midlands Championships (12/29)
• Competed at Big Ten Championships as the No. 11 seed (3/5)
• Competed in freestyle at University Nationals at 61 kg (6/4)
Season Notes
• Competed at 133 pounds after spending rookie season at 125
• Set career highs across the board in win types and in all scoring categories
• Team leader in overtime points scored (10) and non-conference dual wins (7) ... tied for team lead in overtime matches (4), overtime victories (3) and decisions (12)
• Tied for second with 11 dual victories ... fourth in takedowns (46), total points (169), dual points (38) ... fifth in second period points (47)
• Since the 2014-15 season, he started alongside his brothers Chad and Doug 22 times ... the trio won together seven times this season and nine times overall
• Strung together three consecutive wins on two occasions during the season
• Closed out regular season winning five of his last six matches
• His 23 points in the 23-8 technical fall of SIU Edwardsville’s Dakota Leach (2/19) were the most scored in a match by a Boilermaker during the season ... he has a pair of 20+ point matches in his career
• Made three appearances on FloWrestling’s rankings ... after two weeks at No. 19, he climbed to No. 17 in early March
• Earned his first-ever ranking from FloWrestling the week of Feb. 15 thanks to a pair of upsets: No. 8 Johnni DiJulius of Ohio State 3-1 (1/31) and No. 19 Anthony Giraldo of Rutgers 3-1 (TB1) (2/14)
• DiJulius stands as the highest-ranked opponent Welch has defeated in his career and is his first top-10 upset ... with the win, he avenged an 8-3 loss to Buckeye, who was ranked fifth, at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in December
2014-15 / AS A REDSHIRT FRESHMAN
Awards & Honors
• Academic-All Big Ten
Tournaments
• Competed at Michigan State Open (unattached) (11/2)
• Placed fifth at the Joe Parisi Open (11/22)
• Competed at Midlands (12/29)
• Competed at Big Ten Championships (3/7)
• Placed seventh in freestyle at University Nationals at 57 kg (5/30)
Season Notes
• Outside of two matches at 133 at Michigan State Open, spent entire season at 125 ... starter in half of the duals
• Averaged 4.6 points per match
• Made first dual start against Missouri at the Journeymen/ASICS Northeast Duals
• First dual victory came while in lineup with older brothers Chad and Doug ... shut out North Carolina’s Cody Karns 4-0
• Avenged loss to Brandon Jeske of Old Dominion from Journeymen/ASICS Northeast Duals while upsetting the 19th-ranked Monarch at Midlands 6-5 ... win was first over a nationally ranked opponent
• Took Wisconsin’s Matt Cavallaris down a dozen times in 24-9 (6:30) tech fall ... first tech of career ... the 12 takedowns were the most by any Boilermaker in a single match ... his 14 points in the third period were the most scored by any Purdue wrestler in the third during season
• Made Holloway debut with 4-3 win over Garrison White of Northwestern in first match of a 22-17 dual upset of the 19th-ranked Wildcats
• Went 1-2 at first Big Ten Championships ... won opening bout against Maryland’s Josh Polacek 3-1
2013-14 / AS A FRESHMAN
• Redshirted
HIGH SCHOOL
• Four-time Indiana High School Athletic Association state qualifier and three-time state placewinner, including a runner-up finish at 126 pounds as a senior
• Posted a 50-3 record as a senior
• 120- and 119-pound fifth-place finisher as a junior and sophomore, respectively
• Went 47-1 as a junior and 49-2 as a sophomore
• Finished with a 181-16 career record and three program records: most takedowns in a season, total takedowns and total technical falls
• Two-time team captain and MVP
• Also ran cross country and played baseball
PERSONAL
• Full Name: Luke Allen Welch
• Major: Social studies education
• Minors: History, politics, human rights
• Birthday: January 31, 1995
• City Born: Newburgh, Indiana
• Parents: Curt and Dawn Welch
• Siblings: Younger brother to twins and former Purdue wrestlers Chad and Doug (2013-16) ... also has an older sister, Courtney
• 2017 USA Wrestling University Nationals 57 kg national champion
• Two-time USA Wrestling University Nationals All-American (2015, 2017)
• Two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection (2015, 2018)
• NCAA Championships 125-pound qualifier (2018)
• Ranks 18th on Purdue’s career takedowns list (227)
2017-18 / AS A REDSHIRT SENIOR
• Stats
Awards & Honors
• Academic All-Big Ten
• Purdue Wrestling’s Most Outstanding Wrestler
Tournaments
• Michigan State Open 125-pound champion (11/5)
• Navy Classic 125-pound champion (11/18)
• Competed at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational as the No. 6 seed (12/1)
• Placed seventh at Midlands Championships as the No. 6 seed (12/29-30)
• Placed fourth at Big Ten Championships as the No. 6 seed (3/3-4)
• Competed at NCAA Championships as the No. 14 seed (3/15-16)
Team Leader
• Longest winning streak (11), longest dual winning streak (8), total points scored (292)
Career Highs Set
• Tournament wins (21), wins over ranked opponents (7), wins (32), decisions (15), major decisions (7), technical falls (2), pins (4), bonus point wins (13), takedowns (77), two- and four-point nearfalls (4, 9), back points (44), first period points (107), third period points (113), total points (292), points/match (6.8), riding time (49:52), dual points (44)
Season Notes
• Returned to 125 pounds after wrestling the last two seasons at 133 ... set numerous career highs with the weight class change ... compared to last season, Welch is +68 in total points scored ... reached the 20-win plateau for the first time in his career ... was one of three Boilermakers to win 30+ matches, a first for Purdue since 2009-10.
• One of four Boilermakers to finish with more takedowns since Cashé Quiroga’s 94 in 2013-14.
• Went 3-2 at the NCAA Championships as the No. 14 seed ... first seeded 125-pounder for Purdue since Chris Fleeger was No. 1 in 2003 ... suffered an 8-6 sudden victory loss to 10th-seeded Ronnie Bresser of Oregon State in the blood round ... opened with a 10-5 win over South Dakota State’s Connor Brown ... his first wrestleback match was a 1:06 pin of Virginia Tech’s Kyle Norstrem, then he overpowered No. 11 Sean Russell of Edinboro with a second period ride out on his way to a 4-3 upset.
• Secured his first NCAA appearance in sudden victory with a 6-4 win over seventh-seeded RayVon Foley of Michigan State in the Big Ten Championships consolation quarterfinals ... Welch became the first Boilermaker to qualify at 125 pounds since Camden Eppert in 2012.
• Wrestled above his No. 6 seed with his fourth-place performance at Big Tens, the best showing by a Purdue 125-pounder since Chris Fleeger won it all in 2003 ... won by injury default in a consolation semifinal matchup with No. 1 Nick Suriano of Rutgers ... second-seeded Spencer Lee of Iowa won the third-place match with a 16-0 technical fall in 3:23.
• Started 14 of 16 duals ... combined with Devin Schroder (LIU Post, Nebraska) for the most dual points in a weight class with 52, sporting a 13-3 record (6 D, 3 MD, 2 TF, 2 FOR).
• Welch’s span of 17 straight weeks in the national rankings was the longest for a Purdue wrestler since older brother Chad was ranked in 13 of the 2015-16 season’s 19 polls ... Luke was ranked as high as No. 12 (1/16).
• Of his 11 losses, eight were to top-10 opponents, two are to unranked opponents and one was to a lower ranked opponent.
• Finished regular season with four of his last five matches being decided by major decision.
• Michigan’s ninth-ranked Drew Mattin came out hot against Welch, but he chipped away and his four-point nearfall in the closing frame of the bout earned him an 11-7 upset ... Mattin held a 6-3 lead after the first period on a pair of takedowns and a two-point nearfall ... Welch reversed the Wolverine and maintained his control on top throughout the second ... Mattin went up 7-5 after he escaped to start the third, only to be takedown down and tilted by Welch.
• Went 4-2 to place seventh at the Midlands Championships ... had a pair of decisions and major decisions ... losses came from No. 10 Ronnie Bresser of Oregon State and Edinboro’s seventh-ranked Sean Russell.
• Won 11 straight to start the season, the longest winning streak of his career ... dropped his first match, an 8-5 decision to Oklahoma’s Christian Moody, in the third round of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Wrestling Invitational ... the 11-match winning streak was the best posted by any of the three Welch brothers to wrestle at Purdue ... it was the longest winning streak since Danny Sabatello won 16 straight in 2014.
• Had four bonus point victories in five matches wrestled to win the Navy Classic ... outscored opponents 43-7 ... had a 17-2 technical fall in the quarterfinals, defeating Navy’s Brant Leadbeter in 6:07 ... recorded the first career pin, a 47-second stick of Ohio’s Coleton Chase in the opening round, and pinned two more.
• Took top honors at the Michigan State Open in an all-Purdue final at 125 pounds by beating teammate Devin Schroder 6-3.
2016-17 / AS A REDSHIRT JUNIOR
• Stats
Tournaments
• Placed sixth at Eastern Michigan Open (11/5)
• Roadrunner Open 133-pound champion (11/20)
• Competed at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational as the No. 9 seed (12/2)
• Competed at Midlands Championships as the No. 14 seed (12/29)
• Competed at Big Ten Championships as the No. 8 seed (3/4)
• University Nationals 57 kg champion (6/4)
Season Notes
• Purdue’s 133-pound starter in 14 of its 16 duals ... tabbed as the starter after splitting the first four duals of the season with Cody Pae ... credited with scoring 30 dual points, which ranked second on the team ... turned in a pair of dual bonus point victories, an 18-7 major decision of Bloomsburg’s Matt Noble and a 22-7 technical fall of Peter Russo of Stanford in 5:19.
• Set career high marks in wins (18), Big Ten dual wins (5), major decisions (5), total points (224), points per match (7.0) ... his 7.0 points per match are nearly two points higher than last season ... won a career-best seven straight matches from Nov. 13 to 20 ... streak tied for the longest of the season for the Boilermakers.
• Wrestled 31 matches last season, scoring 169 points and had 46 takedowns ... with just one more match this season (32), he scored 55 more points and had 26 more takedowns.
• Team leader in takedowns (72), second period point differential (+17) ... topped major decision category alongside Ben Thornton and Christian Brunner with five ... ranked second in points scored in the second (64) and third (88) periods, third period point differential (+28) ... his average of 7.0 points per match ranked second among those that had 20-or more matches ... ranked fourth in total points scored (224).
• Went 4-0 at the Roadrunner Open to win his first collegiate title ... registered three decisions and a major decision ... beat Durbin Lloren of Utah Valley 8-5 in the finals.
• Was 3-2 in extended matches ... the five overtime matches were most on the team ... two of the three wins came in Big Ten duals and were influenced by a successfully challenged call ... deadlocked at 3-3 and halfway through sudden victory, Rutgers’ Scott DelVecchio was awarded a takedown ... the call was overturned and they moved to tiebreakers ... DelVecchio escaped first to go ahead 4-3 ... Welch one-upped the escape with a reversal for a 5-3 victory ... trailing Eli Sickley of Wisconsin 5-2 entering the third period, a challenged no-call awarded a takedown to Welch and 1:38 of riding time sent it to sudden victory ... the winning takedown came 22 seconds, to take a 7-5 decision and avenge a 7-1 loss to Stickley in Las Vegas in December.
• Blanked No. 15 Mitch McKee of Minnesota 4-0 ... Welch rode the second period out in a 0-0 match, reversed McKee 36 seconds into in the third period and received a penalty point for McKee’s third caution ... Welch racked up 2:45 riding time.
• Came back to beat 2016 All-American David Terao 8-4 to claim the 57 kg freestyle championship at the USA Wrestling University Nationals ... Welch trailed Terao, a fourth-place, 125-pound finisher at the 2016 NCAA Championships for American, 4-2 after the opening period ... he stormed back with six unanswered points in the second period to claim the match and title ... in the semifinals Welch defeated 2017 NCAA 125-pound All-American Sean Russell of Edinboro RTC with a 16-6 technical fall in 3:59 ... finished the tournament with a 5-0 record.
2015-16 / AS A REDSHIRT SOPHOMORE
• Stats
Tournaments
• Competed at Michigan State Open (unattached) (11/15)
• Competed at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (12/4)
• Competed at Midlands Championships (12/29)
• Competed at Big Ten Championships as the No. 11 seed (3/5)
• Competed in freestyle at University Nationals at 61 kg (6/4)
Season Notes
• Competed at 133 pounds after spending rookie season at 125
• Set career highs across the board in win types and in all scoring categories
• Team leader in overtime points scored (10) and non-conference dual wins (7) ... tied for team lead in overtime matches (4), overtime victories (3) and decisions (12)
• Tied for second with 11 dual victories ... fourth in takedowns (46), total points (169), dual points (38) ... fifth in second period points (47)
• Since the 2014-15 season, he started alongside his brothers Chad and Doug 22 times ... the trio won together seven times this season and nine times overall
• Strung together three consecutive wins on two occasions during the season
• Closed out regular season winning five of his last six matches
• His 23 points in the 23-8 technical fall of SIU Edwardsville’s Dakota Leach (2/19) were the most scored in a match by a Boilermaker during the season ... he has a pair of 20+ point matches in his career
• Made three appearances on FloWrestling’s rankings ... after two weeks at No. 19, he climbed to No. 17 in early March
• Earned his first-ever ranking from FloWrestling the week of Feb. 15 thanks to a pair of upsets: No. 8 Johnni DiJulius of Ohio State 3-1 (1/31) and No. 19 Anthony Giraldo of Rutgers 3-1 (TB1) (2/14)
• DiJulius stands as the highest-ranked opponent Welch has defeated in his career and is his first top-10 upset ... with the win, he avenged an 8-3 loss to Buckeye, who was ranked fifth, at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational in December
2014-15 / AS A REDSHIRT FRESHMAN
Awards & Honors
• Academic-All Big Ten
Tournaments
• Competed at Michigan State Open (unattached) (11/2)
• Placed fifth at the Joe Parisi Open (11/22)
• Competed at Midlands (12/29)
• Competed at Big Ten Championships (3/7)
• Placed seventh in freestyle at University Nationals at 57 kg (5/30)
Season Notes
• Outside of two matches at 133 at Michigan State Open, spent entire season at 125 ... starter in half of the duals
• Averaged 4.6 points per match
• Made first dual start against Missouri at the Journeymen/ASICS Northeast Duals
• First dual victory came while in lineup with older brothers Chad and Doug ... shut out North Carolina’s Cody Karns 4-0
• Avenged loss to Brandon Jeske of Old Dominion from Journeymen/ASICS Northeast Duals while upsetting the 19th-ranked Monarch at Midlands 6-5 ... win was first over a nationally ranked opponent
• Took Wisconsin’s Matt Cavallaris down a dozen times in 24-9 (6:30) tech fall ... first tech of career ... the 12 takedowns were the most by any Boilermaker in a single match ... his 14 points in the third period were the most scored by any Purdue wrestler in the third during season
• Made Holloway debut with 4-3 win over Garrison White of Northwestern in first match of a 22-17 dual upset of the 19th-ranked Wildcats
• Went 1-2 at first Big Ten Championships ... won opening bout against Maryland’s Josh Polacek 3-1
2013-14 / AS A FRESHMAN
• Redshirted
HIGH SCHOOL
• Four-time Indiana High School Athletic Association state qualifier and three-time state placewinner, including a runner-up finish at 126 pounds as a senior
• Posted a 50-3 record as a senior
• 120- and 119-pound fifth-place finisher as a junior and sophomore, respectively
• Went 47-1 as a junior and 49-2 as a sophomore
• Finished with a 181-16 career record and three program records: most takedowns in a season, total takedowns and total technical falls
• Two-time team captain and MVP
• Also ran cross country and played baseball
PERSONAL
• Full Name: Luke Allen Welch
• Major: Social studies education
• Minors: History, politics, human rights
• Birthday: January 31, 1995
• City Born: Newburgh, Indiana
• Parents: Curt and Dawn Welch
• Siblings: Younger brother to twins and former Purdue wrestlers Chad and Doug (2013-16) ... also has an older sister, Courtney