CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
• 2020 NWCA First Team All-America at 197 pounds
• Four-time NCAA Championships 197-pound qualifier (2017-20), 1-of-12 four-time qualifiers in Purdue history
• Team USA U23 Freestyle World Team member at 92 kg, competing at U23 World Championships in Bucharest, Romania (2018)
• Ranked 18th in program history in wins (98)
• Finished his career ninth on Purdue’s career back points list (220)
2019-20 / AS A SENIOR
• Stats (PDF)
• First Team All-America
• Earned the Purdue Wrestling Boiler Up Tough Award
• Shared Purdue’s Joe Patacsil Leadership Award with classmate Dylan Lydy
• Posted an overall record of 25-6, marking the best of his career (.806), going 5-3 in duals and 20-3 in tournament competition
• Earned a career-high ranking of No. 2 in the country via FloWrestling, InterMat, The Open Mat, TrackWrestling and WIN Magazine
• Led the Boilermakers with seven falls on the year, finishing his career with 16 pins, and was second on the team with 12 bonus-point victories
• 2019 Midlands Champion, winning the tournament with a 5-0 record as the No. 3 seed, and becoming the fourth Purdue champion at the event all-time
• Placed second at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, posting a 4-1 record as the No. 7 seed with wins over the No. 10, No. 2 and No. 6 seeds on his way to the championship match
• Took third at the Michigan State Open, competing unattached with a 4-1 record, including his first fall of the season
• Wrestled his first two events of the season unattached, with intent to redshirt the season, but joined the varsity lineup at the 2019 Boilermaker Duals, going 2-0, including a fall over NCAA qualifier Greg Bulsak of Clarion
• Won the Maryville Kaufman/Brand/Bayly Open (unattached), pinning three of his four opponents in a total of 3:20 and taking a 10-3 decision in the finals
• Needed just 1:57 to stick SIUE’s Jake McKiernan in the Boilermakers’ non-conference finale
• Picked up bonus points in back-to-back Big Ten road duals, posting a 10-1 major decision over Nick Willham of Indiana and sticking Maryland’s Niko Cappello in 1:47
• Suffered a knee injury at Rutgers, leading 2-1 in the third period and forced to injury default, and would miss the final four duals of the regular season
• Placed sixth at the Big Ten Championships, going 3-1 and defaulting out of the tournament after earning an automatic qualifying spot for the NCAA Championships
• Earned the No. 6 seed at the 2020 NCAA Championships
2018-19 / AS A JUNIOR
• Stats
Awards & Honors
Team Leader
• Points scored in the second period (80), second period point differential (+37), dual points scored (55); tied for highest ranking (9)
Career Highs Set
• Dual wins (11), Big Ten dual wins (6), ranked opponent wins (4), wins (25), pins (4), shutouts (4), points scored in the second period (80), reversals (4), two-point nearfalls (6), dual points scored (55)
Season Notes
• Brunner’s third NCAA Championships were his best yet ... was defeated in the Blood Round to fall one match short of earning All-America honors.
• Opened tournament with 1-0 win over Sawyer Root from The Citadel ... Brunner was in control from start to finish in a 6-2 upset of sixth-seeded and three-time All-American Willie Miklus of Iowa State in the championship second round ... Brunner took the Cyclone down late in the first period and ended the match with an exclamation point, taking Miklus down with just one second remaining ... the win lifted Brunner to the quarterfinals, making him Purdue’s first quarterfinalist at the NCAA Championships since Cashé Quiroga at 125 pounds in 2010.
• Was pinned by eventual third-place finisher Preston Weigel of Oklahoma State in the quarterfinals and was bounced by Fresno State’s Josh Hokit, who went on to place fifth, 13-4 in the Blood Round.
• Brunner overpowered unseeded Beau Breske of Wisconsin, blanking the Badger 6-0, in the NCAA-clinching fifth-place match at Big Tens ... the win secured the Purdue junior his third trip to the NCAA Championships.
• It was the third podium finish for Brunner at Big Tens, joining Ben Thornton as a three-time placewinner ... the duo became Purdue’s first three-time Big Ten Championships placewinners since Braden Atwood (2012-15) and Brandon Nelsen (2012, 13, 15).
• Three of his four wins at Big Tens were shutouts ... his opening round 15-0 technical fall was his first shutout of the season ... also blanked eighth-seeded Brad Wilton of Michigan State 3-0 in the consolation quarterfinals.
• First season of his career he has been nationally ranked every week.
• Four of his career-high 11 dual victories resulted in bonus points (1 MD, 1 TF, 2 F).
• Opened season going 4-1 to place third at Princeton Open ... lost to No. 7 Nathan Traxler of Stanford 6-3 in the semifinals ... Traxler had a pair of takedowns along with a second period reversal while limiting Brunner, ranked 12th, to escapes.
• Wrestled at 92 kg for Team USA at the U23 World Championships in Bucharest, Romania, on Nov. 17 ... Brunner used 1:45 to dispose of Zoltan Gergen of Romania 10-0 to move into the quarterfinals, where he met two-time age-group World bronze medalist Bohdan Hrytsay of Ukraine ... an arm throw by Hrytsay led to four points and a fall for the Ukrainian in 1:47 ... Brunner finished his first international competition at 1-1.
• Wrestled true to seed at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational for first podium finish in three appearances at the tournament ... went 4-2 with back-to-back major decisions in his first two matches.
• Avenged the loss to Traxler with a 4-3 decision in the Feb. 8 dual ... in the third period, Brunner, ranked 12th, had a monster double-leg takedown and rideout to upset the ninth-ranked Cardinal wrestler.
• Pinned Rutgers’ Matthew Correnti in 6:19 on his 21st birthday ... it was the second time in his career he had a dual victory on his birthday ... upset No. 11 Ricky Robertson of Wisconsin 4-1 on his 19th birthday in 2017.
2017-18 / AS A SOPHOMORE
• Stats
Tournaments
• Placed third at Navy Classic (11/18)
• Competed at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational as the No. 6 seed (12/1)
• Placed third at Midlands Championships as the No. 8 seed (12/29-30)
• Placed fifth at Big Ten Championships as the No. 6 seed (3/3-4)
• Competed at NCAA Championships as the No. 16 seed (3/15-16)
• Competed at UWW Junior Freestyle National Championships at 92 kg (5/27)
• Placed fourth at 92 kg at U23 Freestyle World Team Trials (6/2-3)
Team Leader
• Points scored in the second period (63)
Career Highs Set
• Tournament wins (16), wins over ranked opponents (4), technical falls (4), bonus point wins (11), first (89) and second period points (73), riding time (46:36), takedowns (45), four-point nearfalls (15), back points (68), riding time points (15), total points (251), points per match (7.2)
Season Notes
• Had the highest scoring differential among Purdue wrestlers at +126 (251-125) ... went over 200 total points for a second season.
• Entered the NCAA Championships as the No. 16 seed at 197 pounds ... was upended by Patrick Brucki of Princeton in the first round ... a 10-1 major decision of Utah Valley’s Tanner Orndorff in wrestlebacks was his lone win ... exited on a 3-2 loss to 15th-seeded Matt Williams of CSU Bakersfield.
• Earned his second NCAA trip by upsetting Iowa’s third-seeded Cash Wilcke 8-2 in the Big Ten Championships quarterfinals ... four stalling calls on Wilcke rewarded Brunner with three points, on top of a takedown, escapes in the first and third periods and 2:15 of riding time for the win.
• The two were set to collide in the fifth-place match, but Wilcke gave the match to Brunner via injury default (0:00) ... Brunner became a two-time Big Tens placewinner while extending Purdue’s presence on the 197 podium to 15 straight years ... his fifth-place showing was the best for a Purdue 197-pounder since 2009 when Logan Brown placed fifth.
• Opened Big Tens with a 4:56 fall of Rutgers’ Anthony Messner ... second-seeded Shakur Rasheed of Penn State defeated Brunner 10-2 in the semifinals ... suffered a 6-3 setback to Wisconsin’s fifth-seeded Hunter Ritter in the consolation semifinals.
• Missed five duals in January due to injury ... returned Jan. 26 with a 2-0 win over Cordell Eaton of North Dakota State ... scored bonus points against Michigan State’s Nick May (12-4) and Jake Kleimola of Indiana (17-2 (5:54)).
• Turned in a third-place finish at the Midlands Championships as the No. 8-seed ... won four straight matches on day 2: pinned Clarion’s Dustin Conti (4:54), rallied in the third period for a 9-5 decision against Jackson Striggow of Michigan in the consolation quarterfinals and he defeated 2016 Cadet World bronze medalist Jacob Warner of Iowa (unattached) 10-6 in the semifinals ... he received a medical forfeit from No. 6 Nate Rotert of South Dakota State in the third-place bout.
• A 15-0 technical fall (6:50) of Minnesota’s Bobby Stevenson was one of Brunner’s two technical falls in wrestlebacks of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Wrestling Invitational.
• Placed third at the Navy Classic with a record of 4-1 ... put up his second major decision of the season with a 10-1 win over Kent State’s Kyle Conel in the third-place match ... his 16-1 (5:24) technical fall of Oregon State’s Adam Rateb was the first of his career.
• Trailed No. 10 Danny Chaid of North Carolina 1-0 at the start of the third period ... escaped to even it at 1-1 ... scored the match-winning takedown and added 2:11 of riding time for a 4-1 decision at the Journeymen/MyHouse Northeast Duals.
2016-17 / AS A FRESHMAN
• Stats
Awards & Honors
• Purdue Wrestling's Outstanding Freshman Award
• Purdue Wrestling's Boiler Up Tough Award
Tournaments
• Placed fifth at Eastern Michigan Open (unattached) (11/5)
• Placed third at Roadrunner Open (11/20)
• Competed at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (12/2)
• Competed at Midlands Championships (12/29)
• Placed seventh at Big Ten Championships as the No. 8 seed (3/4-5)
• NCAA Championships qualifier (3/16-17)
• Competed at UWW Junior Men’s Freestyle National Championships at 96 kg (5/28)
Season Notes
• Wrestled at 197 pounds during true freshman campaign ... started all 16 duals for the Boilermakers.
• First Purdue true freshman to qualify for the NCAA Championships since Cashé Quiroga at 125 pounds in 2010.
• Went 1-2 at NCAAs ... Brunner recovered from a pair of first period takedowns by Jacob Berkowitz of Northwestern by nearly pinning the Wildcat on his way to a 10-4 victory in the first round of wrestlebacks ... surged in the second period with a six-point move and appeared to have Berkowitz pinned ... the win avenged two previous losses to Berkowitz when it mattered most, with the season on the line.
• Avenged an early season loss to Iowa’s Cash Wilcke when it mattered most, beating the seventh-seeded Hawkeye 7-2 to earn a berth in the NCAA Championships ... a takedown was scored in each of the three periods, including the final one with five seconds on the clock to lock down his bid.
• Became the first true freshman to place for the Boilermakers at the Big Ten Championships since Quiroga took sixth at 125 pounds in 2010 ... Brunner also extended Purdue’s streak of 197-pounders earning a spot on the podium to 14 straight years.
• Team leader in points scored in the third period (105) and point differential in the third period (+49) ... only Purdue wrestler to go over 100 points in the third period (105) ... 1 of 5 Boilermakers to score 200+ total points ... his 233 total points were the third most on the team.
• Shared major decision lead alongside Ben Thornton and Luke Welch with five ... tied for second with three pins.
• Credited with the highest ranked opponent defeated by a Purdue wrestler this season in No. 7 Nate Rotert of South Dakota State ... Brunner took Rotert down three times in his 8-3 victory ... two of the takedowns came in the third period, one of which was originally not called on the mat, but successfully challenged ... the win was part of the Boilermakers’ comeback, criteria-winning dual at South Dakota State.
• Was named TheOpenMat.com’s College Wrestler of the Week on Feb. 20 after his upset of Rotert ... TheOpenMat.com coined Brunner as a “postseason dark horse” ... that same week he made his debut on the FloWrestling’s rankings at No. 20 ... he was the only Boilermaker to appear on FloWrestling’s rankings this season.
• Spent two weeks on FloWrestling’s 197-pound rankings, climbing to No. 19 on Feb. 27.
• Celebrated his 19th birthday on Feb. 10 by upending No. 11 Ricky Robertson of Wisconsin 4-1 ... he took Robertson down in the first and rode the period out ... also rode out the second ... Brunner escaped in the third and earned a point for his 1:16 of riding time.
• His 13-3 major decision of Indiana’s Jake Hinz broke a 12-12 dual tie and all but secured Purdue’s 19-12 victory.
• Pinned his first two opponents at the Roadrunner Open ... finished with three pins at the tournament.
• Went 5-1 in his first collegiate tournament with three major decisions at the Eastern Michigan Open.
HIGH SCHOOL
• Listed as the No. 84 overall recruit of 2016 by InterMat, No. 90 by FloWrestling ... 11th-ranked 195-pounder by both InterMat and WIN Magazine, ranked 12th by FloWrestling.
• Three-time Illinois High School Association class 3A state placewinner ... was 195-pound champion in 2016 ... placed third at 195 in 2015 ... 182-pound runner-up in 2014.
• Pinned his way to a state title to end high school career ... also pinned in the first round and had a technical fall in the semifinals.
• Owns the Dundee-Crown record for career wins (165), career falls (103) and wins in a season (48).
• 2016 Northwest Herald Wrestler of the Year.
• High school record of 165-21 (27-15, 43-4, 47-2, 48-0).
• Went 3-2 wrestling for Team Illinois at the 2016 Junior National Freestyle Duals ... Team Illinois took second at the tournament.
• 2015 ASICS/Vaughan Junior freestyle All-American with seventh-place finish at 195.
• 2014 ASICS/Vaughan Cadet freestyle All-American with seventh-place finish at 195 ... Illinois claimed the team title as well.
• Two-time Northwest Herald All-Area first-team selection (2015, 2014).
• Also played football.
PERSONAL
• Full Name: Christian William Brunner
• Major: Animal science
• Birthday: February 10, 1998
• City Born: Hoffman Estates, Illinois
• Parents: Jim and Kim Brunner
• Siblings: Older sister, Chloe; younger sister, Lily
• Notes: Uncles Jeff Zgonina (1989-92) and Frank Kmet (1988-91) played football at Purdue ... aunt Kandace Kmet also graduated from Purdue ... sister Lily also attends Purdue
• 2020 NWCA First Team All-America at 197 pounds
• Four-time NCAA Championships 197-pound qualifier (2017-20), 1-of-12 four-time qualifiers in Purdue history
• Team USA U23 Freestyle World Team member at 92 kg, competing at U23 World Championships in Bucharest, Romania (2018)
• Ranked 18th in program history in wins (98)
• Finished his career ninth on Purdue’s career back points list (220)
2019-20 / AS A SENIOR
• Stats (PDF)
• First Team All-America
• Earned the Purdue Wrestling Boiler Up Tough Award
• Shared Purdue’s Joe Patacsil Leadership Award with classmate Dylan Lydy
• Posted an overall record of 25-6, marking the best of his career (.806), going 5-3 in duals and 20-3 in tournament competition
• Earned a career-high ranking of No. 2 in the country via FloWrestling, InterMat, The Open Mat, TrackWrestling and WIN Magazine
• Led the Boilermakers with seven falls on the year, finishing his career with 16 pins, and was second on the team with 12 bonus-point victories
• 2019 Midlands Champion, winning the tournament with a 5-0 record as the No. 3 seed, and becoming the fourth Purdue champion at the event all-time
• Placed second at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, posting a 4-1 record as the No. 7 seed with wins over the No. 10, No. 2 and No. 6 seeds on his way to the championship match
• Took third at the Michigan State Open, competing unattached with a 4-1 record, including his first fall of the season
• Wrestled his first two events of the season unattached, with intent to redshirt the season, but joined the varsity lineup at the 2019 Boilermaker Duals, going 2-0, including a fall over NCAA qualifier Greg Bulsak of Clarion
• Won the Maryville Kaufman/Brand/Bayly Open (unattached), pinning three of his four opponents in a total of 3:20 and taking a 10-3 decision in the finals
• Needed just 1:57 to stick SIUE’s Jake McKiernan in the Boilermakers’ non-conference finale
• Picked up bonus points in back-to-back Big Ten road duals, posting a 10-1 major decision over Nick Willham of Indiana and sticking Maryland’s Niko Cappello in 1:47
• Suffered a knee injury at Rutgers, leading 2-1 in the third period and forced to injury default, and would miss the final four duals of the regular season
• Placed sixth at the Big Ten Championships, going 3-1 and defaulting out of the tournament after earning an automatic qualifying spot for the NCAA Championships
• Earned the No. 6 seed at the 2020 NCAA Championships
2018-19 / AS A JUNIOR
• Stats
Awards & Honors
• Purdue Wrestling’s Most Outstanding Wrestler
Tournaments
• Placed third at 197 pounds at Princeton Open (11/4)
• Placed fifth at 197 pounds at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational as the No. 5 seed (11/30-12/1)
• Placed fifth at 197 pounds at Big Ten Championships as the No. 4 seed (3/9-10)
• Competed at 197 pounds at NCAA Championships as the No. 11 seed (3/21-22)
• Placed second at 92 kg at U23 Freestyle World Team Trials (6/1-2)
• Placed second at 92 kg at U23 Freestyle World Team Trials (6/1-2)
Team Leader
• Points scored in the second period (80), second period point differential (+37), dual points scored (55); tied for highest ranking (9)
Career Highs Set
• Dual wins (11), Big Ten dual wins (6), ranked opponent wins (4), wins (25), pins (4), shutouts (4), points scored in the second period (80), reversals (4), two-point nearfalls (6), dual points scored (55)
Season Notes
• Brunner’s third NCAA Championships were his best yet ... was defeated in the Blood Round to fall one match short of earning All-America honors.
• Opened tournament with 1-0 win over Sawyer Root from The Citadel ... Brunner was in control from start to finish in a 6-2 upset of sixth-seeded and three-time All-American Willie Miklus of Iowa State in the championship second round ... Brunner took the Cyclone down late in the first period and ended the match with an exclamation point, taking Miklus down with just one second remaining ... the win lifted Brunner to the quarterfinals, making him Purdue’s first quarterfinalist at the NCAA Championships since Cashé Quiroga at 125 pounds in 2010.
• Was pinned by eventual third-place finisher Preston Weigel of Oklahoma State in the quarterfinals and was bounced by Fresno State’s Josh Hokit, who went on to place fifth, 13-4 in the Blood Round.
• Brunner overpowered unseeded Beau Breske of Wisconsin, blanking the Badger 6-0, in the NCAA-clinching fifth-place match at Big Tens ... the win secured the Purdue junior his third trip to the NCAA Championships.
• It was the third podium finish for Brunner at Big Tens, joining Ben Thornton as a three-time placewinner ... the duo became Purdue’s first three-time Big Ten Championships placewinners since Braden Atwood (2012-15) and Brandon Nelsen (2012, 13, 15).
• Three of his four wins at Big Tens were shutouts ... his opening round 15-0 technical fall was his first shutout of the season ... also blanked eighth-seeded Brad Wilton of Michigan State 3-0 in the consolation quarterfinals.
• First season of his career he has been nationally ranked every week.
• Four of his career-high 11 dual victories resulted in bonus points (1 MD, 1 TF, 2 F).
• Opened season going 4-1 to place third at Princeton Open ... lost to No. 7 Nathan Traxler of Stanford 6-3 in the semifinals ... Traxler had a pair of takedowns along with a second period reversal while limiting Brunner, ranked 12th, to escapes.
• Wrestled at 92 kg for Team USA at the U23 World Championships in Bucharest, Romania, on Nov. 17 ... Brunner used 1:45 to dispose of Zoltan Gergen of Romania 10-0 to move into the quarterfinals, where he met two-time age-group World bronze medalist Bohdan Hrytsay of Ukraine ... an arm throw by Hrytsay led to four points and a fall for the Ukrainian in 1:47 ... Brunner finished his first international competition at 1-1.
• Wrestled true to seed at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational for first podium finish in three appearances at the tournament ... went 4-2 with back-to-back major decisions in his first two matches.
• Avenged the loss to Traxler with a 4-3 decision in the Feb. 8 dual ... in the third period, Brunner, ranked 12th, had a monster double-leg takedown and rideout to upset the ninth-ranked Cardinal wrestler.
• Pinned Rutgers’ Matthew Correnti in 6:19 on his 21st birthday ... it was the second time in his career he had a dual victory on his birthday ... upset No. 11 Ricky Robertson of Wisconsin 4-1 on his 19th birthday in 2017.
2017-18 / AS A SOPHOMORE
• Stats
Tournaments
• Placed third at Navy Classic (11/18)
• Competed at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational as the No. 6 seed (12/1)
• Placed third at Midlands Championships as the No. 8 seed (12/29-30)
• Placed fifth at Big Ten Championships as the No. 6 seed (3/3-4)
• Competed at NCAA Championships as the No. 16 seed (3/15-16)
• Competed at UWW Junior Freestyle National Championships at 92 kg (5/27)
• Placed fourth at 92 kg at U23 Freestyle World Team Trials (6/2-3)
Team Leader
• Points scored in the second period (63)
Career Highs Set
• Tournament wins (16), wins over ranked opponents (4), technical falls (4), bonus point wins (11), first (89) and second period points (73), riding time (46:36), takedowns (45), four-point nearfalls (15), back points (68), riding time points (15), total points (251), points per match (7.2)
Season Notes
• Had the highest scoring differential among Purdue wrestlers at +126 (251-125) ... went over 200 total points for a second season.
• Entered the NCAA Championships as the No. 16 seed at 197 pounds ... was upended by Patrick Brucki of Princeton in the first round ... a 10-1 major decision of Utah Valley’s Tanner Orndorff in wrestlebacks was his lone win ... exited on a 3-2 loss to 15th-seeded Matt Williams of CSU Bakersfield.
• Earned his second NCAA trip by upsetting Iowa’s third-seeded Cash Wilcke 8-2 in the Big Ten Championships quarterfinals ... four stalling calls on Wilcke rewarded Brunner with three points, on top of a takedown, escapes in the first and third periods and 2:15 of riding time for the win.
• The two were set to collide in the fifth-place match, but Wilcke gave the match to Brunner via injury default (0:00) ... Brunner became a two-time Big Tens placewinner while extending Purdue’s presence on the 197 podium to 15 straight years ... his fifth-place showing was the best for a Purdue 197-pounder since 2009 when Logan Brown placed fifth.
• Opened Big Tens with a 4:56 fall of Rutgers’ Anthony Messner ... second-seeded Shakur Rasheed of Penn State defeated Brunner 10-2 in the semifinals ... suffered a 6-3 setback to Wisconsin’s fifth-seeded Hunter Ritter in the consolation semifinals.
• Missed five duals in January due to injury ... returned Jan. 26 with a 2-0 win over Cordell Eaton of North Dakota State ... scored bonus points against Michigan State’s Nick May (12-4) and Jake Kleimola of Indiana (17-2 (5:54)).
• Turned in a third-place finish at the Midlands Championships as the No. 8-seed ... won four straight matches on day 2: pinned Clarion’s Dustin Conti (4:54), rallied in the third period for a 9-5 decision against Jackson Striggow of Michigan in the consolation quarterfinals and he defeated 2016 Cadet World bronze medalist Jacob Warner of Iowa (unattached) 10-6 in the semifinals ... he received a medical forfeit from No. 6 Nate Rotert of South Dakota State in the third-place bout.
• A 15-0 technical fall (6:50) of Minnesota’s Bobby Stevenson was one of Brunner’s two technical falls in wrestlebacks of the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Wrestling Invitational.
• Placed third at the Navy Classic with a record of 4-1 ... put up his second major decision of the season with a 10-1 win over Kent State’s Kyle Conel in the third-place match ... his 16-1 (5:24) technical fall of Oregon State’s Adam Rateb was the first of his career.
• Trailed No. 10 Danny Chaid of North Carolina 1-0 at the start of the third period ... escaped to even it at 1-1 ... scored the match-winning takedown and added 2:11 of riding time for a 4-1 decision at the Journeymen/MyHouse Northeast Duals.
2016-17 / AS A FRESHMAN
• Stats
Awards & Honors
• Purdue Wrestling's Outstanding Freshman Award
• Purdue Wrestling's Boiler Up Tough Award
Tournaments
• Placed fifth at Eastern Michigan Open (unattached) (11/5)
• Placed third at Roadrunner Open (11/20)
• Competed at Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (12/2)
• Competed at Midlands Championships (12/29)
• Placed seventh at Big Ten Championships as the No. 8 seed (3/4-5)
• NCAA Championships qualifier (3/16-17)
• Competed at UWW Junior Men’s Freestyle National Championships at 96 kg (5/28)
Season Notes
• Wrestled at 197 pounds during true freshman campaign ... started all 16 duals for the Boilermakers.
• First Purdue true freshman to qualify for the NCAA Championships since Cashé Quiroga at 125 pounds in 2010.
• Went 1-2 at NCAAs ... Brunner recovered from a pair of first period takedowns by Jacob Berkowitz of Northwestern by nearly pinning the Wildcat on his way to a 10-4 victory in the first round of wrestlebacks ... surged in the second period with a six-point move and appeared to have Berkowitz pinned ... the win avenged two previous losses to Berkowitz when it mattered most, with the season on the line.
• Avenged an early season loss to Iowa’s Cash Wilcke when it mattered most, beating the seventh-seeded Hawkeye 7-2 to earn a berth in the NCAA Championships ... a takedown was scored in each of the three periods, including the final one with five seconds on the clock to lock down his bid.
• Became the first true freshman to place for the Boilermakers at the Big Ten Championships since Quiroga took sixth at 125 pounds in 2010 ... Brunner also extended Purdue’s streak of 197-pounders earning a spot on the podium to 14 straight years.
• Team leader in points scored in the third period (105) and point differential in the third period (+49) ... only Purdue wrestler to go over 100 points in the third period (105) ... 1 of 5 Boilermakers to score 200+ total points ... his 233 total points were the third most on the team.
• Shared major decision lead alongside Ben Thornton and Luke Welch with five ... tied for second with three pins.
• Credited with the highest ranked opponent defeated by a Purdue wrestler this season in No. 7 Nate Rotert of South Dakota State ... Brunner took Rotert down three times in his 8-3 victory ... two of the takedowns came in the third period, one of which was originally not called on the mat, but successfully challenged ... the win was part of the Boilermakers’ comeback, criteria-winning dual at South Dakota State.
• Was named TheOpenMat.com’s College Wrestler of the Week on Feb. 20 after his upset of Rotert ... TheOpenMat.com coined Brunner as a “postseason dark horse” ... that same week he made his debut on the FloWrestling’s rankings at No. 20 ... he was the only Boilermaker to appear on FloWrestling’s rankings this season.
• Spent two weeks on FloWrestling’s 197-pound rankings, climbing to No. 19 on Feb. 27.
• Celebrated his 19th birthday on Feb. 10 by upending No. 11 Ricky Robertson of Wisconsin 4-1 ... he took Robertson down in the first and rode the period out ... also rode out the second ... Brunner escaped in the third and earned a point for his 1:16 of riding time.
• His 13-3 major decision of Indiana’s Jake Hinz broke a 12-12 dual tie and all but secured Purdue’s 19-12 victory.
• Pinned his first two opponents at the Roadrunner Open ... finished with three pins at the tournament.
• Went 5-1 in his first collegiate tournament with three major decisions at the Eastern Michigan Open.
HIGH SCHOOL
• Listed as the No. 84 overall recruit of 2016 by InterMat, No. 90 by FloWrestling ... 11th-ranked 195-pounder by both InterMat and WIN Magazine, ranked 12th by FloWrestling.
• Three-time Illinois High School Association class 3A state placewinner ... was 195-pound champion in 2016 ... placed third at 195 in 2015 ... 182-pound runner-up in 2014.
• Pinned his way to a state title to end high school career ... also pinned in the first round and had a technical fall in the semifinals.
• Owns the Dundee-Crown record for career wins (165), career falls (103) and wins in a season (48).
• 2016 Northwest Herald Wrestler of the Year.
• High school record of 165-21 (27-15, 43-4, 47-2, 48-0).
• Went 3-2 wrestling for Team Illinois at the 2016 Junior National Freestyle Duals ... Team Illinois took second at the tournament.
• 2015 ASICS/Vaughan Junior freestyle All-American with seventh-place finish at 195.
• 2014 ASICS/Vaughan Cadet freestyle All-American with seventh-place finish at 195 ... Illinois claimed the team title as well.
• Two-time Northwest Herald All-Area first-team selection (2015, 2014).
• Also played football.
PERSONAL
• Full Name: Christian William Brunner
• Major: Animal science
• Birthday: February 10, 1998
• City Born: Hoffman Estates, Illinois
• Parents: Jim and Kim Brunner
• Siblings: Older sister, Chloe; younger sister, Lily
• Notes: Uncles Jeff Zgonina (1989-92) and Frank Kmet (1988-91) played football at Purdue ... aunt Kandace Kmet also graduated from Purdue ... sister Lily also attends Purdue