March 17, 2006
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. - Three Boilermakers remain in the field at the 2006 NCAA Championships, held at the Ford Center in downtown Oklahoma City. Purdue is in 22nd place after Day One, scoring 12.5 points.
Oklahoma State leads the team standings with 36.5 points, 12 points ahead of second-place Oklahoma. The top Big Ten schools in the standings are Michigan and Minnesota, who are tied for fifth with 22.0 points.
Chris Fleeger and Ben Wissel remained in the championship bracket and will compete in the quarterfinals on Friday morning. Nathan Moore will take the mat in the consolation second round.
Session III begins at 11:00 AM Eastern.
Chris Fleeger, Purdue / Big Ten / Sr. / Trout Run, Pa. / 11-2
vs.
Chris Helgeson, Northern Iowa / West Region / Sr. / Cresco, Iowa / 25-13
Chris Fleeger left little doubt as to whether he had come to wrestle at this year's NCAA Championships, running over Northern Iowa's Chris Helgeson in the second round 16-3.
Fleeger scored the initial takedown nearly two minutes into the match and then turned Helgeson for two back points. A penalty point awarded to the UNI wrestler for an illegal hold by Fleeger made the score 4-1 after the first period.
The match was put away in the second period as Fleeger scored a takedown and then tilted Helgeson three times, racking up seven more back points and a 13-3 lead through five minutes. A third period takedown by Fleeger, plus a riding time point, iced the major decision.
Fleeger's nine back points sent him over the career mark of 300, making him the second Boilermaker grappler to surpass that plateau. Assistant Coach Scott Hinkel holds the Purdue career record with 391 back points, and Fleeger currently has 304.
Fleeger moves to the quarterfinals of the 133-pound bracket and will face Mack Reiter of Minnesota, the No. 4 seed, on Friday morning. Reiter finished second at this year's Big Ten Championships. Fleeger and Reiter have never met on the mat.
Dan Bedoy, Purdue / Big Ten / So. / Hammond, Ind. / 4-11
vs.
Justin Nestor, Pittsburgh / EWL / Sr. / Transfer, Pa. / 26-9
Dan Bedoy's 2006 trip to the NCAA Championships came to abrupt end on Thursday evening when the sophomore was pinned by Justin Nestor or Pittsburgh in the first period.
Bedoy scored the first offensive points of the match, securing a takedown off a single-leg shot at the 1:03 mark of the match. Nestor escaped to cut the Bedoy lead to 2-1, and then got in on the Boilermaker's legs with his own shot. Bedoy attempted to defend the shot and was caught over the back of Nestor, and the Panther wrestler rocked backwards and pinned Bedoy's shoulders to the mat at the 2:27 mark.
Bedoy's final 2006 record was 4-12.
Ben Wissel, Purdue / Big Ten / Sr. / Richmond, Ind. / 35-4
vs.
Greg Gifford, Fresno State / West Region / Sr. / Las Vegas, Nev. / 29-11
Ben Wissel took another step towards his goal of winning a national title, defeating Greg Gifford of Fresno State in the second round on Thursday by 14-6 major decision.
It took Wissel approximately a minute and a half to get on the scoreboard, scoring a takedown with a cradle. Gifford fought out of the hold, avoiding being turned to his back, and got the escape to make the score 2-1. Wissel added two more points with a second takedown and rode the Bulldog for the remainder of the opening stanza.
Two more takedowns in the second period and an exchange of escapes pushed the score to 9-2 in favor of Wissel heading into the final two minutes. In the final period, the two wrestlers traded takedowns, but a reversal by Wissel plus a point for riding time gave the Boilermaker the major decision.
Wissel's five takedowns in the match give him 182 this season, tying the season record set by two-time All-American Ryan Lange in 2003. Wissel also registered his 400th career takedown, making him the second Boilermaker to reach the 400-takedown plateau, joining Lange in that distinction.
In the quarterfinals, Wissel will take on Pete Friedl of Illinois. The Big Ten foes have faced each other three times this season, with Wissel winning two of those meetings. Wissel won the first matchup, the championship match at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (6-2), but Friedl registered a championship victory of his own in the final of the Midlands Championships (3-1 sv). Wissel won the rubber match during the Big Ten dual season 3-1.
Nathan Moore, Purdue / Big Ten / Jr. / Indianapolis, Ind. / 31-14
vs.
Joe Fendone, Edinboro / EWL / So. / Salem, N.H. / 29-8
Nathan Moore posted his first NCAA Championships win in Session II, defeating Joe Fendone of Edinboro 10-4 in a consolation bracket match.
Moore wasted no time at all in taking a 2-0 lead, taking down Fendone 32 seconds into the match. The Boilermaker 197-pounder rode Fendone for the remainder of the period, turning him to his back in the final seconds for two back points.
Starting upright in the second period, Fendone cut into Moore's lead with a takedown at 3:21. Moore escaped and then countered with a takedown of his own, building his advantage back to 7-2 entering the final two minutes.
Moore chose the bottom position and reversed Fendone 47 seconds into the period. Leading by seven and having a riding-time point locked up, it appeared that Moore was about to register the major decision. However, Fendone was credited with a reversal at the end of the match despite the clock reading 0:00 before control was established. The referees conferred with the tapper, the person responsible for counting down the final seconds of each period, but no one could positively say one way or the other if time had expired, so the controversial reversal was allowed.
The win snapped a three-match losing streak for Moore at NCAA Championship events. Moore was 0-2 last year in St. Louis, and dropped his first match this season at the championships.
Moore advances to face Jared Villers of West Virginia in the second round of the consolations. Moore defeated Villers in an earlier meeting this season, a 3-0 decision at the Midlands Championships.
Chris Fleeger (5 seed), 133 Pounds
Round 1: Zachary Cunliffe, Rider ... won by medical forfeit (3:22)
Round 2: Chris Helgeson, Northern Iowa ... won by major decision, 16-3
Quarters: #4 Mack Reiter, Minnesota
Dan Bedoy, 165 Pounds
Round 1: Christopher Vondruska, Hofstra ... lost by decision, 9-3
Cons. Rd. 1: Justin Nestor, Pittsburgh ... lost by fall (2:27)
Ben Wissel (3 seed), 184 Pounds
Round 1: Joseph Maroney, Rider ... won by technical fall, 20-5 (7:00)
Round 2: Greg Gifford, Fresno State ... won by major decision, 14-6
Quarters: #6 Pete Friedl, Illinois
Nathan Moore, 197 Pounds
Round 1: #5 Joel Flaggert, Oklahoma ... lost by decision, 9-2
Cons. Rd. 1: Joe Fendone, Edinboro ... won by decision, 10-4
Cons. Rd. 2: Jared Villers, West Virginia