Jan. 15, 2011
ASHLAND, Ohio - The 21st-ranked Purdue wrestling team rebounded from Friday night's loss to post a 2-1 record at the 22nd-annual Wendy's Classic, hosted by Ashland University on Saturday. The Old Gold and Black topped Gardner Webb and the host Eagles, but fell to 17th-ranked Kent State in a close one to move to 5-4-1 in dual competition.
The Boilermakers rolled through Gardner Webb in the opener, 48--1, earning four pins, a technical fall and a major decision in the blowout. Sophomore Tommy Churchard snagged the first pin, needing 49 seconds to pin Ryan Medved, and the Boilermakers scored three straight at 165, 174 and 184 pounds. Freshman Kyle Mosier stuck Justin Guthrie in 4:19 at 165, scoring his fifth fall of the year, 11th-ranked senior Luke Manuel stuck Erin O'Dell in 3:35 at 174 pounds and No. 12 junior A.J. Kissel capped the run with a 50-second fall over Blake Sayler at 184 pounds. Kissel's fall was the 43rd of his career, and seventh of the season.
Senior Logan Brown, ranked 10th in the country at 197 pounds, made Purdue history for the second straight day, becoming just the sixth Boilermaker to earn 300 career takedowns in his 20-5 technical fall over Travis Porter.
The second match of the day didn't go as well for the Boilermakers as they felt the absence of No. 19 157-pound senior Colton Salazar in a 17-15 loss to No. 17 Kent State. After a loss at 125 pounds, senior Akif Eren and junior Jake Fleckenstein posted back-to-back decisions at 133 and 141 pounds to get a 6-3 team advantage. The next three bouts went to the Golden Flashes, running the score to 13-6, before Manuel halted the run with a 6-2 decision over Brandon Johnson at 174 pounds to make it 13-9. Kissel won his third bout of the weekend at 184 pounds, taking a 3-0 decision and cutting it to 13-12, but the match went south at 197 pounds as the official lost complete control. A highly-anticipated contest between Brown and eighth-ranked junior Dustin Kilgore of Kent State quickly turned into a melee that included some penalty points, some excessive aggression and both coaching staffs pleading for the referee to get control of the match. Kilgore came away with all the scoring in the match, running away with a 13-3 major decision to grow the Kent State advantage to 17-12. Purdue's senior heavyweight came away with a huge upset victory in the finale, but it wasn't enough to cover the spread as he took a riding-time tie-break win from eighth-ranked junior Brendan Barlow.
The last match of the day was all Boilermakers as they posted a 30-9 win over the host Eagles of Ashland. Kissel posted another pin, while Brown, Churchard and junior Matt Fields scored bonus points with major decisions. Kissel's pin was the 44th of his career, closing to within three of the Boilermakers' career record. Fleckenstein, Manuel, Mosier and freshman Camden earned wins as well in the rout.
The Boilermakers return to action Friday, hosting fifth-ranked Minnesota at 7 p.m. in Holloway Gymnasium. The match will be webcast live at BigTenNetwork.com, and will air the following morning on the Big Ten Network.