Purdue Results / Brackets
EVANSTON, Ill. - Purdue's Alex Griffin capped off the 54th Ken Kraft Midlands Championships by taking seventh place at 157 pounds Friday. The 10th-seeded Boilermaker defeated 13th-seeded John Van Brill of Rutgers 5-1 inside Welsh-Ryan Arena.
"I am proud of myself," Griffin said. "This is a tough tournament. It's known by everyone that a lot of really good guys are here, so placing at Midlands is a big deal for me. I still feel I should have been up closer to the top though."
The 2016 NCAA qualifier posted a 4-2 record over the course of two days of competition. He registered a trio of decisions and a technical fall, highlighted by a 7-2 upset of seventh-seeded and 17th-ranked B.J. Clagon of Rider on Thursday.
"These tournaments [Midlands, Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational] are great rehearsal runs for the Big Ten Championships and NCAAs," the Lafayette, Indiana, native said. "It's a good opportunity to know what it feels like to get beat down and keep fighting because that's what you have to do."
After a scoreless opening 3:00 of action against Van Brill in the seventh-place match, Griffin got on the board with a two-point nearfall while on top in the second period. He added to his lead with an escape midway through the third period and made it a 5-1 match shortly thereafter with a takedown.
The two-day tournament performance is the best for Griffin since early in his Purdue career. He outscored his opponents 42-25 and found an offense that had been stagnant. Since the quarterfinals of the Roadrunner Open in mid-November, Griffin had only registered three takedowns over a span of nine matches. Griffin tallied seven in six matches at Midlands.
"I credit what I did here at Midlands to getting my offense going," Griffin said. "I've struggled this season with getting my attacks and putting myself on top. This tournament I really feel like I opened up on my feet, was able to take guys down and score points on top."
Griffin becomes the 37th Boilermaker to place in the tournament's 54-year history and the program's fifth 157-pounder to finish in the top eight. The 149- and 157-pound weight classes have each sent five Purdue grapplers to the podium, which is the most among all of their placewinners at the tournament. The Boilermakers have had at least one wrestler earn a top-eight finish the last four years
In the round of 12, better known as the blood round in wrestling, Griffin guaranteed a spot on the podium by defeating Iowa State's Colston DeBlasi 10-5. First points went to the Cyclone and Griffin quickly responded by reversing DeBlasi and tilting for a four-point nearfall. He put another four-point nearfall on the board in the second period to build a 10-2 lead. DeBlasi made it 10-4 with a reversal late in the period and rode the third period out for his fifth point.
Unattached and 16th-seeded Evan Wick (Wisconsin) upended Griffin 5-2 in the consolation quarterfinals to send him into the seventh-place match. A takedown in the first period was all that the Boilermaker could score on Wick, who had a reversal in the first and a takedown in the third in addition to 3:56 of riding time.
Midlands is the final team tournament of the season for the Boilermakers until the Big Ten Championships in March. As Big Ten duals take over the schedule, they will return to Welsh-Ryan Arena for a 3 p.m. ET dual against Northwestern on Jan. 8.
