Princeton Open
Sunday, Nov. 4 / 9 a.m. ET
Jadwin Gymnasium / Princeton, New Jersey
Brackets, Results / Watch on ESPN+ Mat 1 / Mat 2 / Mat 3 / Mat 4 / Mat 5 / Mat 6 / Mat 7 / Mat 8 / Mat 9 / Mat 10
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The first weekend in November means one thing for NCAA wrestlers: it's time to compete. Purdue wrestling begins the 2018-19 season bound for New Jersey and the Princeton Open. The 11-team tournament will take place on 10 mats at Jadwin Gymnasium starting at 9 a.m. ET on Sunday.
The Boilermakers start the fifth season under the direction of head wrestling coach Tony Ersland ranked 18th in the NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll. The position among Wednesday's top-25 announcement is the highest under Ersland and the highest since Purdue concluded the 2012-13 season at No. 14.
Not only is the team ranked, so are a trio of the Boilermakers' four returning NCAA qualifiers. Leading the way is redshirt junior Dylan Lydy, checking in at No. 10 at 174 pounds. It marks the highest ranking for any Purdue wrestler since Chad Welch was ranked eighth at 165 pounds in the final 2015-16 rankings. Lydy is coming off a breakout season where he went 35-14 while storming onto the national stage and narrowly missed 174-pound All-America honors at the NCAA Championships.
Nate Limmex joined Lydy with a breakout 2017-18 season that included qualifying for his first NCAA Championships at 141 pounds. The Ada, Michigan, native starts his redshirt junior campaign ranked 14th at 141. Wrapping up last season at 26-16, Limmex surpassed his redshirt freshman win total by double-figures; he doubled his takedown total and increased his average points per match to 6.4, resulting in 107 more total points scored.
Two-time NCAA qualifier Christian Brunner landed the highest ranking of his career to start his third season with the Boilermakers, coming in at No. 12 at 197 pounds. In November, Brunner will represent the United States at 92 kg at the U23 Freestyle World Championships in Bucharest, Romania.
Purdue's fourth returning NCAA qualifier is veteran Ben Thornton. The 133-pounder enters his final lap as a Boilermaker aiming to rewrite all of the career highs he set last season, which was his best yet. After wrestling his first two seasons at 125, Thornton made the move to 133 and racked up a career-best 27 wins as a redshirt junior and received an at-large berth to his first NCAA Championships.
Even with the graduation of NCAA qualifier Luke Welch, Purdue's ability to get off to a strong start is expected to thrive at 125 pounds with Devin Schroder taking over. That expectation is reflected with the redshirt sophomore appearing at No. 16 in the first edition of this season's InterMat rankings. As a redshirt freshman, Schroder went 19-7, with four of those wins coming over 2018 NCAA qualifiers. He also etched his name in the Boilermakers' season record book at No. 7 with 120 back points scored.
The Princeton Open features two additional top-25 teams and potentially 28 nationally ranked wrestlers could be in action. Sixth-ranked Lehigh has a man ranked at each of the 10 weight classes, followed by No. 16 Rutgers with four.
Other teams slated to compete in the tournament include Army, Columbia, Hofstra, Maryland, Old Dominion, Princeton, Rider, Sacred Heart and Stanford.
Before Sunday's action, a contingent of Boilermakers will take to the mat at the Michigan State Open on Saturday. Purdue will have six wrestlers competing attached, while seven will compete unattached. Wrestling from Jenison Field House starts at 9:30 a.m. Brackets and results can be found here.