Cliff Keen Las Vegas Collegiate Wrestling Invitational
Las Vegas Convention Center / Las Vegas, Nevada
Saturday, Dec. 1 / Session III: Noon ET / Session IV: 6 p.m. ET
Purdue Notes / Purdue Results / Brackets, Results / Live Video / Tournament Information
LAS VEGAS - Purdue's Griffin Parriott and Christian Brunner stormed into the semifinals of the 37th annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Collegiate Wrestling Invitational on Friday. Eighth-seeded Parriott stunned the top-seed at 157 pounds in sudden victory and Brunner, the No. 5 seed at 197, was systematic in a 7-3 quarterfinal decision. Devin Schroder and Dylan Lydy remained alive at 125 and 174 pounds, respectively. Wrestlebacks open Saturday's competition from the Las Vegas Convention Center at noon ET, followed by semifinals at 1 p.m.
The aggressor throughout regulation, Parriott finally broke through 28 seconds into sudden victory, dropping Nebraska's Tyler Berger on his back for the winning takedown in a 4-2 quarterfinal at 157 pounds. Parriott nearly stuck the third-ranked Husker in the 60-second winner-take-all session. The eighth-seeded Boilermaker took a 2-1 lead at the start of the third period with a reversal and Berger evened it at 2-2 with an escape.
Parriott's upset of Berger stands as the highest ranked opponent he has beaten in his career and the highest ranked opponent defeated by any Purdue wrestler this season. He'll square off against another top-10 foe in Saturday's semifinals, fifth-seeded and eighth-ranked Taleb Rahmani of Pittsburgh. On the other half of the bracket, it's No. 2 Ryan Deakin of Northwestern vs. North Carolina's third-seeded Kennedy Monday.
The win for the Parriott was his fourth of the day. The unranked redshirt sophomore edged his way past The Citadel's Rian Burris (7-6), Evan Barczak of Drexel (3-2) and Harvard's Hunter Ladnier (3-1) leading into the quarterfinals.
Brunner joined Parriott in the semifinals by disposing of Utah Valley's Tanner Orndorff 7-3. The fifth-seeded 197-pounder chalked up two major decisions leading into the quarterfinals, downing Joshua Roetman of Navy 12-2 and Central Michigan's Landon Pelham 15-5.
Three of the four 197-pound semifinalists hail from the Big Ten Conference. Brunner (7-2) will meet top-seeded Kollin Moore of Ohio State, while the other half of the bracket features No. 10 Eric Schultz of Nebraska and Clarion's Greg Bulsak.
Schroder was Purdue's third quarterfinalist, but he was denied by second-seeded Ronnie Bresser of Oregon State 12-2. Schroder, the No. 7 seed at 125 pounds, opened with back-to-back shutouts going into the quarterfinals. He needed just 2:13 to score a 16-0 technical fall against Cal Poly's Benny Martinez and then blanked Nolan Hellickson of Harvard 2-0.
Schroder (10-2) needs to win his next match, a second meeting this season with Stanford's ninth-seeded Gabe Townsell, in order to guarantee placing. The two met at the Princeton Open with Schroder taking a 4-2 decision in sudden victory.
Like Schroder, Lydy (12-3) needs to win one match in order to earn a spot on the 174-pound podium. After being upset in the second round by Navy's Spencer Carey, who pinned Lydy in 6:41, the Purdue redshirt junior edged Rico Stormer of Stanford in his first wrestleback match and followed with a 5-2 decision over Colt Doyle of Oregon State.
Lydy's next wrestleback opponent will be sixth-seeded Brandon Womack of Cornell.