WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Boilermakers will open their season at the Clarion Open for the second straight year this Sunday, bringing a lineup that is once again expected to be one of the youngest in the Big Ten.
Head coach Tony Ersland wrestled 10 freshmen in duals in the 2022-23 campaign, the most of any Big Ten team, and the youth movement will continue into this year with a talented recruiting class now on board.
16 duals and five tournaments on the schedule will give the full roster opportunities to showcase their talents and contribute to the team, so let's take a look at who will be donning the old gold and black this season.
Previews: 125-157 | 165-285
165
It's a pair of familiar faces to start our second half of the lineup preview as redshirt-sophomore Stoney Buell and senior Cooper Noehre look set to reprise their roles at 165 this season. Buell held down the spot for most of last year, going 12-16 with seven bonus point wins.
Noehre has served as the Swiss army knife for this team his entire career and he did so once again in 2022-23. He spent time wrestling at both 165 and 174, making him the only wrestler in the program right now to have wrestled at three different weight classes in his career. He went 8-9 at 165 with two major decisions. True freshman Delaney Ruhlman rounds out the group.
174
Redshirt-freshman Brody Baumann showed a lot of promise in his limited action last season and will continue to improve going into his second year with the program. He put together a 7-5 record in varsity competition, picking up his first dual win in an impressive display over Wisconsin's Josh Otto.
Crown Point, Ind., native Orlando Cruz will back up Baumann in his first year. The No. 118 overall recruit joins the Boilermakers after wrapping up an Indiana state title run with three straight pins.
184
The lone newcomer expected in the back half of the starting lineup for Purdue is transfer James Rowley. Coming to West Lafayette from Wisconsin, the redshirt-freshman saw little action in his first collegiate season but comes with an impressive wrestling pedigree. He was a four-time Oregon state champion, won a silver medal at the Cadet Freestyle World Championships, and was also named Oregon's representative for the 2022 Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award.
Pushing Rowley for the starting spot will be two guys who are going into a new weight class this season in senior Macartney Parkinson and redshirt-sophomore Hayden Filipovich. Parkinson has seen time at 184 before, spending his first two seasons there, but was wrestling 174 last year where he went 9-13. Filipovich is down from 197 this year after serving as the starter there in 2022-23.
197
With Filipovich moving down, redshirt-sophomore Ben Vanadia moves up to take on the 197 spot. He compiled a 13-17 record as the starter at 184 in his redshirt-freshman season, racking up four major decisions and three pins.
Senior Mitch Hutmacher has wrestled at both 184 and 197 in all three of his previous seasons and is likely to help the team in the same way again this year. He had a 10-11 record between the two weights in his junior year.
285
It's a two-headed redshirt-sophomore monster for the Boilermakers at heavyweight once again this year, as both Hayden Copass and Tristan Ruhlman will take the mat at 285 this season. A seventh-place finish at the 2023 Big Ten Championships and his first NCAA qualification earn Copass a No. 27 preseason ranking, his first foray into the national lists. He went 9-11 in his redshirt-freshman campaign with three of those wins coming over ranked opponents.
Ruhlman had put together a strong start to his 2022-23 season before an injury at the Southern Scuffle put him out for the year. He had compiled an 11-7 record with three pins in the non-conference, none more exciting than his walk off pin of Chattanooga's Logan Andrew to give the Boilermakers the win that dual. He looks to push Copass and bounce back from his midseason setback this year.
Ersland also added Fishers, Ind., native Dominic Burgett as another part of that stacked 2023 recruiting class.
Head coach Tony Ersland wrestled 10 freshmen in duals in the 2022-23 campaign, the most of any Big Ten team, and the youth movement will continue into this year with a talented recruiting class now on board.
16 duals and five tournaments on the schedule will give the full roster opportunities to showcase their talents and contribute to the team, so let's take a look at who will be donning the old gold and black this season.
Previews: 125-157 | 165-285
165
It's a pair of familiar faces to start our second half of the lineup preview as redshirt-sophomore Stoney Buell and senior Cooper Noehre look set to reprise their roles at 165 this season. Buell held down the spot for most of last year, going 12-16 with seven bonus point wins.
Noehre has served as the Swiss army knife for this team his entire career and he did so once again in 2022-23. He spent time wrestling at both 165 and 174, making him the only wrestler in the program right now to have wrestled at three different weight classes in his career. He went 8-9 at 165 with two major decisions. True freshman Delaney Ruhlman rounds out the group.
174
Redshirt-freshman Brody Baumann showed a lot of promise in his limited action last season and will continue to improve going into his second year with the program. He put together a 7-5 record in varsity competition, picking up his first dual win in an impressive display over Wisconsin's Josh Otto.
Crown Point, Ind., native Orlando Cruz will back up Baumann in his first year. The No. 118 overall recruit joins the Boilermakers after wrapping up an Indiana state title run with three straight pins.
184
The lone newcomer expected in the back half of the starting lineup for Purdue is transfer James Rowley. Coming to West Lafayette from Wisconsin, the redshirt-freshman saw little action in his first collegiate season but comes with an impressive wrestling pedigree. He was a four-time Oregon state champion, won a silver medal at the Cadet Freestyle World Championships, and was also named Oregon's representative for the 2022 Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award.
Pushing Rowley for the starting spot will be two guys who are going into a new weight class this season in senior Macartney Parkinson and redshirt-sophomore Hayden Filipovich. Parkinson has seen time at 184 before, spending his first two seasons there, but was wrestling 174 last year where he went 9-13. Filipovich is down from 197 this year after serving as the starter there in 2022-23.
197
With Filipovich moving down, redshirt-sophomore Ben Vanadia moves up to take on the 197 spot. He compiled a 13-17 record as the starter at 184 in his redshirt-freshman season, racking up four major decisions and three pins.
Senior Mitch Hutmacher has wrestled at both 184 and 197 in all three of his previous seasons and is likely to help the team in the same way again this year. He had a 10-11 record between the two weights in his junior year.
285
It's a two-headed redshirt-sophomore monster for the Boilermakers at heavyweight once again this year, as both Hayden Copass and Tristan Ruhlman will take the mat at 285 this season. A seventh-place finish at the 2023 Big Ten Championships and his first NCAA qualification earn Copass a No. 27 preseason ranking, his first foray into the national lists. He went 9-11 in his redshirt-freshman campaign with three of those wins coming over ranked opponents.
Ruhlman had put together a strong start to his 2022-23 season before an injury at the Southern Scuffle put him out for the year. He had compiled an 11-7 record with three pins in the non-conference, none more exciting than his walk off pin of Chattanooga's Logan Andrew to give the Boilermakers the win that dual. He looks to push Copass and bounce back from his midseason setback this year.
Ersland also added Fishers, Ind., native Dominic Burgett as another part of that stacked 2023 recruiting class.