LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Four Boilermakers will head into the second round of matches as Purdue Wrestling navigates through a loaded field at the 2023 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational. Purdue sits in 21st after round one with 18.5 points coming from six bonus point wins.
Matt Ramos lead the way for the Boilermakers, punching his ticket to the quarterfinals with an opening round pin and a comfortable decision in his only two matches of the first session. Dustin Norris, Stoney Buell, and James Rowley all fought their way through wrestlebacks into the consolation round of eight and all will now face a top-20 opponent in their next match.
No. 1 seed in the tournament and the No. 2 ranked Ramos was already up 10-2 on App State's Noah Luna before quickly finishing off a turn for his second pin of the year. He faces a familiar foe in the quarters in Stanford's No. 20 Nico Provo. He last took on the Cardinal wrestler in the opening round of the 2023 NCAA tournament, winning in a tight 3-2 decision.
Norris bounced back from an opening round defeat to claim two come-from-behind wins in a row, beating Maryland's King Sandoval 9-3 before upsetting No. 25 Caden McCrary of North Carollina 4-3. It was only the third ranked win of his career and the first this season. He next takes on No. 15 Nic Bouzakis of Ohio State.
The Dundee, Mich., native Buell added two big bonus point wins to the Boilermakers' score in the first session. He opened with a 16-1 tech (6:33) of Navy's Christian Hodges and finished with a 20-7 major decision over Dominic Baker of Campbell. His lone loss so far came against All-American No. 3 Izzak Olejnik from Oklahoma State in the round of 16. Buell squares off with No. 10 Antrell Taylor of Nebraska in the next round.
The redshirt-freshman Rowley came to Vegas ready to compete and he looked impressive in his first two matches. In his opener, he wrestled to a very close 4-3 loss to No. 4 Chris Foca of Cornell. The match was decided by a riding time point and Rowley got the only takedown. In his second bout he ran away with a 12-3 major decision over No. 24 Caleb Hopkins of Campbell. A rematch with N.C. State's No. 20 Dylan Fishback awaits in the second session.
True freshman No. 15 Joey Blaze picked up a 20-3 (4:06) tech fall over Morgan State's AJ Tecson to start the day before dropping close decisions to No. 13 Cael Swensen of South Dakota State (SV 4-1) and No. 10 Trevor Chumbley of Northwestern (D 5-2). Fellow newcomer Cole Solomey added his first career bonus point win in a 12-0 shutout of Chris Naegele from Sacred Heart.
Second round matches will begin at 9:00 p.m. ET with coverage continuing on FloWrestling throughout the weekend.
Matt Ramos lead the way for the Boilermakers, punching his ticket to the quarterfinals with an opening round pin and a comfortable decision in his only two matches of the first session. Dustin Norris, Stoney Buell, and James Rowley all fought their way through wrestlebacks into the consolation round of eight and all will now face a top-20 opponent in their next match.
No. 1 seed in the tournament and the No. 2 ranked Ramos was already up 10-2 on App State's Noah Luna before quickly finishing off a turn for his second pin of the year. He faces a familiar foe in the quarters in Stanford's No. 20 Nico Provo. He last took on the Cardinal wrestler in the opening round of the 2023 NCAA tournament, winning in a tight 3-2 decision.
Norris bounced back from an opening round defeat to claim two come-from-behind wins in a row, beating Maryland's King Sandoval 9-3 before upsetting No. 25 Caden McCrary of North Carollina 4-3. It was only the third ranked win of his career and the first this season. He next takes on No. 15 Nic Bouzakis of Ohio State.
The Dundee, Mich., native Buell added two big bonus point wins to the Boilermakers' score in the first session. He opened with a 16-1 tech (6:33) of Navy's Christian Hodges and finished with a 20-7 major decision over Dominic Baker of Campbell. His lone loss so far came against All-American No. 3 Izzak Olejnik from Oklahoma State in the round of 16. Buell squares off with No. 10 Antrell Taylor of Nebraska in the next round.
The redshirt-freshman Rowley came to Vegas ready to compete and he looked impressive in his first two matches. In his opener, he wrestled to a very close 4-3 loss to No. 4 Chris Foca of Cornell. The match was decided by a riding time point and Rowley got the only takedown. In his second bout he ran away with a 12-3 major decision over No. 24 Caleb Hopkins of Campbell. A rematch with N.C. State's No. 20 Dylan Fishback awaits in the second session.
True freshman No. 15 Joey Blaze picked up a 20-3 (4:06) tech fall over Morgan State's AJ Tecson to start the day before dropping close decisions to No. 13 Cael Swensen of South Dakota State (SV 4-1) and No. 10 Trevor Chumbley of Northwestern (D 5-2). Fellow newcomer Cole Solomey added his first career bonus point win in a 12-0 shutout of Chris Naegele from Sacred Heart.
Second round matches will begin at 9:00 p.m. ET with coverage continuing on FloWrestling throughout the weekend.