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Purdue All-Quarter Century Wrestling Team: 174 lbs

Coach Ersland and his staff unveil Purdue's top wrestlers of the 21st century.

by Brook Weber
Purdue All-Quarter Century Wrestling Team: 174 lbsPurdue All-Quarter Century Wrestling Team: 174 lbs

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — To commemorate the past 25 years, head coach Tony Ersland and his staff are unveiling Purdue’s All-Quarter Century Team featuring some of the greatest Boilermaker wrestlers since the turn of the 21st century.

Recognizing wrestlers who competed for Purdue between 2000-2025, the list is being revealed in 10 separate releases leading up to the 2025-26 season, one for each weight class, continuing on Monday with 174 pounds.

The selection criteria for any All-Quarter Century Team is unavoidably subjective, but former All-Americans, multiple-time NCAA qualifiers, Big Ten placewinners and others with outstanding career accomplishments were among the key points of consideration.

Some of the wrestlers on the All-Quarter Century Team excelled at multiple weights while donning the Old Gold & Black. Most of the honorees will be presented among the weight classes in which they finished their careers, though some liberties were taken for the sake of keeping the number of wrestlers relatively even at each weight.

Below is a look at the release schedule leading into the first week of the season.

Monday, Aug. 18 ... 125 lbs
Monday, Aug. 25 ... 133 lbs
Monday, Sept. 1 ... 141 lbs
Monday, Sept. 8 ... 149 lbs
Monday, Sept. 15 ... 157 lbs
Monday, Sept. 22 ... 165 lbs
Monday, Sept. 29 ... 174 lbs
Monday, Oct. 6 ... 184 lbs
Monday, Oct. 13 ... 197 lbs
Monday, Oct. 20 ... Heavyweight

Without further ado...

RYAN LANGE (2000-04)

In all 105 years of Purdue Wrestling, no man has ever won more matches than Ryan Lange. He tops the Purdue charts with 130 victories, a record that is unlikely to ever be broken. With a career mark of 130-31 (.807), he holds the fourth-best win percentage in Purdue history.

Lange is also the most recent Boilermaker to win a Big Ten championship. He did so twice, both at 174 pounds, as a junior in 2003 and senior in 2004. He was the first Boiler to win multiple conference titles since Bob Marshall in 1960, 1961 and 1962, and just the seventh two-time Big Ten champ in school history.

Lange was a two-time All-American, posting an eighth-place finish in 2003 before taking fifth in 2004.

A native of the Greater Cleveland area, Lange totaled 10 wins in the NCAA Championships as a four-time qualifier. That total is tied for the sixth-most in Purdue history.

Lange also won the 2003 Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, one of five Boilermakers to ever win a CKLV title.

Additionally, he leads all Purdue wrestlers with 523 career takedowns, a massive lead over second-place Ben Wissel (2003-06) with 406.

DYLAN LYDY (2015-20)

Dylan Lydy was part of the 2019-20 Boilermaker team that was loaded with talent but unfortunately missed out on the NCAA Championships due to COVID-19. He was named Purdue’s most outstanding wrestler that season after earning NWCA First Team All-America honors.

Lydy entered the 2020 NCAA Championships as the No. 4 seed before it was canceled. All in all, the Indianapolis native was a three-time NCAA qualifier and ended his career with a spectacular 31-2 senior season, including a 16-1 dual record (8-1 in Big Ten duals). That remains the third-best single season record in Purdue history.

Lydy won the Big Ten bronze medal in 2020, was a two-time Big Ten Wrestler of the Week and became the fourth Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational champion in Purdue history. He also won the 2019 Midlands title.

Lydy remains tied for ninth on Purdue’s all-time win list with 111 and ranks 14th in takedowns with 267.

CHAD WELCH (2012-16)

Chad Welch was the twin brother of Doug and older brother to Luke, and all of them wrestled at Purdue. Together they were the most impactful trio of brothers to ever don Purdue singlets.

Welch was a three-time NCAA qualifier and two-time Big Ten placewinner, earning a career-high fifth-place finish at the 2016 Big Ten Championships.

Welch won the 2015 Midlands championship as a 165-pounder. As a redshirt senior in 2015-16, he was named Purdue’s most outstanding and most improved wrestler. That year, he was ranked among the top-10 by InterMat for 13 consecutive weeks. His run was the longest a Purdue wrestler has been ranked among the top-10 since Cashé Quiroga, who ranked in the top-10 at 133 for the entire 2011-12 season.

Welch ranks 15th in Purdue history for back points (165).

BRODY BAUMANN (2022-present)

Brody Baumann joins Joey Blaze as the second active Boilermaker to be named to the All-Quarter Century Team. Hailing from Evansville, Ind., Baumann has already made a big impression and likely has his best wrestling still ahead of him.

He was an NCAA qualifier each of the past two years, one of five Indiana natives to qualify for the national tournament in both seasons. He’s also the only wrestler from Indiana to do it as an underclassman.

This past season, Baumann went 19-13 as Purdue’s starting 174-pounder to earn a career-best No. 26 seed at NCAAs. He was Purdue’s second-leading scorer behind Matt Ramos, racking up 281 points.

A general management major, he has twice earned NWCA Scholar All-America and Academic All-Big Ten honors.

Baumann now enters his redshirt junior season ranked No. 17 by FloWrestling and No. 21.