SERIES HISTORY
Indiana is the most common opponent in Purdue wrestling history. Friday’s meeting will be the 112th dual between the in-state foes. The Boilers have dropped three straight to IU, but Purdue has won 12 of the past 15.
Purdue’s first ever wrestling dual was a 6-0 loss to Indiana in Bloomington on Feb. 24, 1914. The Hoosiers opened the series on a 22-2 streak against Purdue until 1946. Since then, the series has been much more competitive with IU holding a slight 43-41-2 edge from 1947 to present.
Purdue has gone 27-16-1 against Indiana since 1984 and 16-10 since 2000.
KEY MATCHES TO WATCH
Purdue has seven wrestlers in the latest InterMat national rankings while Indiana has six.
141: #31 CLARK VS. #25 PORTER
Despite missing Sunday’s dual against Iowa, Greyson Clark is on one of the hottest streaks of his career after winning his three prior Big Ten dual matches by a combined score of 40-6. Clark wrestled Henry Porter three times last season and won twice. Porter took a 6-3 decision in the dual in West Lafayette before Clark got the better of him at the Big Ten Championships, winning a 16-1 technical fall in the first round and a 7-1 decision in the seventh-place match.
165: #3 BLAZE VS. #17 LILLARD
A battle of Ohio natives and former Ohio state champions. Joey Blaze is coming off his best win of the season and one of the biggest victories of his career over Iowa’s then-No. 3 (now No. 4) Mikey Caliendo, the three-time All-American and last year’s national runner-up at 165. The Boilermaker is undefeated at 17-0 with a 52-0 takedown margin since bumping up to 165 this past offseason.
A win here would give Blaze just the third perfect regular season by a Purdue wrestler since the turn of the 21st century (Chris Fleeger in 2002-03, Matt Ramos in 2024-25) and the fourth since records were tracked back to 1975 (Charles Jones in 1991-92). Tyler Lillard is 11-5 this season with a recent narrow loss to No. 7 LJ Araujo, and a 19-3 tech fall win over No. 25 Cody Goebel.
174: #16 BAUMANN VS. #28 GILCHER
Brody Baumann has still not wrestled since churning out a 16-5 major decision over Michigan State’s Connor O’Neill on Jan. 23. But he will be looking to return in time to get a very valuable rep before the upcoming Big Ten Championships, and it would come in the form of Derek Gilcher. They wrestled each other twice last year, and both matches couldn’t have been closer. Gilcher won a 2-1 decision in West Lafayette due to a very late second stall warning against Baumann that gave the Hoosier the winning point. Baumann won 4-3 at Big Tens, scoring the only takedown in the first period and escaping in the third for the go-ahead point.
184: #26 ROWLEY VS. #22 GOIN
Purdue’s team leader in reversals with seven, James Rowley has been right there in a string of matches against tough opponents. He’s lost his last two by just a combined three points to No. 19 Chris Moore and Gabe Arnold, and hasn’t lost a match with bonus points since Nov. 15. Before his last two bouts, Rowley was on a 3-1 stretch where he outscored Big Ten opponents 39-17. Sam Goin is 8-5 this season with a notable win over No. 16 Aaron Ayzerov (Columbia).
197: #30 VANADIA VS. #22 SOLLARS
Ben Vanadia hasn’t wrestled since “Mackey Mania” on Feb. 1 vs. Wisconsin. If he does return Friday, he will aim to regain his early-to-midseason form, when he started 13-4. He would battle Gabe Sollars who’s 10-8 this season. Another rubber match, Vanadia and Sollars are 1-1 against each other in dual action the past two seasons. Vanadia won 6-3 in sudden-victory in Bloomington two years ago, and Sollars got revenge in a 4-0 decision last year at Purdue.
LAST TIME OUT
The Boilermakers dropped their home finale 32-6 to No. 6 Iowa. The Hawkeyes won eight of 10 matches, three for bonus.
Blaze made a major statement in his biggest victory of the season so far with a 7-4 upset over then-No. 3 Mikey Caliendo. Caliendo is a three-time All-American and last year’s NCAA runner-up at 165.
Hayden Filipovich (285 lbs) won his final home match as a Boilermaker with a thrilling 4-1 sudden-victory decision, scoring the winning takedown in overtime.
UP NEXT
After Friday, the Boilers will shift to postseason tournament mode and will have two weeks to prepare for the upcoming Big Ten Championships in State College, Pa., on March 7-8.
Ten Boilermakers will compete and look to capture Purdue’s first Big Ten individual title since Ryan Lange (174) won in 2004.
