CLEVELAND, Ohio — Purdue junior Joey Blaze fell just shy of his second straight trip to the NCAA final, suffering an 8-5 overtime loss to Iowa’s Mikey Caliendo at the national wrestling championships on Friday evening. The Boilermakers sit in 26th place with 10.5 points headed into tomorrow’s final rounds.
Blaze struck first in Friday night’s match, using a slick slide-by to take a 3-1 lead on Caliendo. After trading escapes and holding a 4-2 lead, Caliendo scored a takedown off a scramble on the edge of the mat, a call that was challenged by Purdue head coach Tony Ersland, but stood after official review. Blaze escaped to tie the match at 5-5, which sent the bout into a sudden-victory period. Caliendo struck quickly in the final frame, getting to Blaze’s leg and snaring the second ankle to trip Blaze to the mat and deal him just his second loss of the year.
UP NEXT
Blaze moves to the consolation semifinal match at 165 pounds, where he will face the winner of Bryce Hepner of North Carolina and Nicco Ruiz of Arizona State. Blaze can still score 4.5 team points in tomorrow morning’s session, with additional bonus points at stake as well.
RESULTS
133 | #24 Blake Boarman (R-Sr.)
Round 1: #9 Dominick Serrano (Northern Colorado) – L, D 16-14
Conso. Round 1: #25 Will Betancourt (Rider) – L, SV 4-1
165 | #2 Joey Blaze (Jr.)
Round 1: #31 Jared Kesler (Pittsburgh) – W, D 5-0
Round 2: #15 Connor Euton (Iowa State) – W, MD 10-1
Quarterfinals: #10 Will Denny (North Carolina State) – W, D 4-3
Semifinals: #3 Michael Caliendo (Iowa) – L, SV 8-5
Conso. Semifinals: TBA
174 | #22 Brody Baumann (R-Jr.)
Round 1: #11 M.J. Gaitan (Iowa State) – L, Fall 2:41
Conso. Round 1: #27 Collin Carrigan (North Carolina) – W, D 15-8
Conso. Round 2: #12 Carter Schubert (Oklahoma) – L, SV 12-9
197 | #26 Ben Vanadia (R-Sr.)
Round 1: #7 Cody Merrill (Oklahoma State) – L, TF 18-3 (6:01)
Conso. Round 1: #23 Mikey Squires (Binghamton) – L, MD 11-2