CLEVELAND — Purdue junior Joey Blaze wrapped up a sixth-place finish at the 2026 NCAA Wrestling Championships on Saturday, marking the fifth time in the last four seasons that the Boilermakers have had a wrestler achieve All-America status.
The Boilers finished 29th in the final team standings, scoring 10.5 points over the three-day affair. The placement ranked Purdue as the No. 9 team in the Big Ten Conference, which accounted for four of the top-five team placements, and six of the top-10.
Blaze dropped his consolation semifinal match by the slimmest of margins, falling 2-1 via a riding-time point to Arizona State’s Nicco Ruiz. Blaze was in deep on shots at the end of the second and third periods but ran out of room on the edge and time on the clock in both instances. Blaze also found himself close to a reversal midway through the final period but was stopped due to a potentially dangerous call from the official.
Blaze injury defaulted in the fifth-place match, settling for a sixth-place finish on the podium. His quarterfinal win on Friday made him the 13th two-time All-American in Purdue history.
With the 2025-26 collegiate season officially over, the Boilermakers will head into the offseason with the U.S. Open looming in April. Last year, Blaze took the freestyle circuit by storm and competed throughout the summer. Offseason coverage of the Boilermakers will be provided by @PurdueWrestling on X/Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
NOTES
- Blaze becomes the 13th two-time All-American in Purdue wrestling history, joining Matt Ramos as the second to accomplish the feat in the last two years under head coach Tony Ersland
- With the Boilermakers’ top-30 finish at the NCAA Championships, it marks the seventh in the last eight trips to the national tournament under Ersland. The only coaches with more in program history are Claude Reeck with 13 from 1938 to 1969, and Jesse Reyes with eight from 1993 to 2007.
- After earning All-America honors at 157 pounds in 2025 and now at 165 pounds in 2026, Blaze becomes just the second wrestler in program history to earn the award at multiple weights.
- Blaze’s All-America showing makes him the fifth Purdue national honoree over the last four seasons, joining Parker Filius (2023) and Matt Ramos (2023, 2025). This marks Purdue’s best four-year stretch since six Boilermakers climbed the podium between 2003 and 2006.
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.) – ALL-AMERICAN (SIXTH PLACE)
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: #4 Nicco Ruiz (Arizona State) – L, D 2-1
5th Place Match: #13 Andrew Sparks (Minnesota) – L, Injury Default
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