College Wrestling

Five Purdue Wrestlers Alive at 52nd Ken Kraft Midlands Championships

Boilermakers tally 28.5 points in first day of action, 11th in team standings.

Dec. 30, 2014

EVANSTON, Ill. – Five Purdue wrestlers remain alive and the Boilermakers sit in 11th place with 28.5 points after the first day of the 52nd Ken Kraft Midlands Championships Monday in Welsh-Ryan Arena. Aaron Assad (125), Danny Sabatello (133), Brandon Nelsen (149), Doug Welch (157) and Chad Welch (174) are all one victory shy of securing a podium finish during Tuesday’s third session, which is slated for a 1 p.m. ET start. The session will feature consolation bouts, followed by third-, fifth- and seventh-place matches. All six mats during Tuesday’s third session will be streamed live via BTN2Go free of charge. Additional links to tournament seeds, updated brackets and much more can be found here.

Purdue is half a point behind Rider, who sits in 10th place with 29 points. Iowa leads the team standings with 110 points and is followed by Illinois (90 points), Northwestern (65 points), Edinboro (60 points) and Virginia Tech (54.5 points). Old Dominion is sixth with 49.5 points and the top-10 teams are rounded out by Wisconsin (42.5 points), South Dakota State (35 points) and North Dakota State (34 points).

Thirteen grapplers were in action for the Old Gold & Black, combining for a 21-21 record with seven bonus point victories (4 MD, 2 TF, 2 F). A trio advanced to the quarterfinals in Sabatello, D. Welch and C. Welch, but they were unable to punch their ticket into the semifinals.

Sabatello (17-2) had his 16-match winning streak come to an end as third-seeded Cory Clark of Iowa pinned the sixth-seeded Boilermaker in 2:12. The redshirt junior struck for a takedown in the opening 30 seconds for an early 2-0 edge. Clark was able to get his arm around the backside of Sabatello’s head, reversed him and locked in working for the fall. Sabatello went into the quarterfinal matchup on the heels of a 6-0 decision of Penn’s 11th-seeded Caleb Richardson and put on a clinic en route to a 20-5 technical fall of John Coukos of Northwestern in his first match of the day.

D. Welch, the No. 7 seed at 157 pounds, dropped a 9-4 quarterfinal decision to South Dakota State’s second-seeded Cody Pack. The Jackrabbit took D. Welch down three times, had a reversal to start the third period and accumulated 2:36 of riding time to hand the Purdue redshirt senior his fifth loss of the season. D. Welch (16-5) registered half of the Boilermakers major decisions on the day. He shut out 10th-seeded Spencer Hill of Cal State Bakersfield in the championship third round (14-0) and was called for a penalty point in a 9-1 win over Maryland’s Louis Mascola in championship second round. The major decisions were his second and third of the season.

Eighth-seeded C. Welch took a career-best eight match winning streak into the quarterfinals, but top-seeded Mike Evans of Iowa brought it to a halt by holding the 174-pounder scoreless in a 9-0 major decision loss. C. Welch (15-7) began the day by collecting the second fall of his redshirt junior’s campaign, pinning Northern Illinois’ Bryce Gorman in 1:27. He followed with an 8-4 decision over Jacob Davis, who was wrestling unattached.

After losing a high-scoring battle to unattached Seth Lange (15-14) in the championship second round, 14th-seeded Nelsen stormed back to win four straight in the consolation bracket at 149 pounds. Highlighting the 16-4 redshirt senior’s comeback was a 2:54 fall of SIU Edwardsville’s Karsten Van Velsor. The fall was his seventh of the season and the 30th of his career, moving him into sole occupancy of the No. 5 slot on Purdue’s career falls list. With six switches, Nelsen also climbed the career reversals list Monday, catapulting from 12th into a tie for fifth with 40 to his name.

At 125 pounds, Assad rebounded from a loss in his first match to post a pair of victories in the wrestlebacks, including a 5-1 upset of 12th-seeded J.R. Wert of Rider. The 2-1 day evened his season mark at 9-9.

Luke Welch (125) and Nick Lawrence (141) bowed out of the tournament with 2-2 performances, while ninth-seeded Pat Robinson (165), Tanner Lynde (184) and Tyler Kral (285) exited after 1-2 showings. Dustin Schultz (157), Andy Hoselton(165), Drake Stein (197) also competed, but were eliminated during the first session after going 0-2.

PURDUE MATCH-BY-MATCH // SESSIONS 1 AND 2
125 // Aaron Assad
Championship First Round: David White, Binghamton // L, D, 5-3
Consolation First Round: BYE
Consolation Second Round: Johnny Jimenez, Wisconsin // W, D, 5-1
Consolation Third Round: No. 12 J.R. Wert, Rider // W, D, 5-1

125 // Luke Welch
Championship First Round: No. 12 J.R. Wert, Rider // W, D, 10-7
Championship Second Round: No. 5 Kory Mines, Edinboro // L, D, 3-1 (SV1)
Consolation Second Round: No. 6 Brandon Jeske, Old Dominion // W, D, 6-5
Consolation Third Round: David White, Binghamton // L, D, 4-3

133 // No. 6 Danny Sabatello
Championship First Round: BYE
Championship Second Round: John Coukos, Northwestern // W, TF, 20-5 (6:08)
Championship Third Round: No. 11 Caleb Richardson, Penn // W, D, 6-0
Championship Quarterfinals: No. 3 Cory Clark, Iowa // L, F, 2:12

141 // Nick Lawrence
Championship First Round: Sal Annoreno, Northern Illinois // W, D, 3-1
Championship Second Round: No. 9 Alex Kocer, South Dakota // W, D, 7-3
Championship Third Round: Michael Shaw, Eastern Michigan // L, D, 3-2
Consolation Fourth Round: Logan Arlis, Illinois // L, D, 3-2

149 // No. 14 Brandon Nelsen
Championship First Round: Coleman Hammond, Cal State Bakersfield // W, MD, 12-1
Championship Second Round: Seth Lange, Unattached (Minnesota) // L, D, 15-14
Consolation Second Round: Nick Barber, Eastern Michigan // W, D, 9-3
Consolation Third Round: Karsten Van Velsor, SIU Edwardsville // W, F, 2:54
Consolation Fourth Round: Elroy Perkin, UW Whitewater // W, D, 12-6
Consolation Fifth Round: No. 11 Ryan Lubeck, Wisconsin // W, D, 3-1

157 // No. 7 Doug Welch
Championship First Round: Brooks Martino, Penn // W, D, 6-3
Championship Second Round: Louis Mascola, Maryland // W, MD, 9-1
Championship Third Round: No. 10 Spencer Hill, Cal State Bakersfield // W, MD, 14-0
Championship Quarterfinals: No. 2 Cody Pack, South Dakota State // L, 9-4

157 // Dustin Schultz
Championship First Round: No. 8 Maaziah Bethea, Penn // L, D, 11-8
Consolation First Round: BYE
Consolation Second Round: Louis Mascola, Maryland // L, MD, 12-3

165 // No. 9 Pat Robinson
Championship First Round: BYE
Championship Second Round: Chad Strube, Virginia Tech // L, D, 9-2
Consolation Second Round: BYE
Consolation Third Round: Zach Zupan, Binghamton // W, TF, 16-1 (5:21)
Consolation Fourth Round: Ty Prazma, Missouri // L, MD, 20-5

165 // Andy Hoselton
Championship First Round: Matt Nora, Illinois // L, D, 6-0
Consolation First Round: BYE
Consolation Second Round: Zach Zupan, Binghamton // L, D, 8-7

174 // No. 8 Chad Welch
Championship First Round: BYE
Championship Second Round: Bryce Gorman, Northern Illinois // W, F, 1:27
Championship Third Round: Jacob Davis, Unattached (Eastern Michigan) // W, D, 8-4
Championship Quarterfinals: No. 1 Mike Evans, Iowa // L, MD, 9-0

184 // Tanner Lynde
Championship First Round: No. 2 Jack Dechow, Old Dominion // L, MD 12-2
Consolation First Round: Sean Pollock, Cal State Bakersfield // W, D, 8-4
Consolation Second Round: Ryan McWaters, Southern Oregon // L, D, 7-4

197 // Drake Stein
Championship First Round: BYE
Championship Second Round: Anthony Abro, Eastern Michigan // L, MD, 15-2
Consolation Second Round: Troy Hembury, Columbia // L, D, 7-4

285 // Tyler Kral
Championship First Round: BYE
Championship Second Round: Dan Garwood, Virginia Tech // L, D, 5-3
Consolation Second Round: BYE
Consolation Third Round: Jake Cochrane, Northern Illinois // W, D, 4-1
Consolation Fourth Round: Garrett Goldman, Indiana // L, D, 3-1

Note: Nos. reflect tournament seeds, InterMat rankings are not included

—

Amanda C. Dahl

Purdue University

Assistant Athletics Communications Director

@PurdueWrestling, @PurdueMT, @PurdueWT

O 765.494.6235 | C 712.251.9271

Wrestling: Hofstra Wins Lock Haven Invitational With Four Champions
Courtesy: Hofstra Athletic Communications
For Release: Monday, December 29, 2014

– Final LHU Brackets and Results

Lock Haven, PA – Ten Pride wrestlers placed in the top five of their respective weight classes, including four who captured individual titles, as Hofstra captured the First Citizens Community Bank-Lock Haven University Invitational Tournament at the Thomas Fieldhouse Monday.

Hofstra, behind first-place finishes by freshman Bryan Damon at 125, sophomores Jamel Hudson at 141 and Jahlani Callender at 157 and graduate-student Cody Ruggirello at 149, finished with 154 points to lead the nine-team field. Host Lock Haven was second with 136.5 points while Clarion was third with 83. Franklin and Marshall (63.5) and Bucknell (57.5) rounded out the top five. The Lock Haven Invitational team title is the Pride’s first tournament victory since winning the Colonial Athletic Association Championship in 2013.

Damon, making his first official start for the Pride this season, swept through the 125-pound weight class with three wins, including two by pin to win the title. He defeated Lock Haven’s Kaleb Lemaire, 6-1 in the title match. Damon is now 11-3 on the season.

Hudson, ranked 18th by InterMat, also was 3-0 in the tournament with a major decision and posted a 16-1 tech fall over Franklin and Marshall’s Robert Ruiz in the championship match. Hudson, who now has a five-match winning streak, is now 13-3 on the year.

Like Hudson, Ruggirello recorded his second tournament title of the season after winning the New York State Collegiate Championship in November. He posted a major decision and two wins by fall including a 49-second pin of Virginia’s Chris Yankowich in the title match. Ruggirello is 17-4 on the season.

Two Hofstra wrestlers, sophomores Frank Affronti at 174 and Michael Hughes at 285, each placed second Monday. Affronti was 3-1 in the tournament with a major decision and two shutouts before losing to Clarion’s Dom Rigous, 4-3 in the final. He is now 11-1 on the year. Hughes was 2-1 on the day with two wins by fall before being pinned by Bucknell’s Joe Stolfi at the 2:33 mark of the title match.

Senior Nick Terdick placed fourth at 165 pounds, with a 3-2 record including two wins by fall. After dropping his opening match, Terdick advanced through the consolations before falling to Bucknell’s Rob Schlitt in the third-place match. He is now 10-10 on the season.

Third Pride wrestlers, freshman Travis Passaro at 133, and freshmen Cory Damiana at 184 and Michael Oxley at 197, placed fifth in their respective weight classes. Passaro (5-8) was 2-2 including a medical default win over teammate Kyle Krasavage in the fifth-place match. Damiana (7-12) was 3-2 with two wins by fall including a pin of Clarion’s Nick Shawley at the 1:17 mark of the fifth-place match. Oxley (5-11) was 2-2 with a win by default in the fifth-place match.

Red-shirt freshman Kyle Krasavage (6-6), one of two Hofstra entries at 133, placed sixth with a 1-2 mark. Red-shirt sophomore Cory Goshkagarian (1-7), the second Pride entry at 157, was 0-2.

Hofstra returns to action on Friday, January 9 when the Pride travel to Princeton University to face the Tigers in a 7 p.m. match.

Jim Sheehan
Sports Information Director
Hofstra University
1000 Hempstead Turnpike
Hempstead, NY  11550
516-463-6764 – Office
516-523-6692 – Cell
516-463-5033 – Fax
www.GoHofstra.com
Jim.B.Sheehan@Hofstra.edu