"This is a great way to prepare the guys for the season," said Purdue Head Coach Scott Hinkel. "It gives us all a starting point and gets the competitive juices flowing."
The Boilermakers are permitted a four-pound weight allowance on Saturday from their established classes and will weigh-in an hour before the matches begin (8 a.m.). The first of the 15 rounds of competition will begin at 9 a.m. with a combination of exhibition and varsity wrestle-off matches. The Boilers will wrestle a standard match, including a three-minute first period, and two-minute second and third, with NCAA sudden victory and tie breaking procedures in effect if applicable.
The job at 125 pounds will be up for grabs between redshirt freshman Akif Eren and first-year Boilermaker George Petrov. Eren has a year in the Purdue wrestling room under his belt, but Petrov comes from a very successful high school program and was his team's most valuable wrestler last season.
Senior tri-captain Sean Schmaltz defends his starting position at 133 pounds against redshirt freshman Matt Hemry. Schmaltz started all of last year's Big Ten season for the Boilermakers, earning his first career conference victory over Minnesota's Mike Thorn. Hemry finished fourth at the Indiana high school state championships in 2006, winning his sectional, regional and semi-state titles on the way.
Highly competitive duels are set at 141 and 149 pounds, with redshirt sophomore Matt Redmond and redshirt freshman Kevin Lipp ready to go head-to-head at 141, and junior tri-captains Jake Patacsil and Mark Powell facing off at 149.
Redmond drops down a weight class after a very successful campaign at 149 pounds last season. He posted an 11-7 mark, including a sixth-place showing at the Midlands Championships, where he toppled a pair of nationally ranked opponents. Lipp enters his first season of varsity competition after piling up a 152-16 record over four years of high school. He won two Ohio high school state championships, and claimed a pair of state bronze medals as well.
Patacsil enters the season ranked as high as eighth in the nation in the preseason polls at 149 pounds after a record-setting 2006-07. He rewrote the Purdue back-points record books on his way to team most valuable wrestler honors and a 34-12 overall mark, including a 5-3 conference record and a trip to the 2007 NCAA Tournament. His 190 back points shattered the previous single-season mark by 40 points, and he stands fourth all-time at Purdue with 284 back points in his first two seasons. Powell has an impressive resume of his own, notching a 17-5 record in 2006-07 before bowing out of contention for the starting job due to injury. He finished fifth at the Eastern Michigan Open and had winning records at both the Reno Tournament of Champions and the Midlands Championships.
The 157-pound position should prove the most highly coveted as the Boilermakers flaunt five grapplers that will vie for the starting job in a tournament format. Headlining the group is returning starter and NCAA qualifier Jake Murphy. A redshirt junior, Murphy posted a 16-14 record last year, including a 3-4 mark in conference. Throwing their names in the hat are redshirt junior Nick Spohn, redshirt sophomores Nick Bertucci and Sam Patacsil and redshirt freshman Kevin Clem. Spohn captured the Midwest Open crown last year, topping Sam Patacsil in the finals of the tournament, while Bertucci was the Boilermakers' starter at 141 pounds. Clem enters his first season of varsity competition after a successful high school campaign.
The battle at 165 pounds features multiple contenders as well, including 2006-07 starters Justin Fraga and Jason Martin. Both redshirt sophomores, Fraga turned in 27 wins, a fourth-place Big Ten Tournament showing and a NCAA Championship appearance at 165 pounds last year, while Martin bumped up a class to take on the starting 174-pound job for the Old Gold and Black. Completing the trio of contenders is redshirt freshman Luke Manuel, who was the 2006 California high school state runner-up and a high school All-American. The three will compete in set of round-robin matches with the best record taking the starting job.
Junior Nick Corpe and redshirt junior Aaron Goebel will via for the 174-pound starting spot as the pair both look to rebound from injury-shortened seasons last winter. Corpe was the Boilermakers' starter at 174 as a freshman and sophomore, before cutting his second season short with an injury at the Midlands Championships. Goebel suffered a similar fate in each of his collegiate seasons so far, but looks to straighten that out this year.
The spot at heavyweight stands between redshirt sophomore Chris Kasten and redshirt freshman Roger Vukobratovich. Kasten posted a record of 16-6 over the first half of his rookie campaign, while Vukobratovich was his high school MVP his senior year and put in valuable work on the mat last season.
The rest of the Boilermakers' starting spots are pretty much set on the shoulders of 184-pound sophomore David Pisarcik and 197-pound redshirt freshman Logan Brown. The pair will compete in a series of exhibition matches to ready themselves for the season-opening tournament. Several of Purdue's true freshman and redshirt wrestlers will be in exhibition action as well, including 2005 NCAA qualifier Colton Salazar, three-time Wisconsin high school state champion A.J. Kissel and 2007 Indiana high school state champion Matt Fields.
The Blake Wrestling Center is located within Lambert Fieldhouse, on the south side of the indoor track. Alumni, media and fans are encouraged to attend and get a glimpse of the Boilermakers' first action of the season.
Match Schedule
Round 1: 157(A) - Kevin Clem vs. Sam Patacsil
165 - Justin Fraga vs. Luke Manuel
Round 2: 125 - Matt Fields vs. Bill Putman
125 - Akif Eren vs. George Petrov
Round 3: 141 - Kevin Lipp vs. Matt Redmond
133/141 - Jake Fleckenstein vs. David Zimmer
Round 4: 133 - Matt Hemry vs. Sean Schmaltz
149 - Jake Patacsil vs. Mark Powell
Round 5: 285 - Chris Kasten vs. Roger Vukobratovich
157(B) - Nick Spohn vs. Nick Bertucci
Round 6: 157(C) - Jake Murphy vs. 157(A) winner
165 - Luke Manuel vs. Jason Martin
Round 7: 165/157 - John Doyle vs. Colton Salazar
184 - A.J. Kissel vs. David Pisarcik
Round 8: 174 - Nick Corpe vs. Aaron Goebel
125 - Bill Putman vs. George Petrov
Round 9: 125 - Akif Eren vs. Matt Fields
133 - Sean Schmaltz vs. Jake Fleckenstein
Round 10: 157(D) - 157(C) winner vs. 157 (B) winner
165 - Jason Martin vs. Justin Fraga
Round 11: 149/157 - Jordan Nettuno vs. Colton Salazar
157(E) - 157(A) loser vs. 157(B) loser
Round 12: 141/149 - Kevin Lipp vs. Mark Powell
197/184 - Logan Brown vs. David Pisarcik
Round 13: 133 - Jake Fleckenstein vs. Matt Hemry
141 - David Zimmer vs. Matt Redmond
Round 14: 149 - Jake Patacsil vs. Jordan Nettuno
184/174 - A.J. Kissel vs. Nick Corpe
Round 15: 197/285 - Logan Brown vs. Chris Kasten
157(F) - 157(E) winner vs. 157(D) loser
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