Purdue Wrestling Set for Missouri this weekend

The Boilermakers are set for their first dual against a ranked opponent.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Purdue wrestling team heads to Columbia, Mo., for the weekend, facing the ninth-ranked Missouri Tigers on Friday night and competing in the Missouri Open all day Sunday. The Boilermakers enter the weekend 2-1 in dual competition, while Missouri is 1-0 in their only head-to-head contest to date.

The Boilermakers opened their dual schedule last weekend at the inaugural Northwestern Duals, dropping a 19-16 contest to Stanford, but rebounding with decisive wins over Northern Iowa, 24-9, and Big Ten rival Northwestern, 33-7. Purdue is 1-0 in the Big Ten for the first time since 2004, and now 42-38-2 all-time against the Wildcats.

Juniors Colton Salazar, Luke Manuel and Logan Brown continued to lead the way for the Old Gold and Black as they maintained their undefeated records and national InterMat rankings over the weekend. Salazar moved up a spot in the national 157-pound standings, jumping to 10th after his 8-0 start, while Brown climbed to 11th at 197 pounds with his 7-0 mark. Manuel dropped to 12th at 174 pounds despite his 7-0 record (Bucknell’s Shane Riccio surpassed him with an upset of Virginia’s Chris Henrich).

Other Boilermakers garnering some national recognition from other polls are sophomore Matt Fields, juniors Akif Eren and Juan Archuleta, and senior Nick Bertucci. Fields is tabbed from 22nd to 25th among various publications, while Eren, Archuleta and Bertucci were all ranked between 29th and 33rd by WrestlingReport.com.

Purdue leads the all-time series with Missouri, 11-8-1, including a streak of seven consecutive wins from 1994 to 2000. The two squads first met in the 1965-66 season, with the Boilermakers taking a 19-5 victory, while the Tigers carry a three-match win streak into Friday’s dual, dating to 2001. The last meeting was Nov. 19, 2004, in St. Louis, resulting in a 25-10 Missouri victory.

The Tigers’ No. 9 national ranking comes on the strength of six ranked wrestlers in their lineup, including top-ranked 184-pounder Max Askren and defending NCAA Heavyweight Champion Mark Ellis. However, Askren is not scheduled to compete over the weekend and Ellis is only a possible starter for the Tigers along with fourth-ranked sophomore heavyweight Dominique Bradley, who placed third at last weekend’s Central Missouri Open. Junior Todd Schavrien enters the weekend ranked 19th in the country at 141 pounds, and 2008 All-American Nick Marable sits seventh in the country at 165 pounds. Sophomore Dorian Henderson and freshman Brent Haynes round out the list of ranked grapplers in the Tigers’ lineup as Henderson is 16th at 174 pounds and Haynes is 17th at 197 pounds.

Missouri opened its dual season last week, hosting and defeating No. 22 Illinois, 18-16. The Tigers split the individual matches with the Illini, 5-5, but used bonus points from Ellis to secure the narrow win. Other winners for Missouri were Askren, Marable, Haynes and freshman 133-pounder Nathan McCormick. Several Tigers competed at the Central Missouri Open on Saturday, including individual champions Schavrien, Marable and Henderson.

Follow Friday’s action live via PurdueSports.com and get updates all weekend on Purdue Wrestling’s Twitter Page (http://twitter.com/purduewrestling).

Courtesy of Purdue Sports Information.

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