Indiana University Athletics
Hoosiers Host Rival Purdue in First Big Ten Clash
1/18/2007 12:00:00 AM | Wrestling
Jan. 18, 2007
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SETTING THE SCENE
Indiana begins its Big Ten season with a pair of challenging matchups against Purdue and No. 16 Illinois. The Boilers enter the weekend with a 10-1 record, their only loss coming in the team's Big Ten opener against Ohio State last weekend. Illinois (4-0) opens its Big Ten season by facing No. 8 Northwestern on Friday night before hosting the Hoosiers on Sunday afternoon.
ALL-TIME SERIES
Indiana faces archrival Purdue for the 84th time on Friday night, with Indiana holding a 50-30-3 edge over the Boilers in the all-time series, which began in 1923. The Hoosiers have taken the last two matchups with Purdue and have taken six of the last 10 meetings. Last season, the Hoosiers topped Purdue with a 24-13 victory in West Lafayette. In that meet, two-time NCAA champion Joe Dubuque won his 100th career match and Andrae Hernandez picked up bonus points for IU, as Indiana won seven of the 10 bouts on the day.
The Hoosiers and Illini have met 74 times in the history of the two teams, with IU clinging to a 37-36-1 edge. Indiana is seeking its first victory over the Illini since Feb. 10, 1996, a span of seven straight meets. Illinois topped IU in the meeting between the two teams in 2006, 26-6, in Bloomington, with Dubuque and Hernandez taking the only two victories for the Hoosiers in the dual.
LAST TIME OUT
The Indiana wrestling team remained perfect in dual meet action (9-0-0) with a 41-4 victory over Eastern Illinois on Sunday, Jan. 14. The Hoosiers won nine of the 10 individual matches over the Panthers on the day. Three Hoosiers - No. 12 Angel Escobedo, No. 7 Matt Coughlin and Josh Buuck - pinned their opponents on the day, while Andrae Hernandez earned a 15-0 technical fall in the victory. Seven of the 10 Hoosiers earned bonus points on the day, as IU won its 13th straight match against EIU. Max Dean (165), Marc Bennett (184) and Nathan Everhart (197) each took major decisions for IU, while Nick Walpole (141) and Ryan Pribble (157) picked up wins.
MEDIA INFORMATION
Indiana Athletic Media Relations Staff Assistant Matt Brady is the primary media relations contact for the wrestling team. He can be reached at his office (812-856-0215), via cell phone (413-222-2788) or e-mail (mlbrady@indiana.edu).
SCOUTING THE BOILERS
Purdue lost its first dual of the season to Ohio State on Sunday, Jan. 14, with No. 18 Nathan Moore (197) and sophomore Jake Murphy (157) taking the only two wins of the day for the Boilers. Purdue and IU have faced two common opponents this year - Ohio and Appalachian State. Both teams recorded strong victories over their opposition, as both held the Bobcats and Mountaineers under 10 points for the duals. The Boilermakers finished 12th at the Midlands Championships with 48.5 points, while IU was fifth with 96.0 points. In the only matchup between IU and Purdue starters this season, Matt Coughlin topped Matt Redmond in the fifth-place match in the 149-pound bracket at Midlands.
SCOUTING THE ILLINI
Illinois enters the Big Ten season with a 4-0 record, posting dual wins over Central Missouri State, Findlay, Maryland and North Carolina State. Indiana will host the Wolfpack on Saturday, Feb. 3. The Fighting Illini finished just behind Indiana at Midlands, turning in a sixth-place performance with 89.5 points. Mike Poeta won the 157-pound title and Jimmy Kennedy was the runner-up at 133 in the Championships.
ANGEL IS A DEVIL
Redshirt freshman Angel Escobedo (125) has posted an impressive debut season for the Hoosiers in 2006-07, carding a 23-2 record and a team-leading 11 pins on the season. With his victory at Midlands (12/30), he became the first Hoosier to take the title since Pat DeGain (HWT) in 2004 and the first freshman to win at Midlands since Mark Perry of Iowa and Jake Herbert of Northwestern won in 2004. It was the first title for Escobedo as an attached wrestler, though the redshirt freshman notched top-three finishes at both the Michigan State Open (11/12) and the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (12/2).
Escobedo has gained national recognition for his performance this year, and is now ranked in the top nine in all of the five major polls, with three publications ranking the Griffith, Ind., native seventh. Escobedo's 11 pins place him tied for 10th in the IU record book for a single season. Escobedo will face junior Brandon Tucker of Purdue and undefeated Gabe Flores (14-0) of Illinois, who is currently ranked 11th in the nation.
KNOCKING THEM OFF
Through seven events in the 2006-07 wrestling season, Indiana University grapplers are already making waves on the national scene. Members of the Hoosier team have totaled 19 victories over opponents ranked in the top 20 of their weight classes on the year.
Redshirt freshman Matt Coughlin (149) has been leading the charge, as he already has six victories over top-20 competition this season and is ranked as high as seventh in the country. In Las Vegas (12/2), Coughlin toppled three wrestlers in the top 20, posting victories over No. 4 Tyler Turner (Wisconsin), No. 5 Jordan Leen (Cornell) and No. 11 Jermain Thompson (Eastern Michigan). Coughlin added another victory over Thompson on Dec. 17, and has also topped No. 19 Jason Johnstone of Ohio State and No. 20 Troy Tirapelle of Illinois.
The Evansville, Ind., native has a strong opportunity to improve upon that number, as he is projected to face a pair of top-20 grapplers in current No. 10 Jake Patacsil and Tirapelle, who has climbed to No. 15 in the nation. Coughlin topped Tirapelle with a 12-6 decision in the second round at Midlands on Dec. 29.
Marc Bennett sits just behind Coughlin on the list, besting four ranked opponents with his 25-4 record. Kurt Kinser has three wins over top-20 wrestlers this season while competing unattached, while Max Dean and Brandon Becker have posted two more wins apiece.
MAKING HIS MARC
Junior Marc Bennett (184) has been a standout for the Hoosiers so far this season, posting a team-leading 25 wins on the year. Bennett started the year by taking the Michigan State Open title, and has also placed in Las Vegas (12/2) and at Midlands (12/30) this season. A year ago, the Martinsville, Ind., native finished his year with a 12-16 record, including a 2-6 mark in the Big Ten, while competing at 174. Bennett will square off with No. 15 John Dergo of Illinois on Sunday, as he tries to move up in the rankings against the upstart freshman.
DEAN OF STUDENTS
Junior Max Dean earned a fourth-place finish at Midlands, rebounding from a second-round loss to advance all the way to the third-place bout in the wrestleback. Dean won his first five matches in the wrestleback to advance to a third-place matchup with No. 6 Nick Baima of Northern Iowa, but Baima took a 10-3 decision in the bout. Dean, who placed third at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (12/2) and third at the Michigan State Open (11/12), has a 22-6 record on the year and a career mark of 73-37. He has posted fifth-place finishes at the Big Ten Championship in each of his first two years, and is a two-time NWCA Scholar-Athlete and a two-time Academic All-Big Ten choice.
BOUNCE BACK BECKER
After injury defaulting out of the Midlands Championships, No. 7 Brandon Becker sat out last Sunday's meet against Eastern Illinois, but is expected to be back in action this weekend. He will face a tough task on Sunday, as he is slated to face undefeated and top-ranked Mike Poeta of Illinois.
Becker has an 18-3 record on the year wth five major decisions, four technical falls and three pins, and has gone 7-0 in dual-meet action. In his career, the Mickelton, N.J., native has a 79-25 career mark with 18 pins in his three years. He is looking to become the fourth wrestler in IU history to earn three straight All-America selections.
BUUCK IS BACK
Senior Josh Buuck saw his first action of the season as an attached wrestler at the Midlands Championships (12/29-30), going 2-2 and coming up one win shy of earning a place at the prestigious tournament. Buuck`s loss in the championship bracket coming to No. 4 Matt Fields of Iowa. Buuck bounced back against Eastern Illinois, earning his fifth fall of the season at the 3:46 mark of the second round against the Panthers' Joe Trinka. Buuck competed unattached at the Missouri Open and took home the title with three falls and a 3-0 record at the event. In his Hoosier career, Buuck has a 44-26 record with 16 pins.
ANDRAE THE GIANT
In an up-and-down year for the returning NCAA qualifier, sophomore Andrae Hernandez (133) posted his third straight strong performance against Eastern Illinois, posting his fifth technical fall of the year. That followed a fifth-place finish at Midlands, with his only two losses to the top two seeds at 133. Hernandez won his first three matches, including a major decision and a technical fall, to earn a spot in the semifinals with top-ranked Nick Simmons of Michigan State, which Simmons took 2-0. After falling to second seed Robbie Preston in the wrestleback, Hernandez took a 3-0 decision over Northwestern's Eric Metzler to earn fifth. That matched his finish at Midlands last year, when the Hoosiers finished eighth at the event.
At the F.I.T.E Duals (12/18), the sophomore went 3-0 and took 15 dual points. Hernandez pinned Larry George of SIU-Edwardsville, scored an 18-0 technical fall of Harper's Mike Ryan, then posted a major decision over EMU's Chris Jenkins. He now sits at 18-8 with an 8-1 record in dual meets on the year.
TEN AGAIN
The Hoosiers are in search of win number 10 of the season against the Boilers, as Indiana holds a 9-0 dual record on the year. IU has won 10 or more meets in each of the last eight years, dating back to 1998-99. 2006 also marks the second straight season that Indiana entered the Big Ten schedule 9-0. The 2005-06 Hoosiers also won their first two duals of conference action to begin the season 11-0.
HOOSIERS INK THREE RECRUITS
The Indiana wrestling team has signed three grapplers to National Letters of Intent, head coach Duane Goldman announced on Friday, Dec. 8. The Hoosiers will add Joe Fagiano (Chicago, Ill./St. Patrick), Matt Ortega (Rio Rancho, N.M./Rio Rancho) and Reece Freeman (Bloomington, Ind./South) for the fall of 2007.
"All three of these individuals are great wrestlers and exceptional students," Goldman said. "They are dedicated, hard-working student-athletes with high goals - exactly the kind of people who we want representing Indiana."
Fagiano was the 2006 Illinois state champion at 215 pounds in 2006 and will be gunning for his second straight championship in 2007. He was named the 2006 East Suburban Catholic Conference Most Outstanding Wrestler after winning the conference title, and was is currently ranked 10th in the nation at 215 by Wrestling International Newsmagazine.
Ortega is a three-time New Mexico state champion and will seek a school-record fourth title in as many years in 2007. He helped Rio Rancho to a fourth-place finish at the Reno Tournament of Champions in December 2005, finishing seventh at 119 pounds in the event. Ortega won his first championship at 103 pounds and his second at 112 before moving up to 119 for his junior campaign. Ortega is currently the 12th-ranked wrestler in the 125-pound class by W.I.N.
Freeman was a teammate of current Hoosier freshmen Paul Young and Kurt Kinser at Bloomington South, helping the team to two sectional, regional and semi-state championships in his first three years. Freeman is the top-ranked wrestler in the state at 119 after going 46-2 and placing fifth in Indiana last year. He entered his senior campaign with a career record of 134-10 over three weight classes.
STRONG BEGINNINGS
IU's freshman class has put together a solid season so far, both from wrestlers who have participated in dual meet competition and those that have only competed unattached. Indiana's freshmen have compiled an aggregate 96-60 record so far this season.
Three Hoosiers have stood out enough to crack the starting lineup on a regular basis so far this year, led by 141-pounder Nick Walpole. Walpole has gone 15-7 on the season with a 5-1 record in dual meets for IU. The Indianapolis native leads the squad with six major decisions on the year and is tied for second with six pins.
Another standout has been Nathan Everhart at 197 pounds. The Tinley Park, Ill., native went 3-2 at Midlands, posting a pin and a technical fall in the wrestleback. His only two losses in Evanston came to wrestlers ranked in the nation's top 20. Everhart, a pre-dentistry major, is also a standout in the classroom, and has already been named IU Scholar Athlete of the Week this year. Everhart has a 16-7 mark on the season with three technical falls, two major decisions and two pins on the season.
Nick Avery competed as an attached wrestler for the first time at the F.I.T.E. Duals (12/17), and the Foxboro, Mass., native went 2-1 at the competition. Avery is 8-6 for the Hoosiers overall on the season.
True freshman and Bloomington South product Kurt Kinser has turned some heads this season. Kinser has competed unattached for the Hoosiers at 149 pounds and has already knocked off three grapplers ranked in the top 20, including a 13-2 major decision over No. 7 John Cox at the Penn State Open on Dec. 9. Kinser's former high school teammate, Paul Young, has also put together a 12-5 record on the year, including a fourth-place finish at the MSU Open (11/12). Both Kinser and Young are expected to redshirt this year.
EARNING WOWS
Redshirt freshman Angel Escobedo was named Big Ten Co-Wrestler of the Week on Wednesday, Nov. 29, after going 5-0 at the Hoosier Duals on Nov. 25. Escobedo became the first IU wrestler to garner WOW honors since Joe Dubuque (125) won the award on Dec. 22, 2004.
CRIMSON AND GOLD CUP UPDATE
In the Crimson and Gold Cup standings, Purdue currently holds a 3.5-2.5 lead, with tonight's dual meet earning the winner one point. In the last matchup between the two schools, the Boiler women's basketball team topped the Hoosiers in West Lafayette. IU won the cup last year, 11.5-8.5.
