Purdue Wrestlers Start NCAA Championships Thursday

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
NCAA Championships
Thursday, March 21 to Saturday, March 23 / PPG Paints Arena / Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

PITTSBURGH – Three days in March. That is all that remains in the season for seven Purdue wrestlers. The NCAA Championships open with the first of six sessions over the course of three days at noon ET on Thursday from PPG Paints Arena.  For the third time in head coach Tony Ersland‘s five years, Purdue is sending seven or more to the NCAA Championships. Six Boilermakers automatically secured their trip to Pittsburgh with their performance at the Big Ten Championships, while Nate Limmex received one of four at-large bids that were awarded at 141 pounds to qualify for his second NCAA Championships.

Jacob Aven was selected as the alternate at 285. If a wrestler in his respective weight class withdraws or does not make weight, Aven will be inserted into the bracket.

Christian Brunner leads the Purdue pack in Pittsburgh as a three-time qualifier. The junior was tabbed as the No. 11-seed at 197 pounds, his highest seed at the tournament yet. Brunner (23-9) will meet The Citadel’s Sawyer Root in Thursday’s first round.

Joining Brunner as an 11-seed is two-time qualifier Dylan Lydy (26-8) at 174 pounds. Brunner and Lydy’s No. 11-seeds are the highest seed for a Boilermaker since Chad Welch was seeded eighth at 165 in 2016 and Danny Sabatello’s No. 11-seed at 133 pounds in 2015.

As a senior at Ben Davis High School in 2015, Lydy beat Ben Harvey of Indianapolis Cathedral High School 3-1 in sudden victory to claim the 170-pound state title. The two will once again line up against each other, meeting in the opening round for their first meeting as collegiate wrestlers. Harvey, who attends Army West Point, brings a 29-9 mark into the contest.

Familiar foes also await Devin Schroder (125) and Limmex in Thursday’s first round. Schroder will be looking to avenge a seventh-place match loss at Big Tens to Michigan’s Drew Mattin in a first round matchup. Limmex will square off against third-seeded Nick Lee of Penn State for a second time this season.

Click here (PDF) to see all of Purdue’s first round matchups.

^ New for 2019 is the seeding of all 33 wrestlers in each of the 10 weight classes

ESPN will once again offer unprecedented coverage of the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, airing nearly 20 hours of competition and all 640 matches.