Purdue’s Shawn Streck, Dylan Lydy Place in Las Vegas
Unseeded Streck places fifth at 285, Lydy finishes eighth at 174
Dec. 2, 2017
Purdue Results / Brackets, Results
LAS VEGAS – Purdue’s Shawn Streck and Dylan Lydy entered the 36th annual Cliff Keen Las Vegas Wrestling Invitational unseeded and came out with hardware Saturday. Two days of competition at the Las Vegas Convention Center concluded for the Boilermakers with a monstrous quick pin by Streck to place fifth at 285 pounds and Lydy finished eighth at 174. It is the second consecutive year, a pair of Purdue grapplers have placed in the tournament.
The duo’s run to placing as an unseeded wrestler, or unranked for that matter, was impressive. Lydy’s bracket at 174 contained a tournament-high 14 nationally ranked wrestlers, including seven of the top 10, and eight of the nation’s top heavyweights were in action.
Streck needed just 33 seconds to pin fourth-seeded Ryan Solomon of Pitt, upsetting the Panther for a second time in as many days. The fall was the fourth of the season for the Merrillville, Indiana, native and his second that has come in less than a minute.
“There was a quick turnaround with that last match,” Streck said. “I wasn’t necessarily looking for the fall, I wanted to score points and to finish the tournament hard.”
Streck’s day started the way it ended, with a pin. He stuck Iowa State’s Marcus Harrington in 3:43 in the fifth round of wrestlebacks. In the consolation quarterfinals, the redshirt freshman decisioned Andrew Dunn of Virginia Tech 5-1.
The redshirt freshman is the first Purdue heavyweight to place at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Wrestling Invitational since Jake O’Brien was fifth in 2004. Streck pushed his record to 14-5 after posting five victories and notched his third top-five tournament finish of the season.
“I feel like I did alright this weekend,” Streck said. “The coaches have us in shape and give us adverse situations in practice to prepare for situations like this weekend. Coming out of here and moving forward, I need to work on bottom and create better angles for my shots. I thought that is what I struggled with the most this weekend. I also want to get another jump on my shape.”
A takedown early in the final period of the seventh-place match knotted Lydy with Harvard’s Josef Johnson 5-5, but he was edged in a 6-5 decision to the No. 14 seed. Johnson was the fifth seeded opponent Lydy met over the course of two days. In his first match of the day, a pair of third period takedowns propelled him past No. 11 C.J. Brucki of Central Michigan.
“I had a lot of tight matches this weekend and I was pleased with being able to force my will and score points where I needed too,” Lydy said. “That first overtime match yesterday was real big for me. There were some scenarios in my matches where I could have given in mentally, but I did not let up.”
With his eighth-place showing, Purdue sent a 174-pounder to the podium for the first time since Luke Manuel was eighth in 2010.
“Coming into this tournament after going 0-2 last year, placing this year is big,” Lydy said. “This has been a real good indicator of where I am. I know I am not where I want to be, but I can make the adjustments and I want to work on staying on top. It’s going to be nice to have the time off before our next competition so I can focus on what I want to improve.”
Spanning the Navy Classic and the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Wrestling Invitational, Lydy strung together five straight wins, a career best. At 14-6, the redshirt sophomore who hails from Indianapolis, Indiana, is only two wins shy of his total wins from last season. “Changing weight classes has allowed me to stay fueled and really use my gas tank,” Lydy said. “I’m moving a lot more, imposing my will and getting to my offense.”
Purdue’s 133- and 141-pounders fell one win shy of placing. North Carolina’s Zach Sherman avenged a November loss to Thornton, dealing the Boilermaker a 5-2 setback. The 133-pounder went 4-2 in Las Vegas to take his season mark to 10-4. At 141 pounds, Nate Limmex’s run came to an end on a 5-3 loss to No. 8 Kanen Storr of Iowa State. Limmex’s record now stands at 9-6 after a 4-2 showing over two days.
As the semester comes to a close, the Boilermakers will break from competition until Dec. 18. They’ll make their first home appearance of the season at Holloway Gymnasium, playing host to SIU Edwardsville and Central Michigan. The Cougars and Chippewas will battle at 1 p.m. ET, followed by Purdue taking on SIU Edwardsville at 3 p.m., and CMU at 5 p.m.