Indiana wrestling lost a close match to No. 17 Purdue on Saturday at Wilkinson Hall in Bloomington by a score of 17-16.
“I’m proud of our guys, they really went out there and they battled,” head coach Angel Escobedo said. “We try to preach improvement, and look at the progress made from last year. We only won one individual match against Purdue last year, and now we only lost by one point throughout the whole match.”
Indiana lost to Purdue last year 38-3. Then-No. 6 Indiana sophomore DJ Washington won the only match of the night when he defeated freshman Emil Soehnlen in a 5-1 decision.
Indiana began the meet with a ranked matchup between No. 31 sophomore Jacob Moran and Purdue’s No. 9 Devin Schroder. Schroder defeated Moran in an 11-0 major decision to give Purdue a 4-0 lead.
No. 12 Indiana graduate student Brock Hudkins made his first appearance since the Michigan State dual meet for the 133-pound class. He did not wrestle in the previous meet due to a non-serious precautionary reason, according to Escobedo. Hudkins improved to a 9-0 individual record, defeating No. 26 Purdue freshman Matt Ramos via a 7-1 decision to make the score 4-3.
No. 27 Indiana junior Cayden Rooks lost to No. 18 Purdue senior Parker Filius in the 141-pound class match in a 12-4 major decision. Junior Graham Rooks defeated Purdue junior Alec White in a major decision to make it an 8-7 match.
Indiana sophomore Derek Gilcher wrestled in the 157-pound class for the first time since Indiana’s match against then-No. 2 Penn State. Purdue sophomore Cooper Noehre defeated Gilcher in a 3-1 regular decision.
Purdue sophomore Hayden Lohrey then gave Purdue its largest lead of the night at 14-7 by defeating Indiana junior Kasper McIntosh in the 165-pound class match in a 5-3 decision.
Indiana junior Nick South recorded his first victory against a ranked opponent when he defeated No. 15 Purdue sophomore Gerrit Nijenhuis in a 3-2 regular decision, making the score 14-10.
“It’s the confidence booster I needed,” South said of his match. “I know I can go perform against all these top guys. It’s actually about going out there, wrestling well and not letting the nerves get to you.”
No. 14 Indiana junior DJ Washington defeated No. 25 Purdue senior Max Lyon in a 7-3 regular decision, but Purdue snapped Indiana’s two-match win streak when No. 15 Purdue junior Thomas Penola defeated Indiana junior Nick Willham in the 197-pound class match by a 10-4 decision to extend Purdue’s lead to 17-13.
Indiana junior Jacob Bullock defeated No. 33 Purdue senior Michael Woulfe by a 6-4 sudden victory. Despite Bullock's best efforts, he was unable to force a tie and only gained three points, leaving Indiana to finish down by one point at 17-16.
Indiana hits the road for the first time in nearly a month on Feb. 6 when it takes on Illinois at Huff Hall in Champaign, Illinois.
