(PURDUE RELEASE)
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The No. 16 ranked Purdue wrestling team finally gets to lace up their shoes for the 2021 season Friday, hosting No. 21 Northwestern for a dual in Holloway Gymnasium. The match is the first of a seven-date regular season for the Boilermakers, which will include only Big Ten competition.
PURDUE LINEUP & RANKINGS
The Boilermakers are ranked between No. 13 and No. 19 in the country to start Ersland’s seventh season at the helm of the Purdue program. Their high mark comes in the dual rankings via FloWrestling and The Open Mat, who both have Purdue tagged No. 13 in their dual rankings, while the NWCA Coaches Poll has the squad at No. 16, 1-of-12 Big Ten schools in the top-25. While the Boilermakers will be without several starters for Friday’s action, seven individuals have received early season attention in the rankings, headlined by top-five ranked Devin Schroder and Kendall Coleman. Purdue will be without the services of No. 13 Griffin Parriott at 149 and No. 21 Max Lyon at 184.
LAST TIME OUT
Purdue takes the mat for the first time since the 2020 Big Ten Championships, where they posted a fifth-place showing at the Rutgers Athletics Center in Piscataway, New Jersey. The Boilermakers’ showing was their best since 1992, putting eight of their 10 entries on the podium with all eight earning automatic bids to the NCAA Championships. Schroder and Coleman became Purdue’s first Big Ten finalists since 2011, with Coleman becoming just the second freshman in program history to reach the championship match.
PURDUE NOTES
• The Boilermakers are 46-42-2 all-time against Northwestern, including wins in four of the last five against the Wildcats and a 21-13 victory over the No. 13 Wildcats at Welsh-Ryan Arena in 2020.
• Head coach Tony Ersland is 56-45 in his six seasons at Purdue, including a 20-34 mark in Big Ten Duals. He posted career-best marks of 12-5 overall and 5-4 in conference action in 2019-20, Purdue’s best records, both overall and B1G, since 2012-13.
• Ersland is 3-1 against Northwestern, where he was an assistant coach for the Wildcats from 2000-05, and served as a coach and board member for the Wildcat Wrestling Club.
• Senior Devin Schroder enters the 2021 season as Purdue’s highest ranked individual since Chris Fleeger was No. 2 at 133 in 2004.
• Schroder was 26-5 in 2019-20, good for the No. 17 single-season win percentage (.839) in program history.
• He ranks third in program history with 390 career back points (one shy of Scott Hinkel for second), including a career-high 156 last year, which ranks fifth on Purdue’s single-season list.
• Schroder finished second at the Big Ten Championships in 2020 and earned the No. 5 seed at the NCAA Championships before they were cancelled.
• Junior Parker Filius had one of the biggest turnarounds of any wrestler in the country in 2019-20, improving from 9-20 in his freshman campaign to 19-10 last year, including an eighth-place finish at the Big Ten Championships and an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
• Sophomore Kendall Coleman also enters 2021 with top-five marks from various media outlets after a 29-8 rookie campaign.
• Coleman was the first freshman Big Ten finalist for Purdue since 1947, and just the second all-time for the Boilermakers, going on to earn the No. 6 seed at nationals.
• Coleman led Purdue with 97 takedowns in 2019-20.
• Emil Soehnlen was 9-6 at 165 pounds in 2019 before a season-ending injury at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational (hamstring).
• Soehnlen was ranked in various polls and reached the CKLV quarterfinals, in addition to a runner-up finish at the Michigan State Open.
• Sophomore Thomas Penola will move down to 197 pounds after qualifying for the NCAA Championships at heavyweight in 2019-20.
• Penola had a fourth-place finish at the 2020 U23 Freestyle Championships, including wins over 2020 All-Americans Jay Aiello and Nathan Traxler.
• Purdue will have at least five first-time starters Friday, including three true freshmen.
• The Boilermakers will wear a commemorative sticker on their headgear in 2021, honoring the late Morgan J. Burke, who served as Purdue’s Athletics Director for 23 years and passed away in 2020.
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