Purdue to face top-ranked
teams in weekend meets
By Mike Urena
Staff Writer
The Purdue wrestling team isn’t too thrilled
about the idea of having a schedule that puts them back-to-back against
the No. 1 and No. 3 teams in the nation.
"We have to look at this as an opportunity to wrestle
the best," Purdue coach Jessie Reyes said. "We have to go out there
and wrestle and let everything fall into place."
No. 3 Iowa will visit the Boilers tonight at the
Intercollegiate Athletic Facility. The Boilers will then travel to Minnesota
Saturday for a meet with the No. 1 Golden Gophers. Both meets will begin
at 7 p.m.
Reyes said Purdue is going to match up better against
Iowa than Minnesota. The Hawkeyes have wrestlers ranked No. 1 in the
133-, 141-, and 157-pound weight classes, and a No. 2 ranked wrestler
in the 125-pound class.
"Iowa shut us out last year (42-0), so it would
be nice to score some points on them," Reyes said. "There's also motivation
to score points on Minnesota since they are the No. 1 team in the nation."
Jason Silverstein, (15-3) and ranked No. 9 at 125
pounds, will go up against No. 2 Jody Strittmatter of Iowa and will
travel to Minnesota to wrestle No. 3 Leroy Vega.
"He matches up really well with them," Reyes said.
"If he allows Vega or Strittmatter to slow him down, he will get in
trouble."
The former All-American isn't too worried about
his performance. Although Vega (18-4) beat Silverstein twice when the
two were freshmen, Silverstein is positive about his chances and has
a different attitude about Vega this time around.
"I feel I'm in better shape now," Silverstein said.
"I'm more confident than I was back then."
Reyes said Silverstein has to be careful when he
takes his shots against Iowa's Strittmatter because of the reigning
Big Ten champ's height and reach advantage over Silverstein.
"I'm not to worried about it," Silverstein said.
"I like to think that all of the pressure is on them."
At 133 pounds, No. 9 Evan Robinson (16-2) will
have a chance to unseat Iowa's Eric Jeurgen (17-1) and will face No.
3 Brett Lawrence of Minnesota.
At 174 pounds, No. 19 Ryan Lange (21-5) will face
No. 4 Gabe McMahan of Iowa and No. 14 Matt Kraft of Minnesota.
"If Lange gets a win against Iowa and Minnesota,
it will help even more with his ranking," Reyes said.
A former teammate of Kraft's at Palmer (Alaska)
High School, Purdue 197-pounder John Bush is on the rebound after losing
two of his first Big Ten matches of the season. Bush (13-4) will enter
both contests hoping for a couple of wins against Iowa's Ryan Fulsaas
(5-12) and No. 9 Owen Elzen (14-0) of Minnesota.
At Heavyweight, Jake Vercelli will face either
Randy Fulsaas (7-10) or Josh Liddle (7-15) against Iowa. Vercelli will
then prepare himself for Saturday's match with No. 5 Garrett Lowney
of Minnesota, who was a silver medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling.
"He is not going to look past this guy and worry
that he is a silver medalist," Reyes said. "We all have to just go out
there and wrestle what we have been working on."
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