Feb. 5, 1997

Purdue Ranked 21st by the Amateur Wrestling News

1996-97 RECORD: Purdue split a pair of Big Ten matches on Feb. 1 to bring their record to 13-3 and 1-2 in the Big Ten. The Boilermakers are currently ranked 21st by Amateur Wrestling News.

LAST TIME ON THE MAT: In the last bout of the match, sophomore David Pierce came through over Michigan State's heavyweight Marco Sanchez 9-5 to give the Boilermakers a 19-16 victory over the sixth-ranked Spartans. This was the Boilermakers' first Big Ten victory since Feb. 5, 1994 against Michigan, a span of 19 matches.

Pierce trailed throughout, but got a takedown to tie the match at three. Pierce was called for locked hands and Sanchez escaped as he went out of bounds to make the score 5-3. When action resumed, Pierce gained an impressive takedown and followed it up with a three-point nearfall to seal the match. The riding-time point posted the margin of victory.

Sophomore Jason Hayes scored a 13-3 major decision win over Jason Nusbaum at 126 pounds to give Purdue an early 4-3 lead. After Willie Wineberg was upset, Frank Laccone and James Leavell earned back-to-back wins. Junior Eric Douglas brought the crowd to its feet with a pin of Greg DeGrand at 3:59 to give the Boilers a commanding 16-6 lead. MSU fought back to tie it at 16 going into the heavyweight bout.

After the dramatic victory over sixth-ranked Michigan State earlier in the day, the Purdue wrestlers fell to the unranked Ohio State Buckeyes 18-16 in New Castle, Ind.

The match started well as Tim Dernlan and Josh Hutchens shutout their opponents to take a 7-0 lead. Losses by Willie Wineberg and James Leavell hurt the Boilermakers, but Purdue bounced back with wins by Eric Douglas and Dan Pleak to take a 16-6 lead. Eighth-ranked Mitch Clark got the Buckeyes going by pinning Mark Colegrove at 2:36 of the 177-pound match. Anthony Gary and Nick Nutter gained decisions over John Hansen and David Pierce to seal the win.

REYES' RECORD: Head coach Jessie Reyes is in his fifth season as the Boilermaker boss. His career mark of 52-43-2 places him third in all-time wins. Claude Reeck, who coached from 1937-69, is Purdue's winningest coach with 99 victories.

BRING ON THE BOYS OF THE GREAT LAKES STATE: The Boilers will face Eastern Michigan and Michigan on Feb. 8 at the IAF. The match against the Hurons will be at noon, while the Wolverines are up at 5:00 p.m.

QUOTING HEAD COACH JESSIE REYES: Beating Michigan State was a tremendous win for the program. They're ranked sixth in the country and have three guys ranked in the top four. Everyone wrestled well, and we didn't give up points that we shouldn't have. David (Pierce) was phenomenal. He wore his man down and got the takedowns in the third period. His confidence is way up, and I see him having an impact at Big Tens. Then we let down against Ohio State. We lost matches that we shouldn't have at 134 and 150. We didn't get after them and pick up our angles. We let them stay in it and it cost us.