Quiroga’s achievement gives the Boilermakers their fourth all-academic honoree for the 2009-10 season, tying for the most by any school in NCAA Division I. The Purdue quartet matches five other institutions, including Big Ten rival Ohio State University. The rest of the list is made up of American, Edinboro, Chattanooga and future conference foe Nebraska. Quiroga is the second Purdue rookie to earn first-year honors in the three-year history of the award, joining junior teammate A.J. Kissel.
The Boilermakers have had two exciting announcement in regards to the 2010-11 roster, receiving a medical hardship from the NCAA and adding another member to this year’s already outstanding recruiting class. Senior Sam Patacsil will have one more chance to add to the family legacy as he is the beneficiary of an extra year of eligibility due to major injuries in his collegiate career. Patacsil is 38-22 (after the removal of limited stats in 2008-09 due to the medical redshirt) in his career, including an 18-11 mark at 149 and 157 pounds last season. He joined his father, Frank Patacsil, and brother, Jake Patacsil, on the Boilermakers’ single-season and career record lists for back points last year, posting 79 on the season (12th in single-season history) and 141 for his career, tied for ninth all-time.
Fort Wayne, Ind. native Brock Norton is the latest Boilermaker signee, signing a national letter of intent and ready to join the squad this fall. Norton won the 2010 Indiana High School State Championship at 135 pounds, finishing the year a flawless 39-0 at Carroll High School. He’s the second 2010 state champion to sign with the Boilermakers, joining Lawrence North High School’s Brandon Nelsen, and is projected to wrestle at 141 for the Old Gold and Black.
While the Boilermakers have a pair of solid additions in Patacsil in Norton, they suffered a loss in the departure of three-year assistant coach Glen Lanham. Lanham left West Lafayette this summer, accepting an assistant coaching position at Duke University under head coach Clar Anderson. The move is a homecoming of sorts for Lanham, who came to the Boilermakers from North Carolina in 2007. Purdue is currently still in the search process for an assistant coach and will announce the new hire when the decision is reached by the coaching staff and administration.
The Boilermakers have announced their 2010-11 schedule as well in the past few weeks, putting together one of their most impressive lineup of opponents and events in school history. Purdue opens its season at Edinboro on Nov. 6, where the Boilermakers will face the host Fighting Scots and Hofstra University, kicking off the year with a dual bout for the first time since 2004-05. Those will be followed by Michigan State’s annual open tournament on Nov. 13 and a dual contest with Calumet College of St. Joseph on Nov. 20, before the Boilermakers head back to the desert for the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational on Dec. 3-4. Purdue welcomes perennial Big 12 power Missouri to Holloway Gymnasium for its home opener on Dec. 12, and opens the Big Ten Dual schedule the following weekend, heading to Champaign, Ill., for a contest with the Fighting Illini on Dec. 19.
Purdue will skip the Midlands Championships for the first time since 2004, replacing the event with one of greater prestige in the 2011 NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals. It will be the Boilermakers’ third trip in school history to the outstanding event, returning after back-to-back invitations in 1992 and 1993. This year’s field is as loaded as ever, currently projected to feature Boise State, Central Michigan, Cornell, Iowa State, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio State, Oregon State, Northern Iowa, Virginia Tech and Wisconsin.
The Boilermakers restart the conference schedule at Michigan on Jan. 14, followed by a non-conference spat with Kent State and Ashland at the Wendy’s Classic in Ashland, Ohio the next day. The remainder of the slate rolls out in Big Ten fashion with contests at Northwestern and Wisconsin, at home against Minnesota, Michigan State and Indiana and Purdue’s second straight neutral-turf bout with defending national champion Iowa.
The Purdue wrestlers report to campus with the rest of the student body in late August and will officially begin practice in October.
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