The Boilermakers were the second-highest Big Ten team in the field, finishing behind eighth-ranked Minnesota, but ahead of No. 3 Ohio State, No. 7 Illinois, No. 11 Wisconsin, No. 12 Michigan and No. 19 Indiana. Purdue also finished ahead of 10th-ranked Lehigh, No. 14 Boise State and 23rd-ranked Penn. Sixth-ranked Nebraska dominated the event, racking up 123.5 points en route to the team title, with a pair of individual champions. No. 4 Cornell was second, scoring 91 points, while Minnesota was third with 89 points, Pittsburgh placed fourth with 85 and Purdue rounded out the top five.
Patacsil was the comeback kid on Saturday, rallying from behind in all three of his matches to secure the bronze medal at 149 pounds. After taking a medical forfeit from Boise State's Jason Chamberlain to open the day, Patacsil squared off with 11th-ranked Matt Kyler of Army in the consolation quarterfinals. Kyler used reversals in the first and second periods to mount a 4-2 lead, but a pair of late nearfalls swung the score five points Purdue's way and Patacsil escaped with the 7-4 decision. No. 14 Cesar Grajales of Penn led through two periods in similar fashion in the consolation semifinals, taking Patacsil down twice in the first frame and notching a stalling point in the second. However, Patacsil took the top position in the final period, trailing 5-3, and scored a three-point nearfall and 1:27 of riding time to notch the 7-6 win. Patacsil met sixth-ranked and third-seeded Kyle Ruschell of Wisconsin in the bronze-medal match, and like the two before it, fell behind early. A two-point takedown and more than two minutes of riding time gave Ruschell the early advantage, but a flurry of action on the mat in the second led to a Patacsil lead. Starting on top, Patacsil turned the Badger for two points, before consecutive reversals made the score 4-4. Once back in control, Patacsil tilted his foe for three more points, finishing the second frame with a 7-4 edge. Ruschell selected a neutral start in the third and took advantage with a quick takedown to make it 7-6. His staggering riding-time count virtually made the score 7-7 as the end of regulation neared, but Patacsil closed out his third-period heroics of the day with his sixth reversal of the tournament to earn the medal and 9-7 victory.
Manuel bounced back from Friday night's quarterfinal loss on Saturday as he blanked Indiana's Paul Young, 6-0, to start the day, and edged out Lehigh's Mike Galante, 4-3 on a riding-time point. A medical forfeit by 14th-ranked Andy Rendos of Bucknell moved Manuel into the consolation finals, but he was stopped short of third place by second-seeded and fourth-ranked Stephen Dwyer of Nebraska, 4-0.
Brown rolled through the first day of the tournament with a pair of decisions and a medical forfeit, but stalled against second-seeded and third-ranked Craig Brester of Nebraska in the semifinals on Saturday. He bounced back with a hard-fought 5-4 decision over Cornell's Cam Simaz in the consolation semifinals, advancing to the bronze-medal bout, but was denied the neckwear by ninth-seeded Riley Orozco of California State Bakersfield in a 7-3 consolation final loss.
Kissel completed the tournament with a 4-2 record, including a trio of pins. After Friday's 3-0 mark, Kissel opened Saturday's competition with a 5-0 loss to top-seeded and fourth-ranked Louis Caputo of Harvard. He then dropped a controversial 7-5 decision to Michigan's Anthony Biondo, but rebounded in the fifth-place match to stick Tim Hawkins of California State Fullerton in 2:31 to close out the weekend. Kissel is now all alone in fifth all-time at Purdue with 28 falls, and has nine pins this season, good for a tie for 16th in single-season school history.
Junior heavyweight Chris Kasten finished just one win shy of the podium, scoring a 3-2 mark on the weekend and finishing in the top-12 of the tournament. He bounced back from a tournament-opening loss to win three straight matches on Friday, but ran into top-seeded and third-ranked Kyle Massey of Wisconsin in the fourth-round of the consolation bracket and suffered a 5-1 loss.
The Boilermakers wait to see if their outstanding performance will cash in dividends in Tuesday's new national team poll as they've received votes in the first five this season, but hope to break into the top-25. They return to action in two weeks as they'll travel to both Cincinnati and Cleveland to face Mount Saint Joseph and Notre Dame College on Dec. 21.
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