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GOLDANDBLACK EXPRESS • VOLUME 25, EXPRESS 19 • 29 BY TRAVIS BAUGH TBaugh@Purdue.edu F ew wrestling teams in the coun- try will endure a tougher four- week period than No. 21 Purdue recently experienced. The stretch that saw Purdue compete against six teams ranked in the top 20 concluded over the weekend with 24-9 and 21-9 losses to No. 4 Ohio State and No. 14 Illi- nois, respectively. "There's no doubt that those were two good teams, but I'm kind of left feeling like we had opportu- nities and we just didn't take advan- tage of all of the opportunities we had," Coach Tony Ersland said. "We started really slow against some good people and that was the dif- ference in the match. Overall, there were some good performances, but as a team, we need to get started a little sooner. That first period is put- ting us into some tough situations. We're definitely going to focus on coming out hard and establishing the tempo sooner." No. 14 Danny Sabatello (133) was one of the few exceptions to Ersland's concern. The junior jumped out to a 2-0 lead with a first period takedown to help him up- set No. 4 Zane Richards of Illinois. "For seven minutes I kept my nose down," Sabatel- lo said. "I'd like to think I stayed tough throughout the entire match. I stay focused the whole time. It was big to just see it all the way through. I like to score points first, and I think I did that. That was big. I kept it on and hung on for the win." Sabatello's tri - umph over Richards — his sixth of the sea- son against a ranked opponent — marked the highest-ranked opponent he's beaten in his Purdue career. He downplayed the significance of the victory, pointing out that he's been on the opposite side of upsets this season as well. "I wouldn't say it's too special," Sabatello said. "I don't look at rank- ings anymore, I don't do any of that stuff. I knew he was a good kid. If anything, it means I'm on a good game plan and I just have to stick to the course that the coaches have me on. I can't take too much from any match" Sabatello and Doug Welch led the way in Purdue defeating sev- en ranked opponents during the stretch. Welch (157) recorded vic- tories over No. 2 James Green of Nebraska and No. 7 Dylan Alton of Penn State, while Sa- batello knocked off No. 19 Dominick Malone of Northwestern and No. 7 Jimmy Guilbon of Penn State in addition to Sunday's win. Despite the upsets, Purdue went 1-5 during the stretch with its lone win coming in a 22-17 victory over No. 19 Northwestern 22-17. Ersland's squad failed to win more than three matches in losses to No. 12 Nebraska, No. 5 Penn State, Ohio State and Illinois. "I'm convinced our plan and our work ethic are right on track," Ersland said. "It's just some of these little details like getting started earlier, not giving up the first takedown, just establishing and dictating what's go - ing to happen in the match sooner. I feel like we're right there with the best people, and we've had some great individual per- formances, but as a team, we have to have all 10 guys firing on the same cylinder." Purdue concludes the Big Ten portion of its schedule with Michi- gan, which is 3-3 in conference du- als, and Michigan State and Indi- ana, which have yet to record a Big Ten win. "We're through the tough part of our schedule now," Bran- don Nelsen said. "We're starting to realize we can beat the guys that are No. 2, 4 and 8 in the county. We know we can get it done at Big Tens and NCAAs." ROBINSON MAKES WRESTLING DEBUT Gelen Robinson's debut in his third sport at Purdue was a suc- cessful one. Competing at 285 pounds for BIG TEN GRIND Boilermakers go 1-5 against top-20 opponents Purdue Brandon Nelsen improved to 18-9 Sunday with a win over Illlinois' Kyle Langenderfer, who beat Nelsen in November. Purdue Danny Sabatello holds a 13-2 dual record with a team-best 40 dual points.