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GOLD AND BLACK ILLUSTRATED VOLUME 28, ISSUE 2 103 S enior Luke Welch, redshirt freshman Griffin Parriott and incoming freshmen Max Lyon and Parker Filius all won national wrestling titles between April and July. That could be nice foreshadowing for the future of Purdue's program. If nothing else, a collection of offseason national ti- tles has fourth-year coach Tony Ersland extremely ex- cited for his team's prospects in 2017-18 ... and beyond. "I think it really lends credibility to your message as a coach because we've been talking about for a while: 'Lis- ten, we have national champions in this room,'" Ersland said. "You know that while kids are buying in and doing the right things, it makes it a lot easier when you see that result in wins. "That helps us with the young kids, (realizing) 'If I fol- low directions and do what I'm asked and compete the way we talk about, then I'm going to get my hand raised.' And that confidence is huge." Ersland knows the Boilermakers are ultimately judged on their success at the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments in March, but he and his staff take note of every milestone or marker along the way as they try to build a champion- ship program. Vegas, Akron, Fargo. Each of the different national tournaments his wrestlers have excelled in recently can be stepping stones toward East Lansing and Cleveland (sites of the Big Ten/NCAA championships), and that's Championship Momentum Purdue Luke Welch is the last of the Welch trio and one of just two seniors on the roster. BY TIM CARY Special to Gold and Black Illustrated