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Logan Brown shakes hands with Purdue Coach, Scott Hinkle.
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DECEMBER 5, 2009 - LAS VEGAS
Purdue junior wrestler and 2006 Covington graduate Logan Brown took fifth place at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational this weekend to improve to 15-3 on the season.
Still, he wasn't happy with his performance.
"I expected to do better," Brown said of his fifth place finish. "Yeah, I was seeded fifth, but I expected to finish higher than that."
Brown, the fifth seed in the tournament and the #13 ranked 197 pounder in the nation, had a successful opening day with three straight wins.
He opened with an impressive 8-3 victory over Vince Bordi of San Francisco State and followed with a 3-2 victory over Matt Powless of Indiana to set up a showdown with a familiar nemesis, #9 ranked and fourth seed Jesse Strawn of Old Dominican in the Quarterfinals.
Strawn had beaten Brown 12-6 three years ago at Senior Nationals and 4-2 last season, but Brown turned the tables this time around with a thrilling 2-1 victory.
"It was sweet," Brown said of his victory over Strawn. "I took him down early and that was the difference."
This set up another big rematch for Brown as he will face #2 ranked and top seed Craig Brester of Nebraska in the Semi-final. Brester defeated Logan in Vegas last year and was runner-up at the NCAA tournament a year ago.
This time the Purdue wrestler couldn't turn the tables on Brester and was caught in an arm bar and turned for the fall.
"He's good and he caught me," Brown explained. "I thought I was ready to wrestle, but I wasn't. He caught me off guard a little bit with a shot and that's my fault."
Brown dropped into the consolation bracket and suffered another setback with a 6-2 decision loss to the fifth ranked wrestler in the nation, Cameron Simaz of Cornell.
"That's the match that bothers me," Logan said. "I felt I should have wrestled much better than that."
Still, Brown closed out the day by taking fifth as Anthony Biondo of Michigan was forced to medical forfeit.
"The good thing is, I know where I'm at," Brown said after the tournament. "I'm know I'm right there (with the top 197 pounders in the nation). I'll go back to work and get ready for the Big Ten."
First, Brown and the Boilermakers host the Purdue Duals on December 20th.
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