Nick Purdue starts trek back to NCAA championships
Ohio University red-shirt junior wrestler Nick Purdue (Genoa) is picked to finish second in the 174 pound weight class in the Mid-American Conference.

Last year, he made an appearance at the NCAA Championships, earning a win over Cal State Bakersfield's Michael Larson en route to finishing 1-2, finished second at the Reno Tournament of Champions and sixth at both the Hokie Open and Southern Scuffle.

Ohio tied for third in this season’s Mid-American Conference preseason poll released by the league office. The Bobcats were predicted to finish ahead of Eastern Michigan and Northern Illinois. At the top of the rankings were Central Michigan and Kent State, while Buffalo's 15 points equaled that of the Bobcats 

Purdue picked up a pair of victories in a tri-match, but it wasn't enough as the Bobcats dropped a pair of one-point decisions to Army (19-18) and Binghamton (17-16). Purdue defeated Army's Collin Wittmeyer 2-0 at 174 pounds and then knocked off Binghamton's Ryan McGarity 9-3.

Purdue placed fourth at the Reno Tournament of Champions. Purdue knocked off John Makabe of MNSU-Mankato, Cody McAninch of Northern Colorado, Andre Petrosky of North Carolina and Matt DeMichiel of Navy. The Bobcats finished fifth in the team standings with 82.5 points.

Ohio impressively dispatched Millersville and Lock Haven by a combined score of 81-9 in a pair of dual meets as Purdue won twice. He won a 14-5 major decision over Millersville’s Shane Smith and followed with another major decision, this time 12-1, over Lock Haven’s Mike Khoury.

The Ohio wrestling squad took part in both the open and freshman/sophomore brackets of the Michigan State Open and came away with three individual titles and eight top-six finishers as Purdue finished second in the 174-lb. open division.

His sophomore season, Purdue was All-MAC honorable mention, posting a 28-12 record and finishing second at the MAC championships.

Last year, Purdue compiled a dual meet record of 11-2 and a tournament record of 17-10 to rank second on the team for most wins. He led the team with the most bonus point victories with 12, including five pins, five major decisions and two technical falls and put together a ten-bout winning streak from December 4-20.

Purdue finished his redshirt freshman season with a mark of 18-13, tied for the second-most wins on the team. He compiled a 16-10 record at 174 pounds and went 2-3 at 184, and then placed fourth at the MAC Championships at 174. He won first place in the freshman/sophomore division at the Michigan State Open, placed fifth at the Reno Tournament of Champions, going 6-2. That first season, Purdue posted a 6-7 record in duals, including a 2-1 mark in league action. He was named Co-MAC Wrestler of the Week on Dec. 23 and finished 12-6 overall in tournament competition.

In 2007-08, Purdue posted a 14-5 record wrestling unattached while redshirting his freshman season. That included tallying a 5-1 record at the Michigan State Open to take third place, and he also placed third at the Kent State Open.

At Genoa, Purdue had a 161-17 career record and was a two-time state champion, two-time district champion, four-time sectional champion, and three-time Suburban Lakes League champion.

Kim Meyer starts
As a 5-foot-4 freshman guard at Bluffton University, Kim Meyer (Lake) has seen action in five games and even started in two games.

She is averaging 20.8 minutes and 2.8 points per game and has four defensive rebounds, 10 assists, four 3-point goals, and six steals. Bluffton is 4-5 overall heading into the holiday break.

Five-foot-11 sophomore guard Jason Faykosh (Eastwood) has seen action in two games for the Ohio Northern University varsity basketball team, but is currently sitting out with an injury. In those games, he averaged six minutes, scored two points, ONU is 5-5 overall and 3-3 in the Ohio Athletic Conference.

Brittney Saull (Clay) is a senior member of the Adrian College cheerleading team. Adrian attended the NCA (National Cheerleaders Association) Collegiate Camp in Louisville, Kentucky last summer, and since Adrian was the only Division III school in attendance, they were required to compete as a Small Co-ed D-II team against other Division II and NAIA teams.

The Bulldogs still brought home first place honors with second place going to Ferris State University and third place to Vincennes University. The AC Cheer Team qualified to attend the NCA College Nationals in Daytona Beach, FL in April 2011.

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