Purdue’s Burgett offers advice for young wrestlers

Attitude & willingness to learn makes the difference

The REPORTER

Purdue wrestler Dominic Burgett learned something important at a young age: surround yourself with good people.

The Boilermakers redshirt freshman had a successful high school career at Hamilton Southeastern and is still in the beginning phases of his college journey. Reporter sports contributor Dwight Casler and his daughter Maelei Casler (serving as interpreter) caught up with Burgett on Jan. 17 during Purdue’s dual meet with Indiana, where he talked about how wrestling for the Royals prepared him for the Boilers’ program.

“I’d say being surrounded by coaches and players who are more than coaches and players and are actual friends, and encouraging me to reach my potential, even if it means saying things that I don’t want to hear,” said Burgett. “And I feel that has transcended from high school to college as well.”

As a Southeastern wrestler, Burgett finished with a career varsity record of 90-22. He won the Indiana Frosh-Soph state championship as a sophomore in 2021. During his senior year, Burgett won sectional, regional and semi-state titles at 285 pounds, and finished fourth at the IHSAA state finals.

Burgett was redshirted his freshman year, but not before competing in six matches. He lost all six of those matches, but four were by decision, including a couple of 2-1 results.

But that did not discourage Burgett, and it actually relates to advice he offered for young wrestlers.

“Be ready to fail and fail a lot, but be able to keep pushing forward through the failures,” said Burgett. “There’s no such thing as losing, as long as you take away something to learn.”

Burgett did not wrestle against the Hoosiers, as he is dealing with a knee injury. His first action of the season came during the Purdue Wrestle Offs, an intrasquad scrimmage in October. Burgett took on fellow 285-pounder Hayden Filipovich, a former Indianapolis Lutheran star who won an undefeated state championship at 195 pounds in 2021. The redshirt junior Filipovich edged out Burgett in a 2-0 decision.

Burgett did get to wrestle in the Michigan State Open on Nov. 9, where he finished 2-2. His first-ever win came over Northwestern’s Dirk Morley in a 7-3 decision, then he got a 19-4 technical fall over Michigan State’s Bennett Vandenberg.

Burgett is majoring in sales and said his career goal is to “get a job I like and eventually open up my own private firm.”

And while his career is still just beginning, Burgett already has a favorite memory.

“Summertime with the team, because a lot of us have to stay during the summer when campus is empty or quiet,” said Burgett. “Just being around my friends when there’s a lot of people here is just a fun thing to do around town.”