In the end, it was Penn State edging Iowa, 139-138, for the team title on Sunday. The Nittany Lions went a perfect five for five in the finals and picked up a much-needed bonus point win in a fifth-place match.
"We're happy," said Penn State coach Cael Sanderson, who was named Big Ten Coach of the Year. "Yesterday we were down 20-something points. We just said we have to keep fighting, keep hustling. Whoever wants it is going to get it. These guys went out and did it. I'm real proud of them."
Winning individual titles for the Nittany Lions were Andrew Long (133), Frank Molinaro (149), David Taylor (157), Ed Ruth (174), and Quentin Wright (184).
Long, an NCAA runner-up last at 125 pounds for Iowa State, faced Wisconsin's Tyler Graff in the finals and gave up an early takedown. Long added an escape in each of the first two periods to knot the score at 2-2 heading into the third period. Graff picked up an escape and held a 3-2 lead late into the third period. But Long stayed aggressive and eventually scored a point from a fleeing the mat call to tie the match at 3-3 and send it into sudden victory. Long picked up a takedown just 18 seconds into the sudden victory period and added two nearfall points to win 7-3.
"It feels really good," said Long. "Coming from Big 12s it's a little different atmosphere. But still the same goal in mind. It's good to get that first victory and that big title under your belt."
It was the second meeting between the two wrestlers this season. Long won the first meeting 12-5 on Feb. 18. Long said Graff used a different tactic the second time around to keep the match closer.
"He just stayed away from me," said Long. "He kept running the whole match. You could see that I had to chase him down. They didn't want anything to do with me in the tie-ups or even in the match. It was just cat and mouse for seven minutes."
Molinaro earned his title with a 3-0 shutout victory over sixth-seeded Eric Grajales of Michigan. Grajales picked up a takedown in the first period and added an escape while shutting down Grajales' offense.
"Overall, I was happy," said Molinaro, who improved to 28-2 this season. "I didn't give up a point the whole tournament. That was one of my goals coming in, to go unscored on. So I've got to be happy with that."
It was Molinaro's third victory over Grajales this season. Grajales, a four-time Junior & Cadet National champion in Fargo, has proven to be a big-move wrestler, so Molinaro wanted to stay solid.
"I think his game plan, his coaches, want to keep it close, kind of lure me to sleep, and then hit me with a big throw, big move, big momentum swing," said Molinaro. "So I just wanted to stay solid."
Taylor, a redshirt freshman, captured his first Big Ten title with an 8-3 victory over another redshirt freshman, Iowa's Derek St. John, 8-3. St. John scored the first takedown to go up 2-0, but Taylor stayed aggressive the entire match, picking up a takedown in each of the three periods to win and improve to 34-0 this season. It was only the second match all season in which Taylor has not picked up bonus points.
"I've just got to keep attacking," said Taylor, who was named Big Ten Wrestler of the Year and Big Ten Freshman of the Year. "It's just one step towards nationals. Since the beginning of the season guys have been really trying to slow me down and I've tried to continue working more and more on my shots, attacks, putting things together ... two, three setups, two, three shots, which take the good guys down."
With Taylor going undefeated and dominating his competition en route to winning a Big Ten title, he has put himself in a position to earn one of the top seeds at 157 pounds at the NCAA Championships in Philadelphia. Two other wrestlers in his weight class, Steve Fittery of American and Adam Hall of Boise State, are also undefeated this season. Both Fittery and Hall are returning All-Americans. The weight class also includes Taylor's former teammate at Penn State, Bubba Jenkins, a 2008 NCAA runner-up who is now at Arizona State.
"I think I've got an argument to be No. 1 seed at nationals," said Taylor. "Whatever happens, though, I've got to wrestle whoever I step on the mat against."
Taylor wasn't the only freshman on his team to win a Big Ten title. His teammate, Ed Ruth, captured the title at 174 pounds with an 8-5 victory over Ohio State's Nick Heflin. Ruth used a second period cradle, which nearly resulted in a pin, to break the match open.
Ruth said seeing his teammates win titles gave him motivation to do the same.
"When I see all these guys from my team that are winning, it gives me a real big boost," said Ruth, who improved to 32-1 this season. "When I go out there, I just want to beat my guy and join the rest of the winner's circle."
Penn State's fifth Big Ten champion, Quentin Wright, was the surprise of the tournament. Wright entered the tournament as the No. 8 seed at 184 pounds after losing his final three matches of the regular season. He avenged two losses on Saturday by beating the No. 1 and No. 5 seeds. On Sunday, Wright avenged another loss by edging second-seeded Kevin Steinhaus of Minnesota, 4-3. Steinhaus won the first meeting, 10-1, on Feb. 13.
"That's what I dreamed about for the past three months," said Wright, who was named Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament. "It didn't look it. It didn't feel like it most of the way through the season. Don't ever give up on your dreams. Don't ever give up on yourself. Make sure the people around you are building you and keep yourself built up and then your dreams will come true."
A pair of returning NCAA champions, Matt McDonough of Iowa (125) and Andrew Howe of Wisconsin (165), captured Big Ten titles on Sunday.
McDonough won a hard fought match, 3-1, over Northwestern's Brandon Precin. The Hawkeye sophomore trailed 1-0 after two periods, but picked up an escape and takedown off a scramble in the third period to pull out the victory.
It was the third meeting between the two wrestlers this season. Precin won the first meeting, but McDonough has now won the last two.
It feels good, but it's just one more big match in preparation for the ultimate goal," said McDonough. "It just builds more confidence going into that postseason. Peaking every day. So tomorrow's got to be a better day."
Howe, who missed part of January and all of February because of a knee injury, defeated Ohio State's Colt Sponseller, 3-1, in sudden victory in a rematch of last year's Big Ten final at 165 pounds. He was also a big Ten champion two seasons ago as a freshman. Howe scored a takedown with just six seconds remaining in the sudden victory period.
"For the most part I had a pretty good tournament after coming back from that injury," said Howe, who became the first Badger since Donny Pritzlaff (1999-2001) to win three Big Ten titles.
Howe is expected to be the No. 2 seed at the NCAA Championships behind Nebraska's Jordan Burroughs, the wrestler who defeated him in the finals of the Midlands Championships and snapped his 51-match winning streak.
How is looking forward to the possibility of facing Burroughs in Philadelphia.
"I've been thinking about it constantly since (Midlands)," said Howe. "It would be great. I would love to even the score. Hopefully we run into each other in Philly."
Howe's wasn't the only wrestler to win his third Big Ten title. Michigan's Kellen Russell claimed his third conference title with an 8-4 decision over 2010 Big Ten champion Mike Thorn of Minnesota. It was Russell's third victory over Thorn this season.
Five of the nation's top seven 141-pounders, including the top four, are from the Big Ten. Russell feels that having to battle the nation's best on a regular basis will give him an edge over other wrestlers from outside the conference at the NCAA Championships.
"There's not a conference out there that has as many tough guys as the Big Ten right now," said Russell, who is undefeated on the season at 33-0. "We're all beating each other up right now. But those guys aren't used to this kind of competition. Hopefully when it gets late in matches like that they're not going to be used to grinding it out like we are."
Wisconsin's Trevor Brandvold repeated as Big Ten champion at 197 pounds. He defeated Iowa's Luke Lofthouse, 5-2. The Badgers finished fourth in the team standings, six points behind third-place Minnesota and 35.5 points behind champion Penn State. Wisconsin finished fourth at the NCAA Championships. Brandvold feels the Badgers could do as well or better this season.
"As a team, we have a lot of guys that can do some damage, so hopefully we can rack up the team points there," said Brandvold.
Blake Rasing of Iowa captured the Big Ten title at heavyweight with a 5-2 victory over Minnesota's Tony Nelson. Rasing used a third period takedown and two nearfall points to pull away for the victory.
Team Standings:
1. Penn State 139
2. Iowa 138
3. Minnesota 109.5
4. Wisconsin 103.5
5. Michigan 86.5
6. Illinois 64
7. Northwestern 62
8. Ohio State 57
9. Purdue 51
10. Indiana 50
11. Michigan State 49.5
Finals:
125: No. 1 Matt McDonough (Iowa) dec. No. 2 Brandon Precin (Northwestern), 3-1
133: No. 1 Andrew Long (Penn State) dec. No. 2 Tyler Graff (Wisconsin), 7-3 SV
141: No. 1 Kellen Russell (Michigan) dec. No. 3 Mike Thorn (Minnesota), 8-4
149: No. 1 Frank Molinaro (Penn State) dec. No. 6 Eric Grajales (Michigan), 3-0
157: No. 1 David Taylor (Penn State) dec. No. 2 Derek St. John (Iowa), 8-3
165: No. 1 Andrew Howe (Wisconsin) dec. No. 2 Colt Sponseller (Ohio State), 3-1 SV
174: No. 1 Ed Ruth (Penn State) dec. No. 2 Nick Heflin (Ohio State), 8-5
184: No. 8 Quentin Wright (Penn State) dec. No. 2 Kevin Steinhaus (Minnesota), 4-3
197: No. 1 Trevor Brandvold (Wisconsin) dec. No. 2 Luke Lofthouse (Iowa), 5-2
285: No. 3 Blake Rasing (Iowa) def. No. 4 Tony Nelson (Minnesota), 5-2
Not every significant match happened in finals
Not every significant match took place in the finals. There were several third-place battles that featured returning All-Americans, upset specialists and unseeded underdogs.
At 141 pounds, returning All-American and No. 4 seed Jimmy Kennedy of Illinois got out to a 5-1 lead on No. 2 and returning NCAA runner-up Montell Marion of Iowa thanks to a couple textbook powerful double leg takedowns.
A Marion escape early in the third period cut Kennedy's lead to 6-5, but the Illinois senior got a leg on the edge, then switched to a double in the middle of the mat to seal the deal.
"I was able to finish a lot of times I got in," Kennedy says. "As long as I could capitalize on his aggressiveness, I knew I'd be OK. Either the championship or the third place match could have been a final.
The dual for third place at 149 pounds between No. 2 Andrew Nadir of Northwestern and No. 3 Kurt Kinser of Indiana was choppy thanks to continual blood time for Nadir.
Kinser fought off continual Nadir shots until the third period. The relentless front headlocks by Kinser wore down Nadir. In that final frame, Kinser escaped quickly, then
In the overtime, Kinser again locked his hands, then spun around behind for a 6-4, come-from-behind overtime decision and a third-place finish.
"My style is to grind people out, and that was a grinder victory," Kinser said. "With those front headlocks, you just have to get your on him and then eventually break him. Once you break their base, you just whip behind [your opponent]."
The Hoosier's senior now shifts his focus to his fourth straight NCAA Championships, knowing that it will take wrestling a full match in Philly to finally earn All-American status.
"The stuff that dogged me in my loss is the same stuff that has dogged me for awhile," Kinser said. "Just wrestling a full seven minute go, not having that mental lag that catches you off guard."
Michigan State 197-pounder Tyler Dickenson (22-15), who has dealt with inconsistency all season, was the only unseeded wrestler who finished in the top six.
The junior St. John's High grad took down three seeded wrestlers before finally falling in a 6-2 decision to fourth-seeded Matt Powless of Indiana to finish in fourth place and seal a trip to his first NCAAs.
"I'm pretty happy with my overall tournament," Dickenson said. "I did a good job of clearing my head and forgetting about the past and [my opponent], and just getting after it."
Few third-place finishers had a better tournament than Wisconsin's Eric Bugenhagen. After losing to eventual champion Blake Rasing, the senior bounced back to go 5-1 overall, upsetting second-seeded Ricardo Alcala of Indiana and top-seeded Cameron Wade of Penn State in the process.
In the third place match, Bugenhagen took down seventh-seeded Joe Rizqallah of Michigan State twice in the first period and cruised to a 6-1 decision to advance to his first NCAA Tournament.
"It was a rough start against Iowa," Bugenhagen says, "but I feel like I wrestled some of my best matches all year at this tournament. I feel like I'm peaking at the right time."
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