The Penn State wrestling team went through more than its share of ups and downs this weekend at the Cliff Keen/National Wrestling Coaches Association National Duals, but the final outcome was still better than expected.

The Nittany Lions, the only unranked team of the 16 competing, finished the meet in eighth place, losing the seventh place consolation match to Lehigh 28-6.

In their last two matches against the Mountain Hawks and Oklahoma, the Lions won just three individual matches. They were also dominated in their first match against Nebraska, losing 21-13, which eliminated them from championship competition.

The Lions high points, however, may prove to be huge stepping stones for the young squad. After defeating No. 12 Hofstra 20-12 in the first consolation round, they pulled off a shocking upset over No. 11 Arizona State in a true thriller of a match.

The Lions were down 16-7 going into the 184 pound match, when captain Jeff Knupp, ranked 12th at his weight came through with a 3-2 win over No. 19 ranked Sun Devil R.D. Purcell.

The Lions picked up momentum in the next match, when fifth year senior Dave Heckerd, wrestling in his first match of the day, came up with a second period pin.

He reversed control on Sun Devil Andy Swanson, flipped him onto the ground and got him on his back for the pin. This ignited applause the matside crowd and tied the match at 16.

"When I got him on his back, the adrenaline kind of took over," Heckerd said. "The grip tightened, and I got the pin. I just went out there and wrestled. I was just trying to win the match, but things happened, and I got a big win."

This gave heavyweight Bob Jones the opportunity to win the match with a victory against No. 15 ranked Sun Devil Kellan Fluckiger.

Fluckiger led 3-2 after two periods, and had Jones wrapped up for much of the third. Jones tied the match, with 1:15 left, getting a point for stalling by Fluckiger.

After being tied up for almost the entire period, with breaks for injury timeouts for Fluckiger, Jones got an escape and a takedown at the buzzer to win the match and the meet for the Lions, and caused the fans to erupt.

"My mind just went blank when I went out there," Jones said. "He was a pretty tough kid, I haven't ever been lifted like that, but I just kept thinking to have heart. This was just unbelievable."

Penn State's win over Hofstra was highlighted by impressive victories by redshirt freshman Marat Tomaev and sophomore Doc Vecchio.

Tomaev defeated No. 4 ranked Roman Fleszar at 133 pounds in a 9-7 decision, and Vecchio beat No. 9 ranked Noel Thompson at 165 pounds.

The Lions were not able to take the momentum from those two wins on to the matches against Oklahoma and Lehigh.

Redshirt sophomore Nate Parker had Penn State's only victory in the Oklahoma meet, and only redshirt sophomore Mark Becks and Tomaev got wins against Lehigh, a week after they upset the Mountain Hawks at Rec Hall.

Coach Troy Sunderland was not very pleased with the way the Lions wrestled in their last two meets, and was unhappy with a show of unsportsmanlike conduct that cost the Lions a point in the Lehigh meet, but overall he saw Penn State's performance as a positive.

"I have to be pleased with placing after coming into this meet unranked," Sunderland said. "We showed a lack of discipline in the last meet, and we needed to wrestle with a lot more intensity, but we did show a lot of improvement. Tomaev stepped up with a win over the No. 4 wrestler in the country at his weight."

"We just have to keep going out and wrestle as best we can with the kids we've got, and we need to keep making technical improvements. We've got a lot of work still to do before we get back where we need to be."