Happy Valley is not so happy today.
The Penn State wrestling team suffered a major loss in its home opener despite winning 26-9 over Indiana on Sunday at Rec Hall.
Even more unsettling for the Nittany Lions was that 184-pounder and No. 10 Mark Becks underwent surgery last night on his knee.
The severity of the injury still remains unknown, but Penn State coach Troy Sunderland tries to remain optimistic.
"It's believed that he has a torn meniscus," Sunderland said.
"Best-case scenario, he'll be out three or four weeks, if all that has to be done is to have it scoped."
Becks suffered the injury at the end of the second period against No. 2 Viktor Sveda and reaggravated it Monday night during practice.
His knee locked for the second time in as many days.
Penn State will replace Becks in the lineup with sophomore Curt Thompson.
Mocco keeps on Rowlands
No. 2 Ohio State (15-1) and No. 3 Iowa (11-2) squared off Friday night, and the match came down to the final bout, one that featured two ranked wrestlers.
Ohio State's No. 3 Tommy Rowlands needed only a decision over No. 1 Steve Mocco for the Buckeyes to remain perfect on the season as they trailed by two.
The match went into overtime tied at one. Both wrestlers exchanged taking shots in the extra session.
With 26 seconds remaining, Mocco recorded a takedown and won the bout 3-1.
"We lost a very close dual tonight that we could have won but it slipped away from us," Ohio State coach Russ Hellickson said in a press release. "I hated to see Tommy lose but he will learn from it as will the team.
"I wanted to see us win this one to keep the momentum going but now we have to regroup."
Spartans post a Goose Egg
No. 13 Michigan State (3-5) had a tough opening weekend of the Big Ten season, losing a pair of dual meets.
Friday, the Spartans fell to No. 20 Purdue (12-2), 24-10. Michigan State won three consecutive bouts at 141, 149 and 157 pounds, the only three they won on the weekend. No. 1 Minnesota won all 10 bouts on Sunday against the Spartans, 37-0. The Golden Gophers' No. 5 Garret Lowney tallied the only fall on the afternoon over Michael Kennan.
"Although the score doesn't indicate it, we gave a tremendous effort and learned a lot from this match," Michigan State coach Tom Minkel said in a press release. "Minnesota is a great team. Now, we just have to extend ourselves on a more physical level the rest of the season."
Sveda sets record
Wisconsin lost a pair of Big Ten dual matches, with a pair of out-of-conference wins sandwiched in the middle this weekend.
On Friday night, Wisconsin's No. 14 Ralph DeNisco knocked off No. 2 Sveda, 5-4. Sveda won a pair of matches Saturday by pinfall, giving him a 135 career wins, an Indiana record. He passed former record holder Roger Chandler, who wore the Indiana singlet from 1994-1997.
Conference stars shine
Five Big Ten wrestlers won at the All-Star Classic Monday night on the campus of Hofstra University. The winners included Iowa's No. 1 Mike Zadick at 149 pounds over Lock Haven's No. 3 Jamarr Billman. At 165-pounds, the Illini's No. 3 Matt Lackey beat Oklahoma State's No. 2 Tyrone Lewis.
Michigan's duo of Otto Olsen and Andy Hrovat won back-to-back decisions at 174 and 184 pounds, respectively. In a battle of Big Ten stars, Rowlands knocked off Illinois's John Lockhart, 5-2.
Iowa State's Cael Sanderson improved his record to 146-0 with a win over Lehigh's Jon Trenge, and his third victory at the All-Star Classic.
