After hoping to qualify six or seven wrestlers last week before heading to Champaign, Ill., Penn State wrestling coach Troy Sunderland was pleased with his squad when seven of the 10 grabbed spots.

"I was very pleased with how we performed," Sunderland said.

"The only thing we didn't do is to step up and beat someone who we were close to and had a chance to. (Mark) Becks vs. (Viktor) Sveda and (James) Woodall vs. (Ryan) Bertin were two examples. Overall, I am very pleased with seven."

The Nittany Lions were led by upperclassmen at the Big Ten Championships. The senior class posted a mark of 4-2 as the Lions only had one senior competing in Pete Mielnik. The junior trio compiled winning record and an overall mark of 6-4, led by tri-captain Doc Vecchio, who won half of the matches.

Penn State sophomores had an up and down tournament but in the end broke even at six up and six down.

The freshman struggled, only winning a single bout of the seven.

"It's is real hard to prepare for the caliber of opponents you'll see (at Big Tens) the first year or two," Sunderland said. "Statistically, freshmen and sophomores usually struggle at Big Ten, and both juniors and seniors do much better."

Adam Smith lost a pair of matches to returning All-Americans. In the opener, he lost to Michigan's A.J. Grant 13-3, and in his second bout he dropped a decision to Michigan State's Chris Williams. Sunderland recognized that Smith worked hard and continued to battle the more experienced wrestlers.

The only freshman to post a victory was seventh seeded Woodall. He defeated Indiana's Rocky Mantella, 7-2, before dropping a very tough match to Michigan's Bertin, 9-6. In the third period Woodall had his opportunities before losing. In his final match he lost to unranked Adam Turner of Wisconsin.

Turner has had Woodall's number all year, as he has beat him twice, including a victory at the Virginia Duals.

"Their styles just didn't match up for whatever reason," Sunderland said. "He (Woodall) didn't finish off his shots, and Turner was able to finish his chances." The Lions suffered some reoccurring injuries at the Big Tens, but nothing that appears to be serious. Becks re-aggravated his knee against Sveda in his opening round match, and was held out of Sunday's action. He is expected to be fine for Albany, N.Y. Mielnik re-injured his ribs, which has kept him out of action the past few weeks, but like Becks will be ready for nationals in eight days. Vecchio, who struggled in his first two seasons in the conference tournament, showed how experience and hard work pays off this year as he finished third.

"As a freshman, I didn't know what to expect. The guys in the Big Ten conference are all outstanding wrestlers," Vecchio said. "As a freshmen and sophomore I didn't qualify, but know I knew what to expect and I just went after it, and I think it turned out for the best."