After 31 wins and a third-place finish at the Big Ten tournament, Doc Vecchio is finally starting to garner respect.

He was rewarded for his performances this year with an 11th pre-seed at this weekend's NCAA Wrestling Championships.

The junior tri-captain is the only Nittany Lion with a winning record against wrestlers in the NCAA tournament. He is also the only seeded Penn State wrestler.

Vecchio has posted a mark of 8-7, including victories against Nate Baker of Minnesota, Charles Martelli of Michigan and Missouri's Tyron Woodley.

"It feels real good to know that people are watching every match," Vecchio said. "They're watching who you win and lose to, and it makes me feel good."

Vecchio is traveling to the NCAA Championships for the first time, despite being one of the Lions with the best opportunity to break the year-long drought of no All-Americans. In 2000, both Jeremy Hunter and assistant coach Ross Thatcher achieved All-American status.

Penn State wrestling coach Troy Sunderland feels that this squad has a good chance of having multiple All-Americans.

"It's possible that we can have three or four All-Americans," Sunderland said.

"That might be stretching it a little bit. But with Doc's style he can match up with anyone, and we have made adjustments. (Scott) Moore can beat anyone. He beat No. 1 (Navy's Mark) Conley at PSU Open."

Vecchio has gained a great deal of confidence after finishing in third at the Big Ten, since he realizes that if you can beat someone in the conference, you can compete against anyone in the nation. Vecchio is joined by tri-captain Mark Becks as a realistic contender to garner All-American status.

Becks was within a couple of matches of All-American status a year ago. The Concord, Ohio native knows what it will take to get there this year and he has another year of experience under his belt.

He posted a 20-5 record, but before his knee injury was 19-4 with several key victories. In December, at the PSU Open, Becks came within of a minute of defeating Virginia Tech's No. 1 Scott Justus until Justus recorded a takedown and secured the victory.

Becks defeated Oklahoma State's No. 9 Pat Popolizio at Reno, and lost a pair of close matches to Indiana's Viktor Sveda. Both knee injuries occurred in matches against Sveda.

"I'm definitely looking forward to knocking him (Sveda) out of the championship round," Becks said.

There are no injuries that will keep Becks from sitting out a match in Albany.

Becks said that at this point in the year everyone is suffering from some sort of injury and everyone is battling and it's an all or nothing fight.

In the close matches that occur at nationals, Sunderland recognizes that it comes down to one thing.

"It comes down to who wants it the most — desire," Sunderland said. "The underlying factor in close matches is to score points early."