Penn State's heavyweight Pat Cummins couldn't help but laugh when thinking back to his first meeting with Ohio State's Tommy Rowlands.

"He was so aggressive," Cummins said. "He took control of me and just started taking me down."

Cummins was a true freshman at the time and said he had no idea who Rowlands was. However, he would learn his opponent's name quickly as Rowlands went on to finish second at the NCAA Championships and was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

The rivalry between Cummins and Rowlands has evolved over the years and the next battle will take place at 9 tonight at the NWCA All-Star Dual at Northern Iowa.

As a sophomore, Rowlands continued to have the edge over Cummins as he beat him three times en route to a Big Ten and NCAA championship. However, Cummins said he continued to improve against Rowlands every time he faced him and never started to believe that the Ohio State heavyweight simply had his number.

"That's not how I think," Cummins said. "I am a positive person and felt better every time I wrestled him [Rowlands]."

Last year, things looked the same as Cummins brought a 12-0 record into his semifinal match with Rowlands at the Midlands Tournament only to drop the match by a 6-5 margin.

And now it finally appears as though Cummins' time has come. He finally beat Rowlands in a dual meet last season, and then there was last weekend's dual meet between the two teams.

The main event was the match between Cummins, who was 27-0, and Rowlands, who was 28-0. Cummins won his second consecutive match against Rowlands with a tight 3-2 victory, but Ohio State wrestling coach Russ Hellickson said Rowlands didn't wrestle as well as he could have.

"Tommy didn't wrestle the way he normally does," Hellickson said. "His forte is that he's a mobile guy, but I thought he stood around too much."

Rowlands entered the match at No. 1 and Cummins at No. 2, but the new InterMat rankings show Cummins in the No. 1 spot. Eric Bradley, Cummins' roommate and teammate, said he and his teammates were imitating Cummins during the match, as if they were out on the mat.

"We were all moving around with him the whole match," Bradley said with a laugh. "We all see Pat train everyday and always thought he was No. 1."

Penn State wrestling coach Troy Sunderland said the rivalry is an interesting one because the two wrestlers have similar styles but took different routes to get to where they are.

Rowlands won two high school state titles, while Cummins was only a full-time high school starter for two seasons.

Rowlands was NCAA championship runner-up as a freshman and was crowned champion as a sophomore, while Cummins' best showing came last year when he finished fourth.

"He's the kind of guy you always expect to do well," Cummins said. "I guess we just peaked at different times."

Hellickson agreed and said that he didn't peak in his wrestling career until he was 23.

He said that a number of things determine when a wrestler would hit his stride.

"Once you mature physically and emotionally and are in the right environment, you can be a totally different creature on the wrestling mat," he said.

While Cummins laughs when thinking about his struggles in his first meeting with Rowlands, it will be nearly impossible to wipe the smile off his face if he notches a victory in his final match against Rowlands, which could likely be for the NCAA championship.