ST. LOUIS -- One of the defining elements of the NCAA wrestling tournament is its finality. Reach the finals or win a national championship and the accomplishment is immortalized for posterity.

But if you're eliminated, the sting lasts until next season, or longer for graduating seniors that won't get another chance. Maybe the way the 2004 tournament worked out for Penn State was for the best. The Nittany Lions finished 12th with 46.5 points, well behind the Oklahoma State Cowboys, who won their second straight title.

It was the seniors, Josh Moore and Pat Cummins, who went out in style. Both became two-time All-Americans, reaching the national finals. For the other four Lions that left with nothing but a bitter taste and some valuable experience, the sting will last only until they hit the mats again next season.

"It hurts," Penn State wrestling assistant coach Tim Dernlan said of leaving the tournament without a medal. "It hurts for a while, but then it drives you; it makes you push a little harder every day."

That's the silver lining in the clouds for Penn State fans. Adam Smith, Matt Storniolo, James Woodall and Eric Bradley will be hungrier next season, when they are expected to form the backbone of another Penn State championship drive.

Each of them came to St. Louis with high expectations -- All-America status, a place in the top eight, at the minimum, but they all failed to meet their goals.

For Smith and Woodall, the road was always going to be uphill. Both were unseeded and both lost their first-round matches. In the first round of consolations, Smith received an unlucky draw when he had to meet No. 8 Joe Dubuque of Indiana, a first-round upset victim. Smith wrestled Dubuque tough, but lost 5-3.

Woodall bounced back to win his first consolation match, but he too got a tough draw in the next round and lost 10-3 to Iowa State's Trent Paulson.

For Storniolo and Bradley, the tournament had to be even more disappointing, if just for the fact that more was expected. Storniolo fell into the consolation bracket after losing his second-round match.

He seemed to be gaining momentum, winning two straight in the consolation bracket, but then, just one victory away from securing All-American status, he fell 6-5 to Missouri's Jeremy Spates, whom he had beaten in overtime earlier in the year.

Bradley never seemed to recover from his wrenching, marathon loss to Purdue's Ben Wissel on Thursday night.

He won one consolation bout, but then lost to Ohio State's Blake Kaplan, whom he had beaten earlier in the season, and was eliminated.

After he was eliminated, Bradley was surprisingly not upset.

"Anytime you come up short after working so hard and coming so close, it hurts," Penn State wrestling coach Troy Sunderland said. "But he's still young, you have to remember he's essentially a freshman."

And that's a telling fact.

Of the four Lions eliminated early just one, Smith, had any NCAA tournament experience. Even for highly rated individuals, such as Storniolo and Bradley, being a first-timer in the NCAA tournament makes a difference.

"Both Matt and Eric are very mentally tough. They know how to handle tournaments like this," Dernlan said. "But, still experience helps a lot, placing before helps a lot. Josh and Pat are perfect examples."

At the very least, that should bode well for next season, when Storniolo and Bradley will be expected to fuel another Penn State title charge.

"They're both right there," Dernlan said. "They can both win the whole thing next year."