The Penn State wrestling team went into this year's Big Ten Championships with a lot of confidence and high hopes. At the end of the weekend, the team is left in a state of confusion, but added motivation for the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

The Nittany Lions (14-5, 5-3 Big Ten) drove away from Michigan State with no individual champions, and a disappointing fourth place finish. Because of the results of this weekend, Penn State will send seven wrestlers on to nationals.

No. 1 Minnesota easily claimed the team title, including four individual champions. Wisconsin and Iowa finished second and third, respectively. The Hawkeyes edged out the Lions by half a point to round out the top three teams.

"We had the potential and ability to place higher, and we should have," Penn State coach Troy Sunderland said. "We couldn't win the matches we needed to [yesterday] and didn't wrestle as sharp as we needed to. We wrestled Saturday and fought and battled for everything, we just didn't have that yesterday."

The Lions went 3-11 in their bouts yesterday, leaving no wrestler with a victory in final bouts. Seniors James Yonushonis and Aaron Anspach were the only two Lions in a championship bout, but the best either could do was a second-place finish.

Ranked No. 5, Yonushonis met Michigan's No. 6 Steve Luke at 197. The two had never met before, and Luke fought his way to a 5-2 decision. Yonushonis had been undefeated in Big Ten competition before yesterday's loss.

At heavyweight, Anspach had a rematch with No. 1 Cole Konrad, Anspach planned to avenge his only Big Ten loss of the season, but Konrad proved too strong and threw Anspach on his back for a pin two minutes and 20 seconds into the bout.

"They wrestled some great matches to put themselves in position to be Big Ten champions," Sunderland said. "You just can't give up mistakes against tough competition."

The biggest blow for the Lions came at the 197-pound weight class. Ranked No. 1 in the country, Phil Davis was riding a 13-match winning streak and appeared to be nearly unbeatable. In his semifinal match with Ohio State's No. 10 J.D. Bergman, Davis was stunned after a 6-4 defeat. The loss cost Davis the opportunity to defend his title as last year's champion. Davis had pinned Bergman in this year's dual meet against the Buckeyes.

Davis was bumped into the consolation bracket and made it all the way to the third place bout where he was upset once again. Wisconsin's No. 13 Dallas Herbst scored a reversal with just three seconds remaining in the final period to run away with the 6-4 upset victory.

"He's obviously been very successful in the late part of our season," Sunderland said. "In a way, this may have been a blessing in disguise. In the long run, you'd rather lose in the Big Ten tournament than in the NCAA Tournament."

This tournament may have been a blessing in disguise not only for Davis, but for the rest of the squad as well. No Big Ten title for the team or any individual could motivate the Lions in preparation for the NCAA Tournament starting on March 15.

"We're leaving the Big Ten Championships with a negative and down feeling, but that will help motivate us to keep the perspective...we haven't peaked yet...we're not measured by how we do in the Big Ten tournament. It's how you do at the end of the year in the NCAA championships."