If there were any two wrestlers that were supposed to take control of their weight classes at the Big Ten Championships, they would've been Phil Davis and James Yonushonis.
Both were given No. 1 seeds in the tourney, and they were the only two Nittany Lions with spotless Big Ten dual records.
No. 3 Davis was ousted in the semifinals at the 197-pound weight class, and No. 4 Yonushonis came out of the 174-pound championship bout in second place. Both grapplers went into the weekend with a lot of confidence, and both came away stunned.
For Davis, the loss was extra bitter. He met No. 6 J.D. Bergman of Ohio State for the second time this season. Bergman was just another victim caught in Davis' wrath, surrendering a second-period pin to the Lion on Jan. 26.
Bergman took a 6-4 decision last weekend over the top-rated 197- pounder at the time. Once in the consolation bracket, Davis was handed yet another upset in the third-place match.
"I'm surprised whenever I lose, but I was especially surprised with Bergman," Davis said with a smile.
Davis, undefeated in Big Ten play since 2005 before last weekend, has taken it all in stride. Walking into the NCAA tournament as last year's national runner-up, Davis has to be prepared to deal with grapplers who will be gunning for him from the gate. This year, Davis will have one technique he has not had in a while. He will be able to learn from a Big Ten loss.
"When you see [your opponent] countering the moves that you do, its like 'Wow, this guy has definitely been watching my tape. He definitely studied what I do,' " Davis said. "Of course, I'm going to go back and study what I did wrong and watch their tapes and just watch wrestlers next week. It's a good thing just to know what to expect and get a different look. Eventually, it's just going to make me a better wrestler anyway."
For Yonushonis, the opportunity to keep his undefeated Big Ten record intact was right in front of him in his final match. He met Michigan's No. 3 Steve Luke, a wrestler he had never met before.
After Luke's first takedown, Yonushonis was thrown off-balance and couldn't recover from that one mistake. The Wolverine held the lead throughout his 5-2 decision for the title. Although runner-up is a significant improvement from Yonushonis' fifth place finish at last year's championships, he still was not satisfied.
"Initially, I was disappointed after Big Tens," Yonushonis said. "You never like to lose, but I'm just putting it behind me now and getting ready to get going. I'm excited for what's ahead."
What's ahead for both Davis and Yonushonis is the NCAA Tournament next week, where both will undoubtedly be huge threats in their respective weight classes. Both are the only two returning All-Americans for Penn State, with Davis coming in second and Yonushonis in eighth last year.
Although last weekend's losses may have hit hard, they can be used to each of the wrestler's advantage.
"It just kind of refocuses everyone when you go through a loss," Penn State coach Troy Sunderland said. "It can help in a lot of ways towards winning a national title when you have that experience prior to the NCAA championships."
The losses may be a big deal and a setback, but they are hoping to channel it into aggression for the NCAA tournament, which begins March 15.
"For me and Phil, a loss isn't something that we're going to be down about," Yonushonis said. "Instead, it's something that's going to motivate us and drive us to take it out on the rest of the country."
