Penn State wrestling head coach Troy Sunderland said yesterday he is "very upset" by photos sent to him by an anti-hazing activist and that he intends to look into whether the photos show his team involved in hazing practices.

Photographs surfaced yesterday in an e-mail message to The Daily Collegian from activist Dale Terry, of Decatur, Ga., who found the photos while searching the popular photo-hosting site www.Webshots.com.

The photos, posted in fall 2005, depict men stripped down to jock straps, with 40-oz. beer bottles duct-taped to their hands. One of the photos has the caption "the wrestlers freshman initiation....haha." The woman on whose account the photos were posted could not be reached for comment last night.

Sunderland said he had received the photos and will begin investigating.

"I want to find out what happened and find out who's responsible and what the situation was," Sunderland said. "Obviously, I'm not very happy about what I received." He declined to comment further.

Terry's e-mail indicated that another Penn State team was pictured on the same album and that those photos also pictured athletes involved in hazing activity. The captions indicate that the men in the photos were "freshman hockey players." More information was not available by press time.

In a telephone interview last night, Terry said he had sent the photos to two coaches and to www.badjocks.com. The Web site was responsible for posting photos in May 2006 of the Northwestern women's soccer team involved in alleged hazing activities, which made national headlines. By press time, the site had not posted the photos from Terry's e-mail.

Penn State heavyweight wrestler Aaron Anspach said he was aware of the incident, but said the players in the pictures wanted to be involved.

Anspach said the incident occurred at least a year ago, when a group of freshman wrestlers got together to be "unionized as a team."

"If people were approving and nobody complained, what's the problem?" he said, adding that all the players knew what was going to happen before the incident occurred.

Anspach said he did not approve of the event and said hazing is not condoned by the wrestling team. He ensured that it was not a daily or yearly occurrence.

A fifth-year senior, Anspach said he was not aware of any hazing incidents during his career. Anspach recently placed second at the NCAA tournament.

"We are truly one, and we understand what has happened in the past," he said, referring to a coaching staff's warning following high-profile hazing incidents.

The code of conduct for Penn State student-athletes, posted on www.gopsusports.com, states that "causing or participating in hazing" constitutes "misconduct that may result in disciplinary action."

Penn State athletic spokesman Jeff Nelson did not return a phone call seeking comment by press time last night.