The collegiate wrestling season can be divided into three parts -- the regular season, conference championships and national championships -- with each building in importance.
Right now, six members of the Penn State wrestling team are making the transition to the pinnacle of the season as they prepare to compete at the 2010 NCAA championships, which begin Thursday in Omaha, Neb.
The six Nittany Lion grapplers earned the opportunity to wrestle for a national title by leading the Lions to a strong performance at the Big Ten championships March 6-7.
Senior Cyler Sanderson led the way as he won the title at 157 pounds by beating high school teammate Colton Salazar of Purdue to become the Lions' 20th Big Ten champion. It was the second conference title for Sanderson, as he won the Big 12 championship as a sophomore at Iowa State.
"It felt great," Sanderson said of winning the Big Ten title. "It's great preparation for the national tournament."
Sanderson was the only Penn State grappler to compete in a championship bout after seven made it to the semifinals.
Though the Lions were in second-place after the first session of the championships, their 1-6 record in the semifinals led to the team's fifth-place finish in the tournament. Even with the difficulties late in the tournament, the Lions improved on last season's seventh-place showing.
Senior Dave Erwin was one of the Lions to lose in the semifinals, and the 184-pounder believes he and his teammates didn't perform up to their normal standard in the late rounds. Erwin said each Lion wrestler competing at NCAAs is working to make individual adjustments.
"Different guys are working on different things to improve," Erwin said. "For me, I just have to work on finishing shots and things like that."
Senior 165-pounder Dan Vallimont echoed Erwin, saying he's looking to improve on finishing his shots quicker, among other little things.
The Penn State grapplers don't want to make too many changes to their game. Prior to the conference championships, coach Cael Sanderson said wrestlers often try to make too many adjustments in the postseason, rather than wrestling to their own style.
Three of the Lions know they have what it takes to get past the first round, as Vallimont, Erwin and Brady Pataky each defeated their first opponent in a regular season bout.
Regardless of what happened in the past -- be it the regular season or conference championships -- each wrestler starts over and has the opportunity to make a name for himself at nationals.
In his final season, that's what Erwin is looking to do.
"I'm looking to go out there to Omaha and show the country what I've been working on all year and the last few years," Erwin said. "It's always fun to go out and wrestle in front of a big crowd. There's nothing else like it."
