Brad Pataky had stitches below his eye. Frank Molinaro’s face was bleeding. Cyler Sanderson wrestled with a bandage around an entire leg. Physically, Penn State left the Big Ten Championships battered, although their aches appeared mild compared to Michigan State’s Nick Palmieri, who competed with an eye swollen shut. Mentally, the Nittany Lions appear fine. The tournament yielded mixed results for Penn State, which went 17-18 in individual bouts and finished fifth in the two-day event. The Nittany Lions, who placed seventh against a stronger field last year, currently have six NCAA qualifiers:

Pataky at 125 pounds, Molinaro at 149, Sanderson at 157, Dan Vallimont at 165, David Erwin at 184 and heavyweight Cameron Wade. Sanderson and Vallimont are four-time national qualifiers. Erwin and Wade qualified for their first national tournaments. The NCAA Championships begin March 18 in Omaha, Neb. “It was an up and down tournament,” said Wade, who finished fifth. “We have a lot to improve on. We have two weeks until nationals and we have to get ready.” Adam Lynch, who went 2-3 over the weekend, will learn his fate at 141 Wednesday when the NCAA wrestling committee announces at-large selections. The senior is 13-13 and owns three victories over ranked opponents. Bryan Pearsall, Justin Ortega and Clay Steadman’s seasons are done after 0-2 performances.

Lynch has time to agonize over the process. Coach Cael Sanderson gave the team two days to recuperate from this past weekend. NCAA preparations resume Wednesday. The team will practice in solitude. Penn State’s spring break started Monday. “I think we all go to Cancun and then we get a flight out of there to Omaha,” Vallimont joked. Ann Arbor proved a long way from Cancun’s beaches and festive atmosphere. In a quarter-filled, dusty arena, the Nittany Lions received some major tests. They passed a mid-level exam, going 7-0 during the quarterfinals. They nearly flunked a high-level one, going 1-6 in the semifinals.

Cyler Sanderson became Penn State’s 20th Big Ten champion and the first coached by his older brothers Cael and Cody by defeating Purdue’s Colton Salazar in the finals. “It’s great preparation for the big show, the national tournament,” Cyler said. “It’s great to win a Big Ten championship for Penn State, for my brothers, all the coaches and my family.” Cyler won a 157-pound weight class that lost major muscle when Minnesota’s Dustin Sclatter weighed-in but forfeited out of the tournament with an injury. With Schlatter, a former NCAA champion, resting, the sixth-ranked Sanderson was one of just two top-20 wrestlers, according to InterMat, in the bracket. Other Nittany Lions faced some of the nation’s best. Pataky lost to No. 1 Angel Escobedo of Indiana and No. 6 Zach Sanders of Minnesota. Pataky held an 8-3 lead after one period against Sanders before fading. After defeating No. 11 David Cheza of Michigan State, Molinaro lost to No. 1 Brent Metcalf of Iowa and No. 5 Kyle Ruschell of Wisconsin. Erwin lost to No. 10 Phil Keddy of Iowa and 2008 NCAA champion Mike Pucillo of Ohio State.

Vallimont had the best showing against the nation’s elite. He dropped a 3-1 decision to No. 1 Andrew Howe of Wisconsin before defeating Iowa’s Ryan Morningstar in the consolation finals. Vallimont took Morningstar down twice and held a 4-2 lead when the fourth-ranked Morningstar defaulted with nine seconds remaining because of a knee injury. The victory avenged an earlier 2-0 loss. Vallimont wrestled to his strengths against Morningstar, electing to take neutral to begin the third period despite a 2-2 score. Slick and powerful movement from his feet helped Vallimont finish third at the 2008 NCAA Championships. “I just feel confident on my feet,” he said. “If I’m moving on my shots and hitting my shots, I feel like I can take anybody down.” Recovering and learning from a Big Ten tournament is a routine practice for Vallimont. He wrestled 18 tournament bouts during his career.

For Cael Sanderson, the tournament represented a new experience. He competed and coached in the five-team Big 12 before arriving at Penn State last April. His first Big Ten tournament featured an on-mat confrontation with Iowa coach Tom Brands during Wade’s semifinal bout with Dan Erekson on Saturday night. A middle-of-the-pack conference finish is new for Sanderson. His three Iowa State teams won Big 12 titles. Sanderson didn’t want to linger Sunday. They left the parking lot before the post-tournament awards ceremony concluded. There were bruises to heal and another tournament to prepare for. “Each kid learns different things,” Sanderson said in a Crisler Arena tunnel as the team packed its bus. “Each kid has their own area we need to work on. It’s just little adjustments, attitude, confidence and being able to compete. That’s what it’s about. That’s the difference in winning and losing.”

Thanks to Guy Cipriano and the "Centre Daily Times" (State College, Pa.) for the article