The Nittany Lions were that close to a respectable finish, but far, far away from their ultimate goal — a Big Ten title. “The positive is we got seven through, Penn State coach Troy Sunderland said. “It’s disappointing with the team race. A couple things went wrong to take us out of contention. “ The difference is we’re probably, literally 34 seconds away from having Garrett in the semifinals and Erwin wrestling back at least another round. Those things really hurt us in a tight team race and those are points we didn’t get.” A resurgent Iowa squad held off host Minnesota to win the team title with 127 points. Minnesota was second with 112.5 and Michigan third with 97.5. Illinois was fourth (94), Ohio State fifth (92.5) and Wisconsin sixth (85.5).
The Nittany Lions crowned a champion in 197-pounder Phil Davis, a runner-up (157-pounder Dan Vallimont), a fourth-place finisher (165-pounder Dave Rella), two fifths (Bubba Jenkins, 149 and Phil Bomberger, 184), a seventh (Garrett Scott, 141) and two eighths (Mark McKnight, 125 and Tim Haas, 133). The Big Ten sends its top seven finishers plus two wild cards to the NCAA tournament. McKnight was one of those wild cards.
Davis reclaimed the Big Ten title he won as a sophomore with a 3-2 win over No. 1 seed and defending champion Mike Tamillow of Northwestern. “The last time I won Big Tens, I took second in the nation, so in my mind I feel like I’m building up for a great end of the year,” Davis said. After a scoreless first period, Davis chose bottom to start the second, escaped and converted a double-leg attempt into a body lock for a takedown. All Tamillow could muster was an escape in each of the last two periods. The double into a body lock is new to Davis’ arsenal.
“Its something we’ve been working on. Tamillow has a lot different style than most everybody else I wrestle. He’s aggressive but he doesn’t push in a lot,” Davis explained. “We’ve been working on a straight-in double and if I don’t get that, finishing in a body lock. He’s real tough. I was hoping I could take him to his back there. I just ended up with two.” But it was enough to claim a championship. “He was able to get in on his double leg and come up into a body lock and get a takedown and nearly some back points. He wrestled a smart match and avenged a loss,” Sunderland said. “It’s good to see something he’s been working on paid off today.”
That wasn’t the case for Valllimont in the 157-pound final. After a scoreless first period, Illinois’ Michael Poeta chose bottom to start the second and quickly escaped. A Poeta take-down gave him a 3-0 lead heading into the third. Vallimont chose bottom and escaped, but Poeta converted on a pair of takedowns and added a riding time point for the 8-2 decision. “I just couldn’t get my shots going,” Vallimont said. “When he shoots, he’s good at finishing. He’s pretty quick. That definitely helped him out a bit.” “It was a similar match to the dual meet where Dan was able to get in on the leg and Poeta was able to clamp down, lock his hip and Dan wasn’t able to cut his arm across and finish his shot,” Sunderland said. “Poeta capitalized on his opportunities and that’s what he was able to do in the dual meet. “He’s the top-ranked guy in the country and Dan’s right there with him, but we have to capitalize on our opportunities.”
Rella, the surprise of the tournament for the Nittany Lions, finished fourth at 165 pounds after falling 2-1 in the third-place bout to Luke Manuel of Purdue. Rella advanced to the third-place match with a 3-2 overtime tiebreaker win over Roger Smith-Bergsrud of Illilnois in the third round of consolations. Jenkins, facing an old rival in No. 5 seed Lance Palmer of Ohio State, earned a fifth-place finish when Palmer was forced to injury default. Jenkins led at the time.
Bomberger lived up to his fifth seed. He fell into the fifth-place bout when he was pinned in the third round of consolations by Iowa’s Phil Keddy. Bomberger received a medical forfeit from injured Minnesota wrestler Roger Kish. Despite wrestling with a heavily taped knee, Scott dominated Michigan State’s Jeff Wimberley before decking him in 1:56, earning a seventh-place finish and NCAA bid. In his seventh-place bout with Northwestern’s Brandon Precin, McKnight just couldn’t generate any offense and fell 7-1 to the fourth seed. Haas wrestled to his seed, eighth, but unfortunately that wasn’t enough to earn an NCAA bid after he fell 14-4 to seventh-seeded Reece Humphrey of Ohio State in a seventh-place bout.
Next up for the Nittany Lions is the NCAA Championships on March 20-22 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. “It is disappointing,” Sunderland said, “but we’ve to regroup and with those seven, refocus and set our goals for the NCAA championships.”
Thanks to Andy Elder and the "Centre Daily Times" (State College, Pa.) for the article