It took until the very last match of the 2011 Big Ten Tournament to crown a team champion, and all No. 2 Penn State could do was wait for the outcome of the heavyweight championship.
Iowa's No. 10-ranked Blake Rasing needed a major decision over No. 11 Tony Nelson (Minnesota) to push the Hawkeyes into a tie for the championship with the Nittany Lions. Rasing accomplished half of the job by winning the match, but his final score of 5-2 was not enough as Penn State celebrated their Big Ten championship, winning 139.0-138.0.
The Nittany Lions went 5 for 5 in the championship round, receiving individual titles from No. 3 Andrew Long (133), No. 3 Frank Molinaro (149), No. 3 David Taylor (157), No. 2 Ed Ruth (174) and No. 17 Quentin Wright (184), to get the job done.
The championship round started in favor of the Hawkeyes though when No. 1 and defending NCAA champion Matt McDonough used a late takedown to upend No. 3 Brandon Precin (Northwestern), 3-1.
Penn State would answer right back when Long earned a hard-fought victory over All-American and fourth-ranked Tyler Graff (Wisconsin), 7-5, with a takedown 18 seconds into sudden victory.
Things started to click for Penn State as Molinaro collected his title at 149 with a big win over Eric Grajales (Michigan), 3-0, and the undefeated Taylor won a crucial battle over No. 7 Derek St. John of Iowa at 157 pounds, 8-3.
Ruth hung on for an 8-5 victory over No. 10 Nick Heflin (Ohio State) to put more pressure on the Hawkeyes, but the biggest win of the tournament would come at the next weight.
Seeded eighth at the tournament, Wright made an impressive run to the finals with wins over third-ranked Travis Rutt (Wisconsin) and Illinois' Tony Dallago, before capping off the run with an upset of eighth-ranked Kevin Steinhaus (Minnesota), 4-3. The Nittany Lion wrestler garnered Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament honors for his efforts.
The Hawkeyes missed their chance in the 197-pound final when No. 2 Trevor Brandvold (Wisconsin) defeated No. 6 Luke Lofthouse (Iowa), 5-2.
Winning the Big Ten crown is just one step toward Penn State's real goal of a national championship, and if the conference tournament is what to expect in two weeks in Philadelphia, this could be one of the best NCAA team races in some time.
Final team standings:
1. Penn State - 139.0
2. Iowa - 138.0
3. Minnesota - 109.5
4. Wisconsin - 103.5
5. Michigan - 86.5
6. Illinois - 64.0
7. Northwestern - 62.0
8. Ohio State - 57.0
9. Purdue - 51.0
10. Indiana - 50.0
11. Michigan State - 49.5
Championship match results and NCAA qualifiers:
125: No. 1 Matt McDonough (Iowa) dec. No. 3 Brandon Precin (Northwestern), 3-1
McDonough, Precin, Zach Sanders (Minnesota), Sean Boyle (Michigan) and Camden Eppert (Purdue) qualify
133: No. 3 Andrew Long (Penn State) dec. No. 4 Tyler Graff (Wisconsin), 7-3 SV
Long, Graff, Tony Ramos (Iowa), B.J. Futrell (Illinois), Zac Stevens (Michigan), Ian Paddock (Ohio State), David Thorn (Minnesota) and Levi Mele (Northwestern) qualify
141: No. 1 Kellen Russell (Michigan) dec. No. 3 Mike Thorn (Minnesota), 8-4
Russell, Thorn, Jimmy Kennedy (Illinois), Montell Marion (Iowa), Andrew Alton (Penn State) and Kaleb Friedley (Northwestern) qualify
149: No. 3 Frank Molinaro (Penn State) dec. Eric Grajales (Michigan), 3-0
Molinaro, Grajales, Kurt Kinser (Indiana), Andrew Nadhir (Northwestern), Eric Terrazas (Illinois), Daniel Zilverberg (Minnesota), Dan Osterman (Michigan State) and Coulthurst Schmitt (Wisconsin) qualify
157: No. 3 David Taylor (Penn State) dec. No. 7 Derek St. John (Iowa), 8-3
Taylor, St. John, Jason Welch (Northwestern), Paul Young (Indiana), Colton Salazar (Purdue), and Sean McMurray (Michigan State) qualify
165: No. 2 Andrew Howe (Wisconsin) dec. No. 6 Colt Sponseller (Ohio State), 3-1 SV
Howe, Sponseller, Aaron Janssen (Iowa), Cody Yohn (Minnesota) and Dan Yates (Michigan) qualify
174: No. 2 Ed Ruth (Penn State) dec. No. 10 Nick Heflin (Ohio State), 8-5
Ruth, Heflin, Ethen Lofhouse (Iowa), Luke Manuel (Purdue), Scott Glasser (Minnesota), Ben Jordan (Wisconsin), Curran Jacobs (Michigan State) and Justin Zeerip (Michigan) qualify
184: No. 17 Quentin Wright (Penn State) dec. No. 8 Kevin Steinhaus (Minnesota), 4-3
Wright, Steinhaus, Travis Rutt (Wisconsin), Cody Magrum (Ohio State), Grant Gambrall (Iowa) and Tony Dallago (Illinois) qualify
197: No. 2 Trevor Brandvold (Wisconsin) dec. No. 6 Luke Lofthouse (Iowa), 5-2
Brandvold, Lofthouse, Mike Powless (Indiana), Tyler Dickenson (Michigan State), Sonny Yohn (Minnesota) and Logan Brown (Purdue) qualify
HWT: No. 10 Blake Rasing (Iowa) dec. No. 11 Tony Nelson (Minnesota), 5-2
Rasing, Nelson, Eric Bugenhagen (Wisconsin), Joe Rizqallah (Michigan State), Cameron Wade (Penn State) and Ben Apland (Michigan) qualify