By Ed Muniz-Photos by Renee Kaspar
Championship Day of the B1G Wrestling Championships saw three mats filled with wrestlers.
With Championship bouts set for later in the day, there was still plenty of wrestling ahead, which included consolation Semi-Finals determining third and fifth place matches, but also seventh and in some cases 9th place bouts to determin rankings and possibly a shot at a berth in the NCAA Division 1 finals the following week in Tulsa Oklahoma.
Although not finishing in the top eight, there is still opportunity to advance to the NCAA finals based on rankings.
Many consider the B1G the top wrestling conference in the country. They are awarded more berths in the NCAA Championships because they simply have larger number of higher-ranked wrestlers than other wrestling conferences, thus the need for ninth place bouts being necessary.
Some of the nation’s best collegiate wrestlers compete among the Universities that make up the B1G. The competition is hard and extreme with each wrestler giving their all to win a confernce championship and then on to the National finals with the opportunity at an individual championship.
Wrestlers of each University give their all trying to accumulate team points with a team title also up for grabs and a chance at hoisting the Conference Championship Trophy. Lately, Penn St. has won several and is again the favorite heading into day two.
But the competition isnt solely on the mats. Fans from every university attend the event and cheer on their respective teams to no end. Whether vying for a title or wrestling for rankings, the fan base does their all to show their support.
Many of the fans in attendance congregated together when possible and watched the event in sections, but you also saw a scattering of each Universities fans through out the Crisler Center.
Wrestling fans are loud and boisterous and get into the action on the mat from their seats. You observe the facial expression change as the bout they’re focused on proceeds. you see their bodies and arms contort and flail as if they too are trying to escape for a point or fists clenched tightly helping to hold the opponent down.
That in itself is quite entertaining because they are oblivious to what they are doing at at the end, they are in some cases breathing as if they just went 7 minutes on the mat.
Watching Lynn Yeadon of Northwest Indiana, decked in her Penn St. sweatshirt, she eptimozed and displayed some of what was described previously. Her focus on the Nittany Lion wrestlers was intense but not exclusively reserved for her team, she also gave her support to those facing opponents of teams chasing Penn St.
“When you get to this point, I was rooting for the Wisconsin wrestler who was facing an Iowa guy,” said Lynn. “It’s all about points and it’s getting harder every year for us (Penn St.) to stay on top after being there for some time now. Iowa is always super tough; it’s getting harder to stay on top.”
“My daughter (Sydney) is an alum and was a manager for the wrestling team, so Sean (husband ) and I started to attend some meets and other sporting events.”
Wrestling fans are also quite knowledgable. At this level they truly know all about the team without ever meeting any of them.
“I think these are all great athletes, you can tell by their physiques, you can see the focus and work; they give it their all, the coaches , the time they put in for these matches, its very impressive. at this event, theres a lot of strategy,” said Lynn.
“I did not have any interest in this sport but now, im committed to it and we will travel from Indiana. My daughter and husband really keep track on how the team is doing, so I always have that information available to me because of them. I now love the sport and really get into the matches.”
For the Lynn Yeadon and family, watching Indiana and Purdue competing, it hits close to home but their allegiance to Penn St. is unchallenged.
The early session of day two, saw many matches being contested and all through it, Penn St. maintained a lead over Iowa, but it was close, all leading to Championship matches in the late afternoon to determin a team title.