March 22, 2009
ST. LOUIS, Mo. - As the 2009 NCAA Wrestling Championships wound down Saturday night, Penn State's 31.0 points allowed it to secure another top 20 finish as the team placed 17th overall. The Nittany Lions have their 162nd and 163rd All-Americans in the young hands of freshmen Quentin Wright (Wingate, Pa.) and Frank Molinaro (Barnegat, N.J.).
Some final general notes:
Iowa won the team race with 97.5 points without having a national champion as defending title winner Brent Metcalf was upset at 149 by North Carolina's Darrion Caldwell.
All 11 Big Ten teams placed in the top 25 as the conference once again flexed its muscle as the nation's best wrestling conference.
Four Big Ten schools were among the top ten.
Only nine of the 80 All-Americans were unseeded heading into the tournament, including Penn State's Molinaro.
Final attendance topped 97,000 for the three day event, the highest attendance total in NCAA Wrestling history.