Here’s betting that wasn’t quite what the Iowa men’s wrestling team had in mind before heading east to Evanston (IL)… Two weeks ago, this was a group that finished its regular season on an incredible high – taking down #2 Oklahoma State in front of a raucous Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

The No. 2 Iowa men’s wrestling program underperformed at the Big Ten championships over the weekend, finishing third with not one champion. But it was not the usual Penn State roadblock that entirely halted the Hawkeyes — although the Nittany Lions certainly did in a few semifinal matches.

For the second straight year, second-ranked Iowa did not crown a champion at the Big Ten Wrestling Championships on Sunday at Northwestern’s Welsh-Ryan Arena. The Hawkeye trio of Drake Ayala, Michael Caliendo and Stephen Buchanan all earned runner-up finishes in their first conference finals and Iowa toted home a third-place finish.