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 group that finished its regular season on an incredible high – taking down #2 Oklahoma State in front of a raucous Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

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.

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.

All three state NCAA Division I wrestling programs received at least one at-large berths to the national tournament March 20-22 in Philadelphia. The three schools qualified 27 of 30 starters combined.

Get updates of all things Iowa politics delivered to your inbox. Iowa State's Johnson won by decision 5-4 over Colin Rea

Iowa State's Paniro Johnson battled his way to the finals at the Big 12 Wrestling Championships on Saturday from the BOK Center in Tulsa. Johnson will square off with Northern Iowa’s Colin Realbuto Sunday for the title.