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his opponent from scoring. Once Brown felt Wilps' hands connect, he immediately dropped down to his le5 knee, which eventually resulted in an interlocking hands violation against Wilps – and a winning point for Brown. "When you go down to your knee, [the opponent] has got to let go," Brown said a5erward. "I mean, you've got to be fast enough to let go of that. Happens all the time." Problem was, however, the referee hadn't noticed Wilps' infraction, although Brown motioned to get his attention. By then, the regulation clock had expired. Brown immediately stepped toward his corner and told coaches Cael Sanderson and Casey Cunningham that he "knew he locked hands," so Sanderson waved the challenge 3ag for the second time in the match. (A previous attempt to overturn a Wilps escape failed.) This time referees con2rmed that Wilps had interlocked hands with a moment remaining on the clock, and they awarded Brown yet another point, giving him a 5-4 vic- tory. Pitt attempted a fruitless "re-challenege," but the ref- erees stood by the initial re- view. It took approximately six minutes total for both challenges – "It probably seemed longer for the fans," Brown said – before the ref- eree could o4cially raise Brown's hand as the 23rd national champion in Penn State history. His was also the 11th NCAA title to be won by a Sanderson-coached wrestler, with nine of those victories taking place during the coach's tenure at PSU. "It's pretty cool," Brown said. "I didn't expect the match to end like that, but that's how the ball bounces. And it landed my way this time." Another sports metaphor from Brown, of course. In a town where the baseball stadium a few blocks away is named a5er a brewery, it might seem 2tting that Brown would take to the St. Louis establishments that night to celebrate that crazy 2nish with a nice cold one. He is almost 25 years old, a5er all. But, no. As Sanderson said, "He's not a guy you have to worry about getting in trouble. He doesn't drink. He doesn't smoke. He doesn't stay out late." That doesn't mean he has no vices. "The only thing we're worried about is maybe he drinks too much chocolate milk once in a while," laughed Cunningham, the head assistant coach who has worked closely with Brown throughout his career. "That's the truth. If you think that's funny, that's the dang truth. It's a night to cele- brate, though. He'll probably go have a chicken wing and some chocolate milk." As special as the moment was for Brown, it made just as big an impact on his coach- es, who had initially recruited him to Iowa State out of West Valley City, Utah. Then a5er a two-year religious mission in Africa and a release from his Iowa State schol- arship, Brown followed them to State Col- lege. Four years later, they were all smiles in the hallways of the Scottrade Center a5er the 174-pound 2nal, but it wasn't like that throughout the entire tournament. Penn State sent seven quali2ers to the national tournament and 2nished with an overall record of 26-13 with 2ve medals (or plaques). The Nittany Lions' four-year national championship run came to an end during Saturday morning's consolation round. They ended up 2nishing sixth with 67.5 points; Ohio State took home the cham- pionship – the 2rst national wrestling title in school history – with 102.0. Sanderson was at peace with his team's performance. He always 2nds room for improvement, of course, but the Lions crowned 2ve All-Americans and their coach watched a protégé who once wres- tled for him as a freshman at Iowa State 2nally claim a national title. So there were some positive takeaways. SUDDEN VICTORY Brown's final match with the Nittany Lions brought him his first national champi- onship. Photo by Mark Selders/Penn State Athletics

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