Morningstar, Erekson cap careers in seventh

Ryan Morningstar finally shed light on the extent of his knee injury after he claimed a seventh-place finish at 165 pounds with a 3-2 decision over Chris Brown of Old Dominion Saturday morning.

The University of Iowa senior ruptured the medial collateral ligament and posterior collateral ligament in his right knee late in his third-place match of the Big Ten tournament March 7 against Penn State's Dan Vallimont.

“I tore my PCL and MCL,” Morningstar said. “They're both gone,”

Morningstar is going to recuperate for a bit before having it surgically repaired.

“Just take it day by day,” Morningstar said. “I'm definitely going to take a little time off before I do anything like that.”

He posted a 4-2 record. He toughed out an All-American finish, fighting through the pain in his knee which was covered in a big black brace. Morningstar said he blocked out the pain well, but some times were tougher than others.

He scored two nearfall at the start of the second period, adding an escape in the third for the difference to win his final collegiate match. Given the situation and what he overcame Morningstar was able to get satisfaction out of being an All-American for the second straight year.

“There's some, because I didn't even know if I was going to be wrestling or not when it first happened” Morningstar said. “It got better. I dealt with the pain a lot better as match time progressed.”

Heavyweight Dan Erekson also placed seventh for the Hawkeyes. He beat Central Michigan's Jarod Trice, 8-2, in the placing round.

“It was hard coming back from my injury,” said Erekson, who only wrestled the last half of the season after tearing a pectoral muscle at the start and undergoing surgery. “I didn't get as many matches as I wanted to to go against these top guys, but to finish my career with a win out there, that was good.”

Phil Keddy concluded his career as a three-time All-American, placing eighth at 184.