Penn State wrestling star Nick Lee has reportedly become a Big Ten Champion at 141 pounds just hours before his scheduled dual.

According to KJ Pilcher of Cedar Rapids’ The Gazette, Iowa’s No. 2 Jaydin Eierman will sit out the 141-pound final due to knee issues.

The Hawkeye wasn’t forced to wrestle in the semifinal round Saturday as his opponent, Rutgers’ Sebastian Rivera, sat out the bout with medical issues of his own.

The Lee-Eierman bout was setting up to be one of the most exciting matches of Sunday’s action. The pair first faced off back in 2018 when Eierman was still at Missouri, and met again in 2021 when the Hawkeye took the Big Ten Title in Happy Valley. Lee has won the last two meetings, however, as he took the National Title via 4-2 sudden victory to finish last season, and beat Eierman at Carver-Hawkeye 6-4 this past January.

If Eierman does in fact medically forfeit, this is Lee’s first individual Big Ten title. He’s currently 16-0 on the year, and has secured two technical falls in both bouts so far in Lincoln.

The Nittany Lions have four other wrestlers competing for individual conference titles Sunday afternoon, including Roman-Bravo Young, Carter Starocci, Aaron Brooks, and Max Dean.