Wisconsin senior Tony Black finished fifth at the 2003 NCAA Wrestling Championships Saturday afternoon with a 9-5 upset decision over No. 3 seed Ben VomBaur of Boise State at 125 pounds.
Seeded tenth overall in the national tournament, Black also defeated No. 7 seed Luke Eustice of Iowa and No. 5 seed Nick Simmons of Michigan State en route to All-American honors in his first and last trip to the NCAA championships this weekend.
The River Falls, Wis., native ensured himself All-American honors Friday night with a 1-0 decision over Penn’s Matt Valenti in the 125-pound wrestle backs of the 2003 NCAA Wrestling Championships held at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Mo.
He lost his next match to No. 4 seed A.J. Grant of Michigan, 2-0, to draw Vombaur in the fifth-place final match. Overall, Black completed the tournament with a 5-2 record to improve to 27-10 this season and 78-44 in his UW career.
Overall, Wisconsin’s eight national qualifiers — Black, Tom Clum (133), Tyler Laudon (141), Ed Gutnik (149), Brady Reinke (174), Ralph DeNisco (184), Lee Kraemer (197) and Justin Staebler (HWT) — posted an 18-17 match record at the championships, with five Badgers making their first-ever trip to the national tournament.
As a team, Wisconsin scored 24 points in the championships.
Additionally, with only Black and Staebler graduating this season, Wisconsin will return six NCAA qualifiers for the 2003-04 season.