Clum Places Third at NCAAs, Team Likely to Finish in a Tie at 15th
March 19, 2005 | Wrestling
Junior Tom Clum won two matches this morning to place third at the 2005 NCAA Wrestling Championships in St. Louis while junior tri-captain Ryan Flaherty was defeated in the seventh-place match to finish eighth overall. Both wrestlers earn All-American honors to complement their placements at the tournament. As a team, Wisconsin currently sits in a tie for 15th place with Northern Iowa. The Panthers have one wrestler competing in a championship bout this afternoon that if won, could boost UNI to sole possession of 15th place and give the Badgers a 16th-place finish.
In the first match of the morning, Clum defeated Evan Sola of North Carolina, 5-4. Clum scored a takedown with 20 seconds left in the first period to go ahead 2-0 after one. In the second period he chose neutral and quickly scored another takedown. Sola escaped and soon scored a takedown and kept control through the end of the period. Despite Sola's larger size and dominance when on top, Clum kept a strong base and did not allow Sola to turn him for back points. In the third, Sola chose down and quickly got an escape to tie the match at four. With no real strides at generating an offense, Sola conceded a point for fleeing the mat as Clum worked to finish a single leg takedown.
In the third place match, Clum defeated Mack Reiter from Minnesota for the second time this year. Clum scored on a textbook double-leg shot 10 seconds into the match. Reiter tried to fight it off by pressuring in with one hip, but Tom changed directions at the perfect time, scoring two. Reiter was wrestling after injuring his knee in a previous match that allowed Clum to work more freely on his feet and change levels more quickly than Reiter. Still a tough competitor, Reiter scored an escape in the third but was outwrestled to give Clum the victory, 2-1, and All-American honors.
In his battle for seventh place, Ryan Flaherty was defeated by Phillip Davis from Penn State 5-0. Flaherty had pinned Davis at the Big Ten championships with a headlock and nearly caught him again in the first period. Davis scored a takedown with two seconds left in the first. Davis chose top in the second and rode Flaherty the entire period. Flaherty chose neutral in the third and though nearly scoring a takedown a couple times on the edge, he surrendering a takedown off a shot towards the end of the third to put the match out of reach. Though wrestling the back-side of the tournament brackets, Flaherty used his consolation draws to battle back to earn his first All-American honors.
The championships concluded Badgers' 2004-05 season.
