IOWA CITY, Iowa -- All Jason Suter could think was "squeeze."

Seven minutes of regulation and three minutes of sudden death overtime had failed to produce a winner. Suter and Army's Nick Mauldin needed an additional 30-second period of sudden death to determine which graduating senior would exit the NCAA Tournament with nothing.

Mauldin won the coin flip and chose bottom. For 30 seconds Suter held Mauldin as tight as he could, and he advanced to the next round -- barely.

"After that match I knew I could do it -- even if I had to go to sudden death the rest of the way, I could do it," Suter said.

After needing a wild card to qualify for nationals and then losing in the first round to unseeded Mike Marzetta of Minnesota, Suter thought he might have lost his desire to wrestle. But the sudden death victory brought back his confidence, and Suter made All-American for the second straight year with a fifth-place finish at 158 pounds.

"I don't think he ever sincerely believed in his heart that he could win the national tournament," Coach Rich Lorenzo said. "And that's not negative. But he did believe he could be an All-American, and he never lost sight of that."

Each of Suter's victories was decided in the final seconds.

Suter won his second consolation match by scoring a takedown with 29 seconds remaining in the three-minute sudden death period.

He won his third consolation match --and clinched All-American -- with a takedown and two back points in the last 30 seconds.

Against Greg Warren of Missouri in the fourth round of consolations, Suter overcame a 5-1 deficit with a reversal and three-point near fall at the beginning of the third period to take a 6-5 lead. He eventually won the match on riding time.

"Jason's such a sincere kid," assistant coach John Fritz said. "He wanted to win so hard that it was hurting him."

Suter lost to Arizona State's Ray Miller, 9-2, in the consolation semifinals, but came back about an hour later to score an early takedown on fourth-seeded Scott Hovan of Pitt and hang on for a 5-3 victory.

Suter's fifth-place finish bettered his eighth-place finish at 167 pounds last year.

"Jason's had as many peaks and maybe more valleys than anyone on the team," Lorenzo said. "But he never gave up, he never threw it in, and I admire him for that."

Suter said it wasn't easy to keep himself from giving up, especially after losing to wrestlers he thought he was better than in the Eastern Wrestling League Tournament. Losing again to freshman Brian Unkert of Bloomsburg particularly disturbed him.

"I mean, I've been wrestling since I was 5 and I just couldn't figure out what I was doing to be wrestling that poorly," Suter said.

But while Suter thought about his losses, he never neglected his role as captain. During the EWL Tournament, he watched every one of his teammates' matches, and he was the first to congratulate or console them after their matches. At nationals, he did the same.

"I'm the captain, and that's my responsibility," Suter said. "Any of the other guys would have done it for me."

Lorenzo appreciated Suter's effort off the mat.

"I'm really happy for him," Lorenzo said. "He's been a good captain and team person, and he's given us a lot of leadership even when he wasn't giving it on the mat."

Suter hopes his performance this weekend will serve as an example to not only his teammates, but future Penn State wrestlers. Fritz thinks it will.

"He taught a lot of people a very good lesson -- if you believe in yourself, you can do anything," Fritz said.