IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Six wrestlers earned All-America honors this weekend as the wrestling team placed third at the NCAA Tournament.

Jeff Prescott won the national championship at 118 pounds and the Outstanding Wrestling Award. Troy Sunderland placed fourth at 142, Bob Truby placed fifth at 126, Jason Suter placed fifth at 158, Tim Wittman placed seventh at 150 and Matt White placed eighth at 177.

Penn State's finish was its best since 1987, when it placed third with eight All-Americans.

Sunderland clinched All-America status by defeating Laurence Jackson of Cal-Bakersfield in the quarterfinals, 5-3, in sudden-death overtime. A dubious stalling call against Sunderland tied the score at 3-3 in regulation.

It was pretty cheap -- he was just standing around," Sunderland said.

About 45 seconds into the three-minute overtime period, Jackson lifted Sunderland into the air and needed only to break him down for the takedown. Sunderland, however, squirmed his way out of Jackson's grasp and won the match on a takedown 30 seconds later.

"When he lifted me up in the air, I was panicking," Sunderland said. "That's why I practice with Witt(man) in practice -- he's real strong and he lifts me like that, and I try to move him and scoot underneath."

Sunderland lost only to Iowa's Troy Steiner in the semifinals, 4-3, and to Oklahoma State's Chuck Barbee in the third-place match, 5-3. His fourth-place finish was the highest ever by a 142-pound Penn State wrestler.

"I know he's not satisfied with that and that's what I like about him," Coach Rich Lorenzo said.

Truby had hoped to challenge for the title at 126, but his lack of offense hurt him in the semifinal against Nebraska's Jason Kelber. Kelber scored two takedowns -- the first two Truby allowed in his 6-2 victory.

"He just held me at bay," Truby said.

"(Kelber) thought if he could score a takedown, he'd win," Lorenzo said. "He didn't think he could hold Bob and he didn't think Bob could hold him."

In the consolation semifinal, Truby lost his chance to challenge for third place when he was called for stalling 1:04 into sudden death overtime, giving Ohio State's Adam DiSabato a 2-1 victory in the consolation semifinal. Lorenzo, upset at Truby's performance, stepped in the spitbox as he hurried from matside.

"He let the referee decide the bout, and that's stupid," Lorenzo said. "He was standing around, letting his opponent take half shots and get credit for it."

Truby was also upset with his performance.

"We went out of bounds and I was going to change my style and shoot and the referee said stalling and that was it," he said.

Truby then opened up on his feet to defeat Babak Mohammadi of Oregon State for fifth place, 17-3.

Wittman, a surprise All-American last year, had trouble this year because he relies primarily on a few big moves which teams have scouted and learned to defend against.

"Everyone knows he has a great straight-on double and that he sort of lulls you into it," Lorenzo said. "He has all the tools to be a high-finishing All-American or national champion, but he's got to add more to his repertoire."

Wittman faced Wisconsin's Matt DeMaray, the eventual champion, in the quarterfinals and was unable to get his offense going. After beating Cleveland State's Mike Carpenter to clinch All-American, he lost his chance to challenge for third to Ohio State's Ken Ramsey.

Against Oklahoma State's Todd Chesbro in the seventh-place bout, Wittman recovered from a 3-1 deficit with an escape and takedown in the final period for a 4-3 victory.

"It all comes down to pride then," Wittman said. "What can I say -- I wanted to win it."

White overcame yet another, injury to earn All-America status. In his first match back, after missing a month because of a knee injury, White injured his back and it bothered him for the rest of the season. He hadn't wrestled live for five days before nationals.

Against Cal-Bakersfield's Mark Cheff in the third round of consolations, trainer Dan Monthley massaged White's back during timeouts and White limped back to the mat. Regulation ended in a 1-1 tie and neither wrestler scored in a sudden death overtime.

The match then went to a 30-second additional sudden death period. A coin flip determines which wrestler chooses top or bottom -- if the bottom man escapes, he wins.

White won the toss, chose bottom, and escaped with nine seconds remaining to become an All-American.

"I told myself I could stand any kind of pain for 30 seconds," White said. "And it was worth it."