MT. PLEASANT, MI - Fifth-year senior Gary Cooper (Adams, NY/South Jefferson) received many accolades this year, including becoming the University at Buffalo's all-time leader in career wins.

Gary Cooper

The only thing Cooper ever wanted, however, came to fruition on Sunday afternoon when he claimed the 174-pound championship at the Mid-American Conference Tournament at Central Michigan University. Cooper - who now has 112 career wins - defeated Ohio's Ed Willis by a 5-2 score to claim the title and with it earned an automatic berth to the NCAA Division I Championships at Kemper Arena in Kansas City, MO March 20-22.

Cooper will be joined in Kansas City by teammate Labe Black (Ventnor, NJ/Abasegami) who, despite losing two matches on Sunday to finish third, was voted as a wild card because of the tremendously strong weight class he battled in the MAC. Black finished third at 157 pounds, a weight class that featured three wrestlers ranked in the Top 20 in the latest Intermat wrestling rankings.

Black lost by technical fall to Northern Illinois' Scott Owen - ranked third in the nation and who was later named the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler - in the championship final. Black was then defeated by Central Michigan's David Bolyard, currently ranked 19th in the nation, by a 4-1 score for second place. Black defeated

Labe Black

Bolyard earlier this season when the sophomore was ranked in the top 15 and also defeated 18th-ranked Mike Tolar, of Kent State, on Saturday when he earned an escape in a tiebreaker to advance to the finals.

The Bulls moved up one slot on Sunday to fifth place in the standings with 34 points. Central Michigan claimed the team title with 93 points, followed by Northern Illinois (70¹/₂), Ohio (60¹/₂), Kent State (47), Buffalo and Eastern Michigan (24).

Elsewhere, another senior closed out his career in fine fashion for the Bulls. Ryan Bentley (Ripley, NY/Ripley), who missed a major portion of the season with pneumonia, came back through the consolation brackets to claim second place in his final MAC tournament. Bentley defeated Kent State's Jason Bake by an 8-2 score in the consolation final and than won by medical forfeit over Central's Ty Morgan to earn second place.

Cooper and Black's invites to the national championship make it eight consecutive years that head coach Jim Beichner has advanced wrestlers to the NCAA Division I tournament. Beichner has taken 15 different wrestlers during that span.

"Gary wrestled very well," said Beichner. "The first round was his biggest struggle, it was an up and down match and he ended up getting a takedown with about :05 left. The second round he inside-tripped (Ken) Clark early and Clark hurt his ankle. Gary was up 12 points when they called the medical forfeit. Against Willis he got the first takedown and never looked back. It's the smartest I've seen him wrestle in a long time."

"Labe wrestled very well, he was intense throughout the tournament," Beichner noted. "I've seen something in his eyes the last few months that tells me he really wants to win. The MAC coaches took note of the success he had late in the season, and of course, how tough his weight class is. One of the reasons they took Labe is because he is young and it's good for the league and for him to get some exposure to the nationals."

Beichner said that Sunday's efforts helped salvage the weekend for the Bulls.

"Saturday was a very disappointing day, it seemed everything that could go wrong did. It seemed we lost almost every tight match we were in. Gary and Labe earning the chance to go to nationals definitely puts us in a better frame of mind than where we were Saturday night."