Five times, Michigan redshirt junior Steve Luke struggled to his feet in an attempt to break the hold of Pittsburgh's Keith Gavin.

Five times, the top-seeded Gavin calmly tripped him back to the mat, refusing to jeopardize his 3-1 lead in the final period of their 174-pound NCAA championship match.

Luke finally escaped with 20 seconds remaining in the bout, but Gavin's frustrating legwork left little time to mount an attack and the Panther easily stymied Luke's desperate final attempts to hang on for a 4-2 decision win.

It was a fitting end to the NCAA National Championships for the Wolverines. Michigan sent six wrestlers to St. Louis and saw four garner All-America honors with top-four finishes. But each was tripped up in his quest for an individual title.

Michigan tied Central Michigan for seventh in the final team standings with 69 total points. Iowa was the runaway winner with 117.5 points, a whopping 38.5 more than runner-up Ohio State.

Luke was disappointed with the way he wrestled in the final but said he plans to use the match as a confidence builder for next season.

"He was able to get that takedown on me, and after he got riding time, I knew I was in trouble," Luke said. "I wasn't shooting much. I was too hesitant."

Luke was joined in the finals by redshirt senior Eric Tannenbaum, the top seed at 165 pounds. The pair gave Michigan two finalists for the first time since 1994, but neither broke the Wolverines' three-year championship drought.

Like Luke, Tannenbaum couldn't complete a comeback after falling behind early against the defending NCAA champion - Iowa's Mark Perry.

Two weeks ago at the Big Ten Championships, Tannenbaum scored an early takedown against Perry, and claimed victory on riding time advantage when the match ended in a tie. This time, it was Perry who struck first with a takedown in the match's first 30 seconds. The Hawkeye appeared comfortably in control of the match with a 3-0 lead until midway through the second period, when he hyperextended his already injured right knee on a Tannenbaum single-leg shot.

Tannenbaum emerged from the ensuing injury timeout with renewed aggression and came close to scoring on several single leg shots before driving Perry to the mat on a powerful double-leg takedown with about one minute remaining in the match. Still down by a point, Tannenbaum elected to try to turn Perry and score back points instead of cutting him loose in hopes of scoring two more takedowns in the match's waning seconds.

But the Hawkeye proved too nimble to turn, hanging on for a 5-2 decision to defend his title.

"I don't really think there was much more I could have done," Tannenbaum said. "Mentally and physically, I was ready. I got up for it and did everything right. So, I can't have any regrets."

Tannenbaum's classmate Josh Churella repeated as an All American but lost a close decision in the third-place match to close out a brilliant Michigan career.

Third-seeded redshirt junior Tyrel Todd was the only Wolverine to end the season on a positive note, rebounding from a second-round fall with the only takedown of the consolation final to claim third place.