LeBlanc stepped on the podium for his fourth consecutive time after he placed fifth in 2009, fourth in 2010 and sixth in 2011. The honor for Hernandez was his first. The two All-American additions now give the WWC 11 All-Americans in its six-year history.
Both Cowboy wrestlers entered the tournament seeded. LeBlanc entered as the No. 1 seed and Hernandez came in at No. 9.
On the way to his first placement at nationals, Hernandez knocked off the higher-seeded Mario Gonzalez from Illinois (seventh-seed), 7-6, the No. 8 seed from Indiana Matt Prowless, 7-6, and the No. 11 seed Micah Burak from Penn, 2-1. In the fifth/sixth-place contest Hernandez then fell to the No. 10 seed from Minnesota Sonny Yohn, 4-1.
LeBlanc's finish might not have been the one he was hoping for entering the tournament, as he was upset in the quarterfinals by the No. 9 seed from Appalachian State Austin Trotman, 12-9, but he wrapped up a tremendous career at Wyoming by becoming the program's first-ever four-time All-American none the less with his seventh-place finish.
LeBlanc earned seventh place after his opponent in the seventh/eighth-place bout, No. 7 Josh Ihnen from Nebraska, didn't compete due to injury so LeBlanc won the contest by medical forfeit.
In all 18 wrestlers competed for the WWC at the NCAA Championships this weekend, and 15 of them made it to day two of the three-day event..
In the team race, Wyoming led the conference as the Cowboys finished tied for 19th place with 31 points. Northern Iowa was next by coming in 34th place with 12 points and North Dakota State and Air Force finished 36th (10.5) and 37th (10) respectively. Overall there were 70 teams that competed at this year’s championships.
The Western Wrestling Conference is comprised of seven schools including the Air Force Academy, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa, South Dakota State, Utah Valley and Wyoming.
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