Evanston, Ill. - Day one of the 41st Midlands Championships wrapped up on Monday evening at Welsh-Ryan Arena, but it was not a stagnant two sessions of competition. In fact, it was just the opposite.    A national champion was defeated in his first match, a freshman phenom won't wrestle on the second day, the third high schooler in tournament history posted an admirable 2-2 record and a World freestyle medalist was taken to overtime by a college junior who has never even placed in the NCAA Tournament.    Iowa State leads the team race with 66.5 points. The Cyclones have five wrestlers in the semifinals - Zach Roberson (133 lbs.), Nate Gallick (141), Trent Paulson (149), Nick Passolano (165) and Kurt Backes (184).    Iowa is in second place with 57.5 points and four semifinalists, followed by Hofstra, 52 points and three semifinalists, Illinois, 51 points and two semifinalists, and Northern Iowa, 50.5 points and three semifinalists.    Only 11.5 team points separate the teams in second place, Iowa, and eighth place, Penn State.    Following are tournament notes from each individual weight class:    125 -  The top four seeds all advanced to the semifinals, but not without some fights. 2002 NCAA runner-up Luke Eustice of Iowa had to score two third-period takedowns to defeat John Velez of Northwestern 7-6 in the quarterfinals. Eustice also scraped into the quarterfinals after a 4-2 overtime win over Tanner Gardner of Stanford. Eustice will meet Efren Ceballos of Cal State-Bakersfield in the semifinals.    Hofstra's Tom Noto has been the most dominant, posting a pin and major decision in the tournament. Noto's third win was over two-time NCAA qualifier Heath McKim of Air Force by a 5-3 decision. Noto will meet up with Matt Valenti of Pennsylvania, one of the most underrated wrestlers in the nation.    Semifinals: Luke Eustice (Iowa) vs. Efren Ceballos (CS Bakersfield); Tom Noto (Hofstra) vs. Matt Valenti (Penn)    133 -  Defending NCAA champion Travis Lee of Cornell was dropped in the first round by Donald Lockett of San Francisco State. Lockett scored a late reversal on Lee for the first round 6-5 victory. Lockett has since advanced to the semifinals where he will face Mark Jayne of Illinois, who remains undefeated with a 14-0 record. Jayne survived a scare in the quarterfinals, where he posted a 8-7 victory over Sam Hiatt of Northern Illinois.    Josh Moore of Penn State and Zach Roberson of Iowa State will compete in one of the most exciting matchups in the tournament. Moore is a power wrestler, constantly looking for the pin. Roberson has become more aggressive this year, but is best with finesse and great technique. In the tournament, Moore has already posted three wins by fall.    Semifinals: Donald Lockett (San Francisco St.) vs. Mark Jayne (Illinois); Josh Moore (Penn St.) vs. Zach Roberson (Iowa St.)    141 -  Alex Tsirtsis became just the third wrestler in Midlands history to enter the tournament. He was dropped in the first round by Harvard's Max Meltzer, and after winning two consolation bouts, fell out of the tournament with a 5-2 loss to Joe Clarke of West Virginia.    For the third consecutive weight, all four top seeds advanced to the semifinals. But so far, the surprise of this weight class has been Jermaine Thompson of Eastern Michigan, who lost a tight 3-1 quarterfinal match to Nate Gallick of Iowa State. In the second round, Thompson crushed No. 5 seed Doug McGraw of Pennsylvania. He will now face Clarke in the consolation round.    Semifinals: Dylan Long (N. Iowa) vs. Nate Gallick (Iowa St.); Cliff Moore (Iowa) vs. Jason Mester (C. Michigan)    149 -  Once again, all four top seeds moved on to the semifinals, including freshman Trent Paulson of Iowa State, who remains undefeated on the season with a 15-0 record. Paulson will face unattached Jon Rodriguez, who has won four matches en route to the semifinals.    Semifinals: Dustin Manotti (Cornell) vs. Luke Eustice (Iowa); Trent Paulson (Iowa St.) vs. Jon Rodriguez (Unatt.)    157 -  Trent Paulson's twin brother, Travis, did not have the same luck as him. Entering the tournament as the No. 6 seed, Paulson lost in the pigtail round to Travis Koppenhafer of Adams State. He then dropped a 3-1 decision to Ty Morgan of Central Michigan in the consolation round for his first two losses of the season.    But for the fifth straight weight, all top four seeds advanced, including Chris Bono of the Sunkist Kids, who is preparing for an Olympic qualifier Feb. 1-2 in Slovakia. Bono, who has won three previous Midlands titles, will face Matt Gentry of Stanford, who has had a stellar season so far.    Another premier matchup will take place in the other semifinal, where two-time All-American Jake Percival of Ohio will face NCAA runner-up Alex Tirapelle of Illinois.  This will be Percival's first true test at 157 after moving up in weight this year.    Semifinals: Chris Bono (Sunkist Kids) vs. Matt Gentry (Stanford); Jake Percival (Ohio) vs. Alex Tirapelle (Illinois)    165 -  The only No. 1 seed to not advance to the semifinals was John Clark of Ohio State, who was pinned by Hesston Johnson of Northern Iowa in the third period. Johnson, the No. 8 seed, was even lucky to be matched up with Clark after scoring an opening-round 3-1 overtime victory against Matt Ellis of Oregon State and a 1-0 win over Alex Nelson of Northern Illinois in the second round. Johnson will next face Ralph Everett of Hofstra in the semifinals.    Semifinals: Hesston Johnson (N. Iowa) vs. Ralph Everett (Hofstra); Nick Passolano (Iowa St.) vs. David Bolyard (C. Michigan)    174 -  The most successful wrestler in Midlands history is Joe Williams, a 2001 World bronze medalist in freestyle. But Rutgers' Andrew Roy almost made history of his own by pushing Williams to the limit.    Roy displayed an offensive attack that Williams is not accustomed to seeing from a college wrestler, and a third-period escape knotted the score at 6-6. In overtime, Roy appeared to have scored a takedown near the edge of the mat, but the official did not award any points. Williams then quickly countered and spun around Roy, keeping his feet in bounds for the winning takedown.    Sophomore Matt Herrington of Pennsylvania did record a major upset, defeating Sean Harrington of the New York Athletic Club 10-9 in the first tiebreaker.    Semifinals: Joe Williams (Sunkist Kids) vs. Eric Hauan (N. Iowa); Tyler Nixt (Iowa) vs. Matt Herrington (Penn)    184 -  Iowa State freshman Kurt Backes has proven now why he is already considered one of the top wrestlers in the nation. Backes won all three of his matches, including a 6-5 quarterfinal decision over NCAA qualifier Blake Kaplan of Ohio State. Backes will get his next big test when he faces 2002 NCAA champion Greg Jones of West Virginia in the semifinals.    Jones narrowly defeated Paul Velekei of Pennsylvania in the quarterfinals with an escape in the first tiebreaker session. Jones won the match 2-1 to stay in the championship bracket.    Semifinals: Greg Jones (W. Virginia) vs. Kurt Backes (Iowa St.); Ben Heizer (N. Illinois) vs. Tyson Thivierge (Chattanooga TD)    197 -  Nearly everything worked perfectly according to the seeds in this bracket, except for Cal State-Bakersfield's Matt Monteiro wearing out No. 4 seed Ryan Fulsaas of Iowa in a 11-5 quarterfinal victory.    Monteiro will face All-American Chris Skretkowicz of Hofstra in the semifinals. Skretkowicz has outscored his three opponents in the tournament 27-0.    Semifinals: Chris Skretkowicz (Hofstra) vs. Matt Monteiro (CS Bakersfield); Matt Greenberg (Cornell) vs. Emmett Willson (MS-Northern)    285 -  2002 NCAA champion Tommy Rowlands of Ohio State weighed in near a meager 230, but he looked quicker than ever, posting a major decision and a technical fall before downing Nik Fekete 5-3 in the quarterfinals. Rowlands and Fekete, two athletic heavyweights, were embroiled in a heated battle. But Rowlands ended the battle with a late single-leg takedown.    On the other side of the bracket, 1999 NCAA c