Evanston, Ill. - Alex Tirapelle of Illinois knew that his height would give him an advantage over Chris Bono of the Sunkist Kids in the 157-pound final at the Midlands Championships. That may be why he felt so comfortable in riding Bono out in the second half of a tiebreaker period for a 2-1 win. "The plan was to ride him hard. If he has a weakness, which he doesn't, that's where I wanted to attack," stated Tirapelle, who was an NCAA runner-up in 2003. "Midlands is a really good indicator of what we can expect at NCAA's. It is a two-day grind of hard wrestling." Tirapelle's win helped lead the Fighting Illini to its first-ever Midlands team crown as well. Illinois finished with 107.5 team points, followed closely by Iowa State (102), Penn State (92), Hofstra (87.5) and Iowa (80.5). In the match, Tirapelle and Bono traded escapes in a non-offensive match. Each wrestler only took one good shot, sending the match to overtime. After a scoreless fourth period, Tirapelle won the coin toss and chose bottom in the first 30 seconds of the tiebreaker. He quickly earned an escape. In Bono's 30 seconds, Tirapelle got on top and never let go, finishing with a 2-1 victory. Going into the finals, it appeared as if a win by Bono would have gone a long way in helping Iowa State to win the team crown, but an injury to 141-pound Nate Gallick left the Cyclones in second-place for good. Leading 3-1 against Central Michigan's Jason Mester, Gallick had to injury default after severely turning his ankles. Preliminary reports from team trainers state that there is no fracture. Iowa State did lead the tournament with two individual champions, along with sixth-place Central Michigan. The Cyclones' Zach Roberson defeated Mark Jayne 12-7 at 133 lbs. in a dominating performance. Roberson scored five takedowns in the match, three in the second period, in his win. Also winning for Iowa State was freshman Trent Paulson at 149 lbs. Paulson recorded a thrilling 8-5 victory over Dustin Manotti of Cornell, a 2003 All-American. Manotti seemed to have the match under control, leading 5-3 with 40 seconds left. Manotti continued his aggression, shooting a single-leg on Paulson. On a counter, Paulson was able to put Manotti to his back, scoring a takedown and three nearfall points to come away with the win. "I came here focused on my next match, never looking ahead," stated Paulson, who is now 17-0. "In the final, we got into a scramble. I countered his move, we bumped hips and then I got him in a near-pinned situation." Paulson was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler. Central Michigan's second champion was 165-pound David Bolyard, as he defeated Hofstra's Ralph Everett 2-1 in a tiebreaker. The match was similar to the Tirapelle-Bono match just minutes before, as Bolyard earned an escape in the first half of the tiebreaker and rode Everett out in the second half for the win. Local hero Joe Williams of the Sunkist Kids won his record 10th Midlands title with a close 7-6 victory over Tyler Nixt of Iowa at 174 lbs. With the win, Williams, who appeared sluggish throughout the tournament, has now won 51 consecutive Midlands matches, also a tournament record. The most exciting match of the finals may have been the first one. Hofstra's Tom Noto defeated Iowa's Luke Eustice 7-5 in overtime at 125 lbs. Noto led 2-1 after the first period. In the second period, following a Noto escape, Eustice stayed aggressive, finishing a single-leg late in the period to tie the score at 3-3 going into the final stanza. In the third period, Eustice chose bottom and earned an escape for his first lead of the night, but Noto fired right back, shooting in on Eustice and nearly locking up a cradle before ending up with the takedown. Another Eustice escape tied the match and sent the two wrestlers to overtime. In the extra period, Noto got deep on a single-leg and finished for the 7-5 win. Heavyweight Tommy Rowlands of Ohio State joined the prestigious Midlands "20 in 4" club with a 12-7 victory over Chad Lamer of the Hawkeye Wrestling Club. Also winning titles were Greg Jones of West Virginia at 184 lbs. and Emmett Willson of Montana State-Northern at 197 lbs. 41st Midlands Championships Evanston, Ill. Dec. 29-30, 2003 Final Results 125 - Tom Noto (Hofstra) dec. Luke Eustice (Iowa), 7-5 ot 133 - Zach Roberson (Iowa St.) dec. Mark Jayne (Illinois), 12-7 141 - Jason Mester (C. Michigan) by inj. def. over Nate Gallick (Iowa St.) 149 - Trent Paulson (Iowa St.) dec. Dustin Manotti (Cornell), 8-5 157 - Alex Tirapelle (Illinois) dec. Chris Bono (Sunkist Kids), 2-1 2tb 165 - David Bolyard (C. Michigan) dec. Ralph Everett (Hofstra), 2-1 2tb 174 - Joe Williams (Sunkist Kids) dec. Tyler Nixt (Iowa), 7-6 184 - Greg Jones (W. Virginia) dec. Ben Heizer (N. Illinois), 2-1 2tb 197 - Emmett Willson (MS-Northern) dec. Matt Monteiro (CS Bakersfield), 9-6 285 - Tommy Rowlands (Ohio St.) dec. Chad Lamer (Hawkeye WC), 12-7