Columbus, Ohio - The focus of the 2003-04 college wrestling season in Iowa City, Iowa has mainly been on Iowa's struggles. The Hawkeyes stumbled at times this season in posting an 11-4 dual record, but the ghosts of Hawkeye pasts came out in the 2004 Big Ten Championships, as Iowa captured the team title for the first time since 1999.    Iowa scored 129.5 team points, holding off Minnesota, the champion the last four seasons, which had 124.5 team points. Illinois (98.5) placed third and was followed in the top five by Michigan (96) and Penn State (90).    The icing on the cake for Iowa may have come with head coach Jim Zalesky, under criticism from Iowa fans all season long, as he was named Big Ten Coach of the Year.    "It means a lot to win this award, especially because your colleagues are voting for you," Zalesky stated. "It feels really good to win (the Big Ten title), especially this year, because there are a lot of great teams in the Big Ten. Our performance was better this year, but it is tough to win 21 in-a-row, especially since competition is growing."    The Hawkeyes had five individual finalists, but only one champion, 141-pound Cliff Moore, who defeated unseeded Doug Withstandley of Purdue, 6-2.    Moore scored takedowns in the first and second periods while also racking up over two minutes of riding time in the win.    "I felt in control the whole time," stated Moore, a two-time All-American and 2003 Big Ten champion. "I could have scored more. I need to work on finishing the match."    Illinois and Minnesota tied for the most individual champions, with each team having two.    133-pound Mark Jayne and 157-pound Alex Tirapelle both won titles for the Fighting Illini.    Jayne defeated previously undefeated Foley Dowd of Michigan, 5-4. Jayne finished a single-leg takedown with 45 seconds remaining in the match to take a 5-3 lead. Late in the match, he would survive a crowd-pleasing throw by Dowd, bouncing off his back to his feet, to hold on for the win.    "I knew he was strong and would have a good position," Jayne said of the throw attempt. "I knew I would have to keep on him and avoid a takedown, which I was able to do."    Tirapelle won a rematch of the 2003 NCAA finals, downing defending NCAA champion Ryan Bertin of Michigan, 6-0 at 157 lbs. Tirapelle relied on good defense for the win, countering a shot by Bertin and locking up a cradle in the first period to take a 5-0 lead.    "I am really happy about being able to go undefeated during the season and clinching the Big Ten title," stated Tirapelle, who improved his record to 31-0 this year. "I haven't wrestled everyone in my weight class, but Bertin, in my opinion, is the best talent. When we wrestle everyone knows it is going to be a good match because we both fight so hard to win. I was able to get him on his back early and that was the difference."    Tirapelle was named Big Ten Wrestler of the Year and shared the tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler award with 165-pound Jacob Volkmann of Minnesota.    Volkmann routed All-American John Clark of Ohio State 16-2 in the finals. In the match, Volkmann dominated from the top position, using a double arm-bar on three occasions to turn Clark to his back. Volkmann led 10-1 after the first period on his way to the win.    "It means I got a good seed for nationals. That was probably my main goal for this year," stated Volkmann, a two-time All-American. "The main thing in this tournament was for me to see what I'm doing wrong and need to learn to fix."    Also winning a title for the Golden Gophers was defending NCAA champion Damion Hahn at 197 lbs. Hahn defeated Ryan Fulsaas of Iowa, 7-2 in the finals to win his third Big Ten title.    Another NCAA champion, 2002 titlist Tommy Rowlands of Ohio State, captured an individual title as well. Rowlands won a thrilling 5-4 decision over All-American Pat Cummins of Penn State, 5-4 at 285 lbs.    Rowlands scored a takedown in the second period to take a 2-1 lead, and earned an escape late in the match to take a 5-4 lead.    "I wasn't surprised by the takedown in the third period," Rowlands said of Cummins' score to tie the match at 4-4. "I felt we wrestled my style this match, which had a good tempo and pace."    At 125 lbs., sophomore Tom Clum of Wisconsin shocked many of the Iowa fans with a 5-3 win over All-American Luke Eustice of Iowa.    Clum scored two first-period takedowns to take a 4-2 lead, and that is all he would need in earning the win.    "I knew it was going to be a close match, so I wanted to get out ahead of him as quick as I could," Clum said. "In this weight class, there are so many guys who are very equal to one another as far as ability goes, so you have to be ready all the time."    Ryan Lange of Purdue defeated Tyler Nixt of Iowa for the second consecutive year in the Big Ten finals, posting a 5-2 decision in two tiebreakers at 174 lbs.    With the scored knotted at 1-1 going into the first tiebreaker, both wrestlers earned escapes. After a second scoreless overtime period, Lange took control in the second tiebreaker, riding Nixt out for 30 seconds and then scoring an escape and a takedown in his half of the tiebreaker for the win.    "It feels great to win this match," Lange said. "I have been wrestling him for a long time and know that he is a tough competitor, so it was great being able to win in overtime."    Also winning individual titles were Ryan Churella of Michigan, who defeated Matt Storniolo of Penn State, 5-0 at 149 lbs., and Eric Bradley of Penn State, who defeated Paul Bradley of Iowa, 3-2 at 184 lbs.    The NCAA Tournament will take place March 18-20 at the Savvis Center in St. Louis, Mo. The top seven placewinners from the Big Ten Championships earned births to the NCAA Tournament along with two wildcards, 125-pound John Velez of Northwestern and 184-pound Brady Reinke of Wisconsin.    Notes: Iowa has now won 31 Big Ten team titles, including 27 of the last 31... Northwestern's four NCAA qualifiers, all of whom will return next season, are the school's most since 2000, when it also qualified four wrestlers... Rowlands is the first two-time conference champion for Ohio State since his coach, Mitch Clark, accomplished the feat in 1997 and 1998... Only four unseeded wrestlers qualified for the NCAA Tournament - Withstandley, Trent Goodale of Iowa (133), Jeff Clemens of Michigan State (197) and Jareck Horton of Wisconsin (285)... Tirapelle is one of only five undefeated wrestlers in Division I this year... Jayne (Elyria), Lange (Northfield) and Rowlands (Columbus) all won Big Ten Conference titles in their home state of Ohio... 149-pound runner-up Matt Storniolo of Penn State was named the Big Ten Wrestler of the Year...     2004 Big Ten Championships  at Columbus, Ohio, March 6-7  Final Results  1. Iowa, 129.5  2. Minnesota, 124.5  3. Illinois, 98.5    125 - #2 Tom Clum (Wisconsin) dec. #1 Luke Eustice (Iowa), 5-3  133 - #3 Mark Jayne (Illinois) dec. #1 Foley Dowd (Michigan), 5-4  141 - #1 Cliff Moore (Iowa) dec. Doug Withstandley (Purdue), 6-2  149 - #1 Ryan Churella (Michigan) dec. #3 Matt Storniolo (Penn St.), 5-0  157 - #1 Alex Tirapelle (Illinois) dec. #2 Ryan Bertin (Michigan), 6-0  165 - #3 Jacob Volkmann (Minnesota) maj. dec. #1 John Clark (Ohio St.), 16-2  174 - #2 Ryan Lange (Purdue) dec. #1 Tyler Nixt (Iowa), 5-2, 2 tb  184 - #2 Eric Bradley (Penn St.) dec. #5 Paul Bradley (Iowa), 3-2  197 - #1 Damion Hahn (Minnesota) dec. #2 Ryan Fulsaas (Iowa), 7-2  285 - #1 Tommy Rowlands (Ohio St.) dec. #3 Pat Cummins (Penn St.), 5-4