On Sunday afternoon, assistant wrestling coach Chris Bono found himself in a familiar position from his collegiate past — he stood in the middle of the mat in Hilton Coliseum with his hand raised in victory.

With seven spots on the line, Bono and Nate Gallick both competed in the championship round of the USA World Team Trials this weekend with the hopes of earning a spot and representing the United States in the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary. Although Bono left the trials with a position on the team at 145.5 pounds, Gallick was unable to earn a position of his own.

“It’s amazing, you can’t really describe the feeling,” Bono said. “These fans are unbelievable. They’ve been behind my whole program since I got here. It just means the world to be able to go out there and do this in front of them.”

The bout between Bono and Jared Lawrence, a former NCAA national champion at the University of Minnesota, was a rematch of of Bono’s victory in the finals of the U.S. National Championships in April. His win placed him at the No. 1 spot in his weight class for the trials, guaranteeing his only match would be against the champion of the challenge tournament in that class from Saturday.

“Bono wrestled a very smart match with a lot of intensity,” said ISU head wrestling coach Bobby Douglas. “I didn’t see any mistakes. He had to wrestle that type of match to beat Lawrence.”

Although Bono only had to wrestle one opponent this weekend to earn his spot on the World Team, Gallick didn’t have it quite so easy.

Gallick lost to Michael Lightner, a former NCAA national champion at the University of Oklahoma, in the final match of the U.S. National Championships, and in order to get the opportunity to have a rematch on Sunday, he had to win three matches Saturday while possibly facing former teammate Zach Roberson.

Gallick wrestled his way through two opponents to make the finals where he met Mike Zadick, a former Hawkeye wrestler. After three hard-fought periods, Gallick emerged as the challenge tournament champion.

“I had lost two close [matches] to Zadick in the past and I didn’t want to lose another,” Gallick said.

Once crowned champion, Gallick had his opportunity for a rematch against Lightner.

“I get another shot at wrestling Lightner,” Gallick said before wrestling Lightner. “Just getting a chance to wrestle for a spot on the World Team — it’s awesome.

“He’s just a really tough opponent. If I go out there and wrestle hard, hopefully things will work out.”

Things didn’t work out for Gallick.

After dropping the first match to Lightner, a call made in the second match with eight seconds remaining in the first period gave Lightner a point.

The call sent ISU assistant coach Cael Sanderson leaping onto the platform to approach the bench for a video review — cameras are posted on each mat throughout the tournament for such instances. The appeal was denied and Lightner won the first period.

After Lightner took an early two point lead in the second period, Gallick tied the score at the end of the period. But because of a technicality in the rules — Lightner’s points were scored on one move, Gallick’s by two moves — Lightner was declared the winner of the period, thus winning the match and the 132-pound spot on the World Team.

Douglas was disappointed in the match’s outcome.

“We had an excellent match planned,” he said. “Lightner did an outstanding job of shutting us down and controlling the tie-ups. We didn’t score any points — that’s why we lost the match.”

Even though the match didn’t go in his favor, Gallick looks to the future.

“Overall, things didn’t work out the way I would’ve liked them to,” Gallick said.

“But, it’s not the end of the world; it’s one tournament. I’m still young, 22, and I’ve got a lot of these tournaments left in me.”

Several other Cyclones of the past and present also competed in the Trials, but none made it past Saturday’s challenge tournament.

“I’m a little disappointed, but I came back and did as well as I could have with that loss,” Roberson said. “I’m disappointed, but I’m glad I didn’t give up.”

Assistant coach Zach Thompson said he was pleased with his own performance.

“I definitely think this is like a microcosm NCAA tournament,” Thompson said. “Hopefully the guys that are returning to the team will see this and that will make them hungry.”

Overall, Douglas enjoyed the tournament and said that it demonstrates the ability of Ames and Iowa State to hold competitions of a large magnitude.

“Our goal is to bring the Olympic Trials here in ’08,” Douglas said. “I think we’ve shown the people at USA Wrestling and in the freestyle wrestling-world that we can put on and host a quality tournament and that this is a wrestling friendly town.”