He wasn’t the favorite heading into the Big Ten Championships this weekend, but Mario Gonzalez came away as the champion at 197 pounds.

The fifth-seeded sophomore’s 10-4 victory over Indiana’s second-seeded Matt Powless gave the Illini its only Big Ten champion this season and its first at the weight since Pat Quirk did it in 2001.

Gonzalez and Powless faced each other during the regular season dual meet between the conference foes, with the Hoosier taking a convincing 11-3 major decision.

“Early on this year I had success, but I wasn’t wrestling to my best because I would think too much,” Gonzalez said. “For the postseason, I just tried to let loose, tried not to think. When I really don’t think and just react natural, I feel like I do much better.”

Gonzalez was on the offensive the entire match, recording two takedowns and a near-fall en route to the victory.

Gonzalez resisted Powless’ attempts to gain any momentum, responding to his opponent’s reversal with a takedown to extend his lead to 8-4 and giving him a four-point lead heading into the third period.

The Illini sophomore started down in the third period, recorded an escape and thwarted his opponent’s attempts to score any points, sealing the victory.

Gonzalez has had some big wins this season, including a win over then-No. 3-ranked wrestler Sonny Yohn of Minnesota, but none have been bigger than what he accomplished this weekend.

“He was that way all weekend, truthfully,” Illinois head coach Jim Heffernan said. “He beat some really good guys right in a row, and it was awesome.”

Gonzalez became the third Big Ten champion Heffernan has mentored during his three seasons as head coach at Illinois.

The rest of the team fared well this weekend, placing in eight of the other nine weight classes, with the team finishing fourth in the tournament: a team-best under Heffernan. It’s also Illinois’ highest finish since it took second during the 2008-09 season.

“I’m really excited about our program, the way things are goin’ and the fire in our guys right now,” Heffernan said.

Among those who placed were junior B.J. Futrell and freshman Jesse Delgado, who captured third place finishes after each lost decisions to their Iowa counterparts.

With Futrell and Iowa’s Tony Ramos already recognized as rivals at 133 pounds, Delgado and Hawkeye junior Matt McDonough have developed a rivalry of their own this season. The two 125-pounders added another chapter to it, with Delgado dropping a 4-3 decision in the semifinals Saturday to the eventual conference champion.

The Illinois freshman has also had competitive bouts against another Big Ten junior: Northwestern’s Levi Mele. Delgado was the victor twice this weekend, defeating the Wildcats 6-2 en route to the semifinals of the championship bracket, and again 6-1 in the third-place match of the consolation bracket.

The Illini now await the release of the NCAA bids this Wednesday at 6 p.m. The championships begin March 15 in St. Louis. The Big Ten was allotted the most individual bids of any conference in college wrestling with 74, a record-high under the new qualification system that was instituted three years ago.

The Illini have clinched seven of those 74 bids and have hope for three more.

Sophomore Jackson Morse, junior Daryl Thomas and junior Pat Walker are vying for at-large bids, which will be evaluated by a wild-card committee that bases its selections on Division I winning percentage, rating percentage index and coaches rankings.