BLOOMINGTON - Wrestlers moving up a weight class so a teammate can take their spot may earn a few extra points for their squad.

"We picked up a lot of extra points doing that," said Bloomington High School coach Mark Gardner after his squad won the Big 12 Conference Tournament at the Robert Frank Sports Complex Saturday.

The Purple Raiders scored 231 points to deprive Champaign Central (225.5) of its first title since 1967. The 5½-point gap was the smallest since BHS edged Normal Community by two for the 1995 title.

BHS won for the 10th time in 11 years by winning eight of 11 bouts in the final round compared to four of 11 for Central, which had a 30-point lead at one time.

"Some of the kids went to weight classes where they may not have had their strongest individual performance, being up or down a weight," Gardner said. "They sacrificed for the team and they won the team title. I think if we had lost one of those matches, we would have lost the team title."

NCHS placed third (205.5) while defending champion Normal West was fourth (158).

BHS was led by Jacob Lehr, a 152-pounder who moved up to 160 to notch two pins before posting a 17-7 major decision in the final against 2006 champion Steve Ross of Normal West (30-3). Lehr (34-5) was named the tournament's most outstanding wrestler.

"Bumping up not only helped the team, it helped me get better matches before the regional (next Saturday at BHS)," said Lehr, who won last year at 152. "(Ross) was one of the main reasons I bumped up. At 152, I didn't think I would get much of a challenge."

Last year's most outstanding wrestler, Austin Kull of NCHS (30-0), met the challenge of becoming a four-time champion. The 189-pounder moved up to 215 so sophomore teammate Rob Bettis could score team points at 189. The strategy worked as Bettis also won.

"He's like my protégé," said Kull, as happy for Bettis as he was for himself. "I show him a lot of things. I was real proud to see him do that well."

Kull's day included two pins and a technical fall. He pinned Urbana's Caleb Blaney in the final in 2:45.

Bettis (21-4) won his final over Champaign Central's Tyler Finkbeiner, 3-2. Bettis didn't need long to pinpoint the key.

"Practicing with Austin Kull," he said. "That just gets me a lot better."

Bloomington's tournament-high four champions included freshmen Fred Mariani (103) and Kylor Sorensen (119) and junior Tom Cole (125).

Cole (33-5) won his final, 9-2, over Normal West's Nathaniel Eaton (25-9), who also lost to Cole, 6-2, in the Intercity Tournament.

"He took a bad shot on the first takedown and I took advantage of that," Cole said.

Sorensen (25-4) moved up from 112 to post a 7-1 win over Josh Laughlin of NCHS (19-11).

"I'm going to try to win it four times," said Sorensen of the league crown.

Mariani (20-3) pinned Central's Hai Bui in the final at 103 in 3:10, but has yet to clinch a starting job because he has split two matches with classmate Jake Bellis (22-2). They'll wrestle later this week to determine BHS' regional entrant.

Normal West senior Christian Stevens (29-3) defended his title at 285 with a 7-4 win over Central's Stan Adkisson, who outweighed the 230-pounder by more than 50 pounds.

When asked what separates him from most heavyweights, Stevens said, "I'm a little more athletic and just as strong."

Rounding out the area champions was NCHS senior Anthony Maldonado (25-4), who avenged a 2006 loss to Central's Josh Middleton, 4-3, at 140.

Area runners-up included Chris Hale of BHS (30-10 at 171) and Tony Troemel of NCHS (29-5 at 145).

Area third-placers were Jake Erdman (112), Cam Hernandez (135) and Kyle McAvoy (285) of BHS, Trent Winland (103), Connor Fredrickson (130) and John Bozarth (152) of NCHS, and Nick Cellini (119), Todd Anderson (140), Adrian Walden (145) and Dominique Lashley (215) of Normal West.