The Edmond senior edged Shippensburg's Steve Fittery 3-2 to become the 10th four-time All-American and 16th multiple national champion in UCO's illustrious history, ending his career with a 22-match winning streak.
Evans' win enabled the No. 7-ranked Bronchos to finish sixth in the team race with 65 points. No. 2 Nebraska-Kearney edged top-ranked Minnesota State-Mankato by a half-point (108.5-108) for the championship, followed by No. 3 Nebraska-Omaha (93.5), No. 8 Pittsburgh-Johnstown (87), No. 5 Adams State (68.5), UCO and No. 4 Western State (64.5).
The Bronchos also got a runner-up finish from Dustin Finn at heavyweight -- with UNK's Tervel Dlagnev getting a 4-1 win there to give the Lopers their first-ever team title -- while 133 Tim Elliott placed fifth and 149 Colby Robinson and 184 Heath Jolley sixth to also earn All-America status.
"We obviously didn't have the tournament we wanted," UCO coach David James said. "We knew coming in we were going to have to be almost perfect since we didn't have some of the qualifiers other teams had and that didn't happen.
"I'm extremely happy and proud of our five placers, particularly Kyle and Dustin for making the finals and Kyle for winning another national championship. He had a great career for us and meant an awful lot to our program."
The top-ranked Evans beat No. 2 Fittery in the finals for the second straight year, but this one was much tougher.
"I don't think that I wrestled very well the whole tournament," Evans said. "It seemed like every time I got a lead I kind of starting coasting and that's not my style. It's a big relief and a great feeling to win it again."
Evans, who rolled to an easy 7-0 triumph over Fittery in 2007 to end a 39-0 season, took a 2-0 lead with 42 seconds left in the opening period on a slick duck-under takedown. Fittery escaped 30 seconds later to make it 2-1, then got loose again early in the second period to tie it 2-2.
Evans escaped 15 seconds into the final stanza to take a 3-2 lead and nearly scored a clinching takedown with 30 seconds remaining before holding off Fittery the rest of the way to seal the verdict.
It was the 22nd consecutive win for Evans, who finished the season 32-2 and ended with a 125-20 career record. That ranks eighth on UCO's win list, with the 86.2 winning percentage the fifth best in school history.
The fourth-ranked Finn, who advanced to the finals with two overtime wins and a 3-1 decision, gave the top-rated Dlagnev all he could handle in a match that went to the wire.
Finn broke a scoreless tie six seconds into the second period with an escape, but two stalling warnings gave Dlagnev a penalty point that tied it in the final 30 seconds of that stanza. Dlagnev escaped quickly in the third period to go ahead 2-1 and he added a clinching takedown with one second left off a desperation Finn takedown attempt.
It was only the second time this season that an opponent had stayed within five points of Dlagnev, who finished 38-0 in winning his second straight title.
Finn, a sophomore from Moore, finished 29-6 in joining his father (John) and brother (Chris) as a UCO All-American.
Recommended Comments
There are no comments to display.
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now