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03/07/2009 - Brown National Champ, Spartans Finish 11th in Nation
Its been three decades in the making for the University of Dubuque Spartan wrestling fans. The year was 1979 when Gene Rowell captured the national title in the heavyweight class for the Spartans. Just three Iowa Conference wrestlers had earned the title in the 174 lbs. weight class, including back-to-back champion and current Spartan head wrestling coach Jon McGovern. Brown became part of a very elite crowd on March 7, 2009 by finishing the 2008-09 season with a national championship.

Sophomore wrestler Evan Brown (39-8) didnt have it easy. He faced the No. 2-seeded Rocky Mantella of Delaware Valley (30-0) in the 174-pound final. He gave the unbeaten Mantella his first loss of the season by a score of 1-0, winning on riding time.

I definitely felt prepared heading into the championships, commented Brown. We went over my weaknesses and Ive been working constantly with the coaches to improve those areas. One of the weaknesses was riding time and so we worked on improving riding time a lot in practice. It proves mat strategy can win a national championship!

Evan is humble, unassuming, who does everything we ask of him in practice, added McGovern. He worked hard to achieve his goals this season and put plenty of hours in after practice to get where he finished tonight. In a lot of ways we have similar characteristics and work ethics. It seems like a dream to me.

Individually, the upset theme that pervaded the tournament continued in the championship round. Four No. 4 or lower seeds stood atop their respective weight class awards podiums. Brown topped the list as a #8-seed.

Brown opened up the tournament with a fall in 4:33 over Greg Hurd of Wesleyan (34-3 record). In the second round he faced IIAC opponent Bryon Grothus of Coe (33-12) and won 3-0. In the semi-finals, he once again faced an IIAC wrestler when he faced Kyle Kehrli of Cornell (45-4). He met Kehrli in the IIAC Championships and lost 4-1, this day he avenged the earlier season disappointment and won 8-7. In the championship, he defeated Mantella to capture the crown.

I was underrated coming in, added Brown. Feels great to represent the University of Dubuque Spartans.

The Spartans had three national qualifiers including Brown. Matt Wonderlin at 197 lbs. and Josh Terrell at 165 lbs. Wonderlin was #6-seeded and suffered a first round loss to Bill Schindrel (24-7) of Mount Union by a score of 1-2. He would face conference competitor Nick Shandri of Wartburg (22-10) suffering his second loss and ending his tournament early.

Terrell opened with victories over Matt Curley of Heidelberg (27-5) by a score of 6-2. In the quarterfinals he would face Coes Tyler Burkle (23-6) and captured the victory 5-1. In the semi-finals with the match knotted 1-1 with no riding time, #1-seed Justin Hanson (34-3) of Wartburg scored a two point takedown as time expired to capture the slim 3-1 victory over Terrell. Hanson continued on to claim the title. Terrell wrestled back through the placings. He would lose to #6-seed Michael Morin of Southern Main (39-1) by a 5-4 score. In the wrestle back he would lose to #2-seed Benjamin Hoover of Maranatha Baptist Bible College by a score of 9-3 to claim sixth place and earning All-American status for the second consecutive year.

UD would finish just one half point out of 10th place in the team standings to finish 11th in the nation for McGovern.