By Ryan Mink
rmink@digitalsports.com
Gonzaga wrestler Evan Phipps didn’t see his friends and family sitting in the stands until after his match Friday afternoon.
It didn’t matter because as soon as he walked onto the mat the sophomore 215-pounder who said wasn’t really liked at his old school, St. Augustine, for once felt like had hundreds of friends.
In the school’s first of a hopeful many Midday Melees – a wrestling dual scheduled during the school day — with nearly the entire Gonzaga student body of 650 peers chanting his name, Evans won the first match of his wrestling career via pin.
Better yet, his pin turned out to be the key win in a 21-19 Gonzaga victory over St. John’s.
“At my old school I wasn’t really liked, so this really helped build my esteem up,” Evans said. “[The referee] slapped the mat and I was just done. I wanted to explode with happiness.”
Evans pinned St. John’s Gary Mulkins in the third period just three days after being brought up to varsity. He has lost his two only other bouts.
Evans runs track, but is primarily a football player who played defensive end for Gonzaga’s junior varsity team this past season. He’s the perfect candidate for wrestling for Gonzaga Coach Milton Yates, who convinced Evans to give wrestling a try just to improve his footwork and agility.
“I’m not really that good at wrestling,” Evans said. “I knew I was going to get better, but I think winning this match opened up a lot of doors for me from now on. I’m going to get a lot better. … I like wrestling. It’s more one-on-one.”
After Friday’s bone-tingling environment, in which the Gonzaga students stood on their feet, screamed and chanted for the majority of the dual, Evans may not be the only Gonzaga student more interested in wrestling. Yates is hoping for more athletes like Evans.
Yates came up with the idea of scheduling a dual during the school day after reading about a team in the Midwest doing the same thing. That Midwest team got 25-30 more kids in the program the next year, something that would greatly boost the numbers-challenged Eagles.
“Once kids see that wrestling can be a main stage sport just like basketball or football then they’ll decide to come try it out,” Yates said.
Gonzaga teachers were given the option of allowing their students to attend the wrestling dual instead of seventh and eighth period classes. Many teachers welcomed the idea and even attended themselves, creating an atmosphere that none of the wrestlers or even Yates have ever seen.
“Wrestling doesn’t usually really get any fans out there,” said Gonzaga’s Anthony Oliverio, who got the crowd going with a pin in the dual’s first match at 145 pounds. “It was like being at a basketball game. That was awesome.”
“It was crazy, but you’ve got to just get it out of your head and just think it’s just you and him out there on the mat,” St. John’s 160-pounder James Wenzlaff said.
That was hard to do. After Wenzlaff won his match he taunted the Gonzaga student fans, who surrounded the entire mat, drawing a chorus of boos and “scoreboard” chants. By that time Gonzaga was leading 12-6 after Oliverio and senior 152-pounder Tyler Toggas each notched pins to start the dual.
For Toggas, a four-year wrestler who was honored as part of Gonzaga’s Senior Day before the start, it was the finest moment of his career.
“Yes, definitely,” Toggas said. “In front of all my friends, I mean come on.”
St. John’s got wins from Wenzlaff, freshman Tyler Dykes, Josh Lopez, heavyweight Kevin McReynolds and 103-pounder Ryan Sanford to take the lead at 19-18.
The Cadets were going to take a slew of forfeits from 112, 125 and 130 but instead Yates decided to have double forfeits even though he could have trotted anyone out to the mat for an easy six points.
It all came down to Gonzaga 135-pounder Andrew Estes, who beat Ed Isherwood, 15-11, in the day’s final bout to seal the win. But without the surprise from Evans, Gonzaga would have never been in that position.
“We went heads up with them,” Yates said. “We didn’t take any forfeits. We were going to let it play out and if we win we win and if we lose we lose.”
On this day, Gonzaga and even wrestling in general, was going to win either way.
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