Spotlight: Evan Gavin

St. Mary’s Ryken senior Evan Gavin began wrestling as a ninth-grader, but his trajectory belies his relative experience.

Armed with a record of 45-6 that includes 35 pins and nine technical falls, Gavin is ranked second behind Perry Hall’s top-ranked senior Victor Marks Jenkins by Legacy Wrestling. Marks-Jenkins is nationally ranked.

Gavin’s position is quite noteworthy, considering that Marks-Jenkins is in pursuit of his third straight Class 4A-3A state title after being a 145-pound third-place finisher as a freshman, and his fourth consecutive crowns in both the Baltimore County and Class 4A-3A North Regional tournaments.

But Gavin’s talents were on display on Saturday, where he decked four opponents in a combined 5:02 on the way to winning his second consecutive Maryland Independent Schools State Tournament crown.

Gavin’s championship run comprised falls in 37 and 63 seconds, another in 1:54 of his semifinal and a fourth at 88-seconds of his title match with Bullis’ fifth-ranked junior Stephen Mason.

“I’ve been putting in a lot of work over the past few years,” said Gavin, who earned the award for The Most Pins In The Shortest Amount Of Time. “The award for most pins in the least amount of time means a lot because it shows my dominance on the mat, especially since I started wrestling as a freshman.”

St. Mary’s Ryken’s first-year coach is Cam Watkins, a former champion in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association, Maryland Independent Schools States and Class 4A-3A State tournaments who was once a National Preps Tournament runner-up.

“I’ve only had the privilege of coaching Evan since I came to St. Mary’s Ryken in April. Evan started wrestling his freshman year. Evan does all the right things on and off the mat. It’s pretty awesome to watch one of your wrestlers dominate each of his matches on the way to a second state title,” Watkins said.

“Evan pinned each kid in the first period this weekend. Evan is wrestling extremely well right now, and I’m excited for him heading into National Preps next weekend. I am grateful to be part of his senior year and excited to see what the future holds for him.”

Although Gavin’s growth in the sport has been swift, it has not been without challenges, having placed third once and second twice at the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference Tournaments.

“I placed third at WCACs my sophomore year, which was the first wrestling tournament I had ever placed at,” Gavin said. “I still remember that match because of how excited I got that I had finally placed at something. I’ve lost in the finals this year and last year to Cash Colbert, a tough Virginia wrestler.”

Ranked 10th nationally, Colbert wrestles for St. Paul VI Catholic, and has won the Ray Oliver Tournament at McDonogh for the past two years and was a National Prep Tournament runner-up a year ago.

Gavin rebounded from last year’s WCAC runner-up finish by earning his first state title, beating MIAA champ Douglass Johnson of Saint Frances Academy, 2-1, in the semifinals before overcoming Landon's repeat runner-up, Tiller Smith, 4-1, in overtime for the crown.

“The first time Doug and I wrestled was in the second round at War On The Shore last year, when he was going to win by technical fall before he pinned me. But then we wrestled again on the second day of the tournament, and I beat him in the first overtime,” said Gavin, who has a 4-2 lead in his series with Johnson.

“We wrestled two more times before states, with him winning one of the matches in overtime, and me winning the one in the ultimate rideout. I knew it would be a good match when we wrestled at states. I was able to stay in good position the whole match and ended up beating him 2-1 to make it to the finals.”

Gavin once again required overtime in the finals to defeat Smith.

“In the finals it was pretty even with Tiller Smith for the first three periods. Then, in overtime, I was able to counter when he shot in on me,” Gavin said. “I was able to use double-under hooks to pull him up out of the shot, and then I snapped him down in overtime for the win.”

Gavin was off to a good start at last month’s War On The Shore Tournament, where he was a runner-up after placing fifth as a junior.

Gavin reached the War On The Shore finals after an overtime fall against South Carroll’s third-ranked senior Landon Hamper, a previously undefeated wrestler who is in pursuit of his third straight Carroll County and Class 2A-1A state titles and after having finished second and first in the past two regional tournaments.

“I got the first takedown against Landon Hamper with my slide-by, but he took me down on the edge. Then each of us got a pair of escapes, so it was 5-5 going into overtime,” Gavin said. “After getting an escape in the first period of rideouts, he shot in, and I was able to hit my arm drag and to go behind. He tried rolling out of it, but I was able to put him on his back and get the pin.”

Gavin lost his War On The Shore title match, 10-7 to Stephen Decatur’s top-ranked senior Pete Snyder, who is committed to Northwestern University.

Snyder has returned to the Seahawks following three seasons at Blair Academy, where he earned a National Preps crown as a 165-pound freshman, placed fifth at Preps as a sophomore, and missed his junior season due to an injury.

“Pete took me down twice by countering my slide-by, and I failed to make an adjustment. I ended up losing 10-7,” Gavin said. “But I didn’t let it discourage me. Instead, I used it as a learning experience to make more adjustments while I’m wrestling. Since then, I’ve only lost one match.”

Armed with a 3.8 GPA, Gavin plans to wrestle at a Division I program even as he is undecided where he will do so.

Gavin faced Johnson yet again last year at National Preps, where he won another close match before losing in the blood rounds.

“Losing in the blood rounds at Preps last year left me with some motivation,” Gavin said. “So, this year, I’m looking for some upsets and a high podium finish.”

Gavin was listed as 10th in the latest National Prep Rankings, so he will need to step up to finish as an All-American in the top eight.