Webster, the Sams Valley Ore., native and the tournament's number five seed, defeated Minnesota's Roger Kish, 3-2, in the Championship Final. Webster was controlled and solid as he won an atypically low-scoring bout, in front of a capacity crowd at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City. Among the crowd was a teammate of Miller's, Oregon's first and until tonight only national champion.
The first period passed scoreless as the two warriors tested each other. Webster scored a quick point for an escape to open the second. The one-point escape was all either wrestler scored in the second. An escape by Kish to open the third would tie the match, before the two would trade shots, with Webster rallying to scoot behind Kish and secure the two point takedown. Another escape by Kish provided the final, 3-2, margin.
"We are really excited for Shane, this was the perfect ending to his college career," head coach Chuck Kearney said. "He kept himself focused all tournament long and proved himself worthy of being called a national champion."
Webster's national title is the first for Oregon since Miller won in 1969 at 115 pounds. He was the first Duck in the final match since Scott Bliss reached the final at 150 pounds in 1980. He is coach Kearney's first national champion.
"This moment was something I have been working for my whole life, ever since I started wrestling at seven years old," Webster said. "I can't even describe how I feel right now."
Webster's composure as the seconds ticked off, locked up the match as he refused to be denied.
"I knew I had that little bit of a lead and I knew neither one of us had riding time so I just tried to stay in a position where he couldn't get any points off me," Webster said. "He wrestled somewhat different than I was expecting, but I did the best I could and scored just enough to win."
Joey Bracamonte, the Oregon senior from Albuquerque, N.M., was unable to get past his first consolation opponent Deonte Penn of Edinboro. Penn dominated the first period, scoring five points on two nearfalls and totaling 2:35 of riding time. Bracamonte fought through another nearfall and scored a nice reversal eventually landing a cement mixer, scoring a five-point nearfall, but he wasn't able to secure the fall.
"Joey wrestled a great tournament and we don't want him to get lost in the shuffle, he was solid all weekend," head coach Chuck Kearney said. "Joey rallied back and scored a bunch of points and nearly stole the match back."
Bracamonte got the match as close as, 14-10, but couldn't score again as he went upper body trying for the fall, Penn scored the riding time point and held on to win, 15-10.
"When I hit the cement mixer, I thought I had him, but I didn't have it cinched quite enough," Bracamonte said. "I wish I had won my semifinal match, because I know I could have beaten (Johny) Hendricks [of Oklahoma State] again."
In his fifth-place match Joey won a low-scoring, more conventional, contest as he edged Travis Paulson of Iowa State, 4-3, for the victory.
The Ducks finished the tournament in 22nd place scoring 33 team points, the finish was the second-highest finish by a Pac-10 school, Arizona State finished 6th. The finish was Oregon's best since a tie for 21st in 1997.
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