Heil Repeats as NCAA Champ to Complete Undefeated Season

Thursday, March 16

St. Louis, MO

Oklahoma State University

NCAA Championships

Photo by: Bruce Waterfield

March 18, 2017 | Cowboy Wrestling

Photo Gallery

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Oklahoma State junior Dean Heil finished off an undefeated, 32-0 season Saturday night at the Scottrade Center, defeating No. 6 George DiCamillo of Virginia, 6-3, in the NCAA finals to repeat as national champion at 141 pounds.

"I don't really look at it as defending the title," Heil said. "A lot of guys' dreams are to win a national championship. I just had the opportunity to win a second, and I'm blessed for that."

Heil's title marks the 142nd individual NCAA championship in program history, which is 61 more than Iowa, who claims the second most individual titles with 81. He is also the 39th Cowboy in school history to win multiple titles.

With the win, the Cowboy junior also posted the 15th undefeated season of 29 wins or more in program history.

"It's been a great year, and we capped it off with a champion," Smith said. "That's important to have an NCAA champion back in your room (next year), along with six All-Americans. You wish you could do a few things differently, but you remember we made some great efforts to win some tough, tough bouts for some of those guys to become All-Americans. Tonight with Dean, it was his style, just from the standpoint of when that match started, him getting that first-period takedown, getting a hard ride on him and building almost 50 seconds of riding time. That was an important part of the way that match played out."

Heil posted an impressive defensive effort in the triumph, staving off a number of quality shots and counters from DiCamillo to not allow the Cavalier any takedowns in the match.

Notching the opening takedown on a double-leg attack, Heil led, 2-1, at the end of the first period. The Cowboy opened the second frame on bottom and quickly escaped to build his lead to 3-1. DiCamillo nearly tied the match at three a minute into the second with a close takedown on the edge of the mat that was ruled out of bounds.

Heil held a 3-1 lead at the end of two, and after a DiCamillo escape to open the period to cut his advantage to one, the Brunswick, Ohio, native tallied one last takedown that would essentially seal the match. DiCamillo escaped shortly after the Heil score, but it wouldn't be enough as Heil came away with the 6-3 win and his second-straight title.

"I've been a scrambler my whole life," Heil said. "I've been in big matches my whole life. I just don't let things get to me. Because I know if I go down by a takedown, I can come back and take you down. I believe I can take anybody down in the country. If you take me down, or get the first takedown, I'll come back and throw two more takedowns on you. And if you get on my legs, I'll make you work for it. That's what I do every time. I may have given up takedowns early in this tournament, ones that didn't really matter, but in a match like this, it's going to be a dogfight to take me down."

Heil posted a 9-5 decision over No. 8 Jaydin Eierman of Missouri in Friday's quarterfinals to clinch his third All-America honor. That win followed up a pair of decisions over Clarion's Brock Zacherl in the first round and No. 16 Jared Prince of Navy in the round of 16. Heil then dropped No. 5 Anthony Ashnault of Rutgers in the national semis to clinch his spot in the finals.

The Cowboy ends his junior season on a 41-match win streak dating back to last season. He also earned 14 victories over ranked opponents this season, including 10 over top-10 opponents. Earlier this month, Heil brought home his third Big 12 Championship, which served as his second Division I tournament title to follow up his second career individual championship at the Southern Scuffle in January, where he dropped DiCamillo by decision in the semifinals.

With a school record-tying eight All-Americans to bring its all-time total to 458, Oklahoma State finishes off the 2017 NCAA Championships in third with 103 team points, marking the 12th time that a Cowboy wrestling team has surpassed 100 points at the event. Penn State claimed the team title with 146.5 points, followed by second-place Ohio State with 110.

In his 26 years at the helm of the Cowboy wrestling program, John Smith has now coached 32 NCAA individual champions and 125 All-Americans.

2017 NCAA Wrestling Championships | St. Louis, Missouri | Scottrade Center | Session Six

Finals
141: No. 1 Dean Heil (Oklahoma State) dec. No. 6 George DiCamillo (Virginia) 6-3