LAS VEGAS — Olympic hero Rulon Gardner won the Greco-Roman heavyweight title Saturday night in the U.S. National Wrestling Championships, beating Dremiel Byers 1-0 in overtime.
"I was just prepared to pick up the tempo whenever he picked his up and be prepared to take on the challenge and defeat him," Gardner said. "From my semifinal match where I split my eye open to the final match where I beat him 1-0, it's a win. Whether I win 12-0 or 1-0, that one's just as big as that 12.
Gardner had the biggest upset of the Sydney Games with his gold-medal victory over Russia's Alexandre Kareline.
"Byers is just as dangerous as Kareline — it was a cat-and-mouse back and forth," Gardner said. "I was just lucky enough to get that one point. In the olden days, they used to go 0-0 and then put the clinch rule in. But I'm stupid and crazy enough to attack when other people don't."
In the 187.25-pound title match, Matt Lindland scored three points with four seconds remaining for a 4-3 decision over Quincey Clark. Lindland, selected the outstanding Greco-Roman wrestler of the meet, moved up from the 167.5-pound division, where he won the silver medal in Sydney.
In other matches, Keith Sieracki beat T.C. Dantzler 5-0 at 167.5 pounds, Olympian Kevin Bracken defeated James Shillow 6-0 at 138.75 pounds, and Garrett Lowney edged Jason Loukides 3-1 at 213.75 pounds.
Iowa State star Cael Sanderson was selected the outstanding freestyle wrestler after upsetting top-seeded Charles Burton 4-1 at 187.25 pounds.
Dominique Black won the 213.75-pound freestyle title with a 4-0 decision over Chad Lamer.
Because the U.S. military branches competed as seperate teams for the first time, rather than combining as an Armed Forces entry, the U.S. Army won its first national team title.