Dirk Cowburn wins national championship

Coudersport wrestler Dirk Cowburn polished off a brutal 18-match endurance test to win a national championship in one division and finish as a national runner-up in another.

He earned the honors during the 2007 USA Wrestling finals this week at Fargo, N. D.

On Tuesday, Cowburn got the better of a Missouri grappler, Cody Compton, to win his bracket of the 145-lb. freestyle bout, 1-0, 1-1. He had beaten Compton earlier in the tournament by identical scores.

That sent him up for the national championship against the other bracket winner, Brandon Rolnick of New Jersey, on Wednesday. Rolnick was able to gain control and record a pin of Cowburn in 43 seconds.

Dirk was elusive throughout the freestyle tournament. His opponents scored just eight points in nine bouts before Rolnick recorded the fall.

Cowburn was fresh from a separate national title in another type of USA Wrestling competition: Greco-Roman.

In that tournament, he racked up an 8-0 record against the nation's best 145-pounders, beating Illinois' Mark Stenberg in the finals, 4-3, 3-0.

Cowburn will be a sophomore in the coming year at Coudersport Area High School.

USA Wrestling is not affiliated with scholastic wrestling. It's a national organization that coordinates amateur wrestling across the country while encouraging participation in the sport. Many wrestlers have progressed from the USA Wrestling program into the Olympics.

The son of Dan and Darla Shepard Cowburn, Dirk has been involved with traditional wrestling since early youth. He expanded into the freestyle and Greco- Roman competition last year.