After the Olympics, Evans returned to Arizona and resumed his studies. In 1985, he represented Australia at the World University Games in Kobe, Japan. The following year, he attempted to qualify for the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh after only ten days training. He made the qualifying time, but was omitted. Evans later stated that he felt his admission of having only trained for ten days had lowered his standing in the eyes of the selectors. As a result of being overlooked, Evans retired from competitive swimming.