Press Conference Quotes

2010 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships
Champion Press Conference Quotes

#3 Matt McDonough (Iowa, 37-1, RS-Fr.) - 125
On winning a title
"For starters, it's not done. I've got three more years. You can't end on one championship, or one match. It's what I've worked for all season. It's a relieving thing, but I'm already looking ahead and ready to keep training and bettering myself. It was a great week."

On the path to a title
"You go out there dreaming of it when you're little, getting on the mat. And as you grow, it becomes more of a reality and a goal. Now that I've achieved it, it's sort of unbelievable for the time being. I'm sure it will set in. You can't let it affect you and make you think you're better than you are. You have to keep stepping it up a level."

On the last five seconds
"I couldn't think about the clock too much, but I tried to be aware and know how much time I had left. It's a jolt, an excited type of feel. You just have to keep your cool and keep wrestling until that last whistle blows."

On the difference in this match with Long, compared to previous meetings
"When you're on that big stage, you don't want to go do something you'll regret later, make a mistake. Maybe things become a little more tight in those high-level matches, when you're competing for a championship. A guy like (Long), he's going to come out and battle for seven minutes, he's going to fight and he's not going to stop. The only way you're going to win is if you keep moving and you keep fighting and you get him tired."

#1 Jayson Ness (Minnesota, 31-0, RS-Sr.) - 133
On the final 10 seconds of the match 
"I was just thinking about getting a takedown to tie it up. I came after him as hard as I could. Good things happen when you wrestle for a full seven minutes." 
 
On winning a national championship 
"I didn't feel any pressure. All you can do is give it your best. It's defiantly up there. I don't have a top list but it's up there. I usually don't show much emotion but this was an exciting one for me." 
 
On getting back points for the win 
"It wasn't in my mind at all to get back points, (but) once he fell down, I was able to get him on his back and it worked out for me. The Lord helped me out on that one." 
 
On his confidence this season 
"This season the biggest difference was getting my confidence up. I moved up a weight class last year and struggled with it and it just gained more and more during this year." 

#2 Brent Metcalf (Iowa, 36-1, RS-Sr.) - 149
On winning in 2010 after being runner-up in 2009
"It feels good, feels like I'm redeeming myself from last year a little bit, just because this is the national tournament. You can't get last year back, but you can feel better about it because you finished it off the way you did."

On the finals match
"The first takedown was important, just to put pressure on (Palmer). He wants to ride out. That's where he's tough. Keeping him flat on the mat was important. I think he came at me quite a bit. We've wrestled six times now, that's probably the most offensive he's been. Maybe I shut down, because of the way Big Ten's turned out. That's not the way I believe the sport should be wrestled, but you saw what happened at Big Ten's. You have to be smart. You have to wrestle where you're good."

On a game plan
"I don't have a game plan, you know, 'Go out there and take a low single real fast.' It's just to put pressure on him, handfight hard, and when that opening is there -- it's there. You can't plan, because then it's like you're betting, flipping a coin and hoping it lands on you."

On Iowa as a team
"There's been something pretty special these last three years, what we've been able to put together as a team -- just that one loss to Oklahoma State. One loss. We don't feel good about that (loss) at all, but you can still look back (at the body of work) and feel pretty good about it. I represented myself the way I wanted to represent myself, the way I wanted to represent our program. I'm proud of myself, and of our team."

On his future in wrestling
"It's not over yet. There are multiple world and Olympic championships ahead to aim for. How many (Olympic) gold medals did Tom Brands win? One. How many did Dan Gable win? One. Now I've got to win two. (Freestyle) will be in the works, with myself and Coach Brands. I know there will be some down time, just to feel good about this and move on, to end this chapter and move on to the next. I'd like to be at Iowa, continuing to train."

On his relationship with Tom and Terry Brands
"I think it's definitely more than just as a coach. It's as a role model, a father in some aspects. It's a best friend, and that's what is so special about them. They're more than just coaches, more than just the guy in the corner. They teach about life, about social skills, about how to be a good human being."

On teammate Matt McDonough
"Team and championship success takes more than one person. The way that (McDonough) competes and trains, what goes through his head, everything is on the dot where it should be. I give him a lot of credit. He's a freshman, and he's grabbing me by the ear, saying, 'Metcalf, let's go do extra curls' or 'Metcalf, let's go do stance motions with dumbbells in our hands'. He's wired the right way, and kept me where I needed to be. Him being in (the Iowa wrestling) room motivated me. You see a freshman doing all that extra work in the room, and you can't be sitting on your butt, icing your knee. You have to get in there with him. I give him a whole lot of credit for the success he just had, but also for the role he's played in the room and in my life. He has to continue what's he doing, and do it at another level."

#1 J.P. O'Connor (Harvard, 35-0, Sr.) - 157
On winning a national championship
"I just had the fire and determination to win it this year. I truly believed that I could win it during my sophomore and junior years, but I just didn't turn out that way, which was disappointing. I tried to turn it into a positive and thought about it everyday."

On the mental aspect of wrestling
"It's always a battle and struggle. Your mind is a funny thing. You always have those negative thoughts, but this year I did a good job of keeping those thoughts out of my head. Having my coaches support me and how I worked, I felt no one could stop me. I finally won the internal battle in my mind."

On being a Harvard national champion
"I was just trying to follow in the footsteps of former Harvard national champions, John Harkness and Jesse Jantzen, while creating my own path. I looked up to Jesse; as great of a wrestler as he is he is even a better person. I consider it to be an honor to be mentioned in the same sentence with him."

On his future in wrestling
"I would love to continue my wrestling career. It's always been a dream of mine and I can't think of anything better to represent the United States. I'm so lucky to be able to wrestler."

On balancing academics and athletics
"Hard work and discipline as well as time management. It's amazing what you can do. I've been blessed physically and mentally. Wrestling has taught me so much and it has molded me into the person that I am today."

#1 Andrew Howe (Wisconsin, 37-0, So.) - 165
On being a national champion
"It's a great feeling. I can't explain it yet. It's good."

On his greatest attribute as a wrestler
"I have say to say just being kind of hard-nosed. Just hand-fighting and never backing down."

On what he learned from the hard-nosed approach
"I was kind of brought up with it in middle school and when I was younger in high school."

On his approach tonight
"I just wanted to keep my offense going. I got a takedown that match in the first period and I kind of let myself shut down a little bit, I think. The last match it wasn't the same. I got the reshot in the first period, and I wanted to ride him tough and get a couple more."

"I wasn't going to let this one get away from me. I've been telling myself that for a whole year now. I've been thinking about that loss (in last year's finals) every single day for that entire year and I didn't want to go another year thinking the same thing."

On Wisconsin's showing in the tournament
"It's great. We kind of struggled at some points during the year, but I knew we had some tough guys and we put together a good tournament for the most part."

#2 Jay Borschel (Iowa, 37-0, RS-Jr.) - 174
On his game plan
"In most matches, to win you have to first score a takedown. That's the game plan for me, to come out hard and strong, get that first takedown, and then go to work on top. You just have to have confidence in your techniques, and use them."

On top position
"One of my strengths, definitely, is on top. I've worked a lot there, to the point where I can ride everybody, to where they aren't scoring any points and I'm getting that automatic point (for riding time). It's almost like you're walking into the match with a 2-0 lead. You get your escape, automatic, in your mind, and then add that riding time."

On Iowa's team success
"Ten years from now, it'll look real good. Maybe not necessarily right now, but down the road it'll definitely look nice, to look back and have been a part of that (success). I'm real happy right now."

On his parents
"If you've ever seen (my mom) during a match, ever since I was a kid, she's squirming all over the place. You see that, you understand it. Parents, they're the people that get you to where you are today. Driving to all the tournaments, money, all that extra time that they take out of their own lives, I'm really appreciative of it."

On two Linn-Mar [Iowa] H.S. alums winning NCAA titles on the same night
"It says a lot about the coaching staff there. They instilled a lot of hard work and determination, a never-give-up attitude. That's what they're all about -- tough wrestling. The head coach came out of Iowa, he was an all-American, wrestled under (Dan) Gable, so he knows all about that. He was able to put that into (McDonough and I)."

#6 Maxwell Askren (Missouri, 20-2, Sr.) - 184
On winning a national championship
"It feels great. I'm just happy I was able to do what everybody around me thought I could do. I know my technique was always up to par to be a National Champion and in the finals it finally came out. I was the one hiding my ability. I was afraid of what I was capable of doing or not doing. The pressure was trying and holding oneself back. At some point, I had to do it."

On his mindset this year
"The passion went away. There were moments during practice and matches when it was there but it didn't sustain itself. This season with the help of my coaches, brother, friends and family, I got back to doing things how I like. Last season with my injury, I wasn't able to do the things I like. Because of my injury I didn't have the endurance this year to keep up. My coaches had a plan for me and I stuck to it. "

On his game plan
"I didn't have a game plan and honestly, I think that's how things work better for me. Not only in wrestling but in life. I went out there with no expectation and just wrestled."

On dropping a weight class
"Dropping a weight class did help this year. I mean I was the same size as the guy I was wrestling. I'm not a weight lifting strong type of guy, but not cutting the weight really helped me this year."

#1 Jake Varner (Iowa State, 31-0, Sr.) - 197
On the match
"Craig's a tough guy. We've wrestled a lot. I guess that's why not a lot happens. We know each other pretty well, but I just kept to my gameplan. I would have like to score in that first period, but it didn't happen. I got away as soon as I could like I wanted to and I scored that front headlock, and that was a big, key point in the match. That last takedown, I knew he had to come after me and I was ready for it, and I ended up with that last takedown."

On finishing undefeated
"It means a lot. The college season, college wrestling kind of gets stressful. I kind of feel relieved a little bit. It's kind of sad that that was my last folkstyle match, my last college match, of my wrestling career. But it means a lot to go undefeated like that. I'm going to be trying for the Worlds, the Olympic gold medal, that's my goal -- to win these next two world championships and win the Olympic gold medal in 2012. That's the next goal, that's the next step. That's what I'm looking forward to now."

On the coaching change last spring
"It was kind of a surprise when the change was made. I guess not many people expected it. I kind of thought it was a rumor, but Coach Cael did what he had to do. I'm happy for him. He made the right choice. He made wrestling better. I kind of wondered what I was going to do because I made that world team, or was in the process of doing that, but I went back and forth from Penn State and Ames with Coach Cael and Coach Jackson and worked out with them both. I have to have Cael there. He's my coach. He's there at the Worlds with me, and Coach Jackson. He's one of my coaches now, too. I owe a whole lot to him, too. He showed me a different style of wrestling and I could add it to my wrestling skills, which is awesome."

On his experience at Iowa State
"It's been an awesome experience. That's really what's made me successful, the guys that were in my class and that are on my team. I couldn't have done it without them. It's awesome to be part of the rich Iowa State tradition and do something special for them. I owe it all to my teammates, really. They're the ones that pushed me and were there for me when I needed them."

On being bested by Dan Gable and Cael Sanderson as Iowa State wrestlers
"I don't know if I was bested by Dan Gable, we have the same amount of titles and I made the finals more times." (laughs) "No. To be put in the same sentence with those guys. They're legends in wrestling. Just to be put in the same sentence as Cael is something special. I look up to that guy. He's one of my best friends. He's my mentor, he's my idol, and it's just something awesome to be part of."

#1 David Zabriskie (Iowa State, 26-2, Sr.) - HWT
On winning an NCAA title
"This is my final meet as a college athlete, so just being able to come out and win an NCAA title -- it's everything anybody could ask for."

On the final period of the championship match
"I did get hit (for stalling) once, but the plan was to stay in a square stance. If anything, I was going to take (another) stall call over giving up the two-point takedown in short time. Then if it went into overtime, I could scrap it out in overtime."

On the coaches throughout his career
"When Coach Jackson came to Iowa State, I was absolutely thrilled. There was no other coach I wanted to come in. But for this title, I need to thank all the coaches I've had. Every coach has had a pretty big chunk of what has made me into an NCAA champion, and I need to thank them all -- coach (Kevin) Jackson, Cael (Sanderson), (Tim) Hartung, (Casey) Cunningham, (Bobby) Douglas and (Chris) Bono."