Student-Athlete Pre-Championship Press Conference

Brent Metcalf, Iowa

On the team race for a national championship:

"In a competition the team race is the overall picture but you need to have individual success to have team success. Me as an individual the most I can do is win that national title. So I have to go out there and worry about myself and the rest of my teammates to do the exact same thing and it should work out the way we want it to."

On how it feels to be ranked No. 1 all year:

"It feels good. Confident just one more competition going out there and performing and put it to the rest of the country."

On how eager and excited he is to be at nationals:

"Obviously I'm extremely excited. Sitting out two years and having to watch it all go on and not being able to perform wasn’t any fun but the times here now and it’s my opportunity to go prove myself, prove why I did what I did. I'm excited to be here and I'm ready to go."

On being nervous in such a large tournament:

"Absolutely not. Every time you step out on a mat you compete. Is it going to be a different experience yes but at the same time it is you verse another man. It’s the same thing either way you look at it, that’s how I approach it. It just happens to be the national tournament if anything it helps more."

On being the team to beat:

"Yeah obviously being ranked number one you are the team to beat but really nothing has been proven yet. We know that and the rest of these guys at this table know that too. We’ve got to go out and perform; it doesn’t matter what that number in front of your teams name is before the tournament. It is where you finish. So are we the team to beat? Probably, but at the same time we’re aware that we need to perform and continue to do what we’ve been doing all year and just another notch on top of that."

On coming back from a loss:

"Really, third place would be a disappointment for a lot of guys on my team probably. Your expectations going into a tournament is to win and in the big ten for instance a lot of those losses in the semi’s a lot of them were upsets. The way I look at it huge upsets and to have anything less you have expectations to win the tournament and having anything less than that is really a disappointment to yourself. So really coming back and placing third is on you. It’s on you as a competitor to go out and perform. You’re just doing your job then."

Jayson Ness, Minnesota

On coming in as defending national champions:

"We need to come out and wrestle the way we can wrestle. Come out and do everything they can to go out and win every single match if we can and get as many points. It’s going to take a full team effort. Everyone wrestling their best."

On coming back from a loss:

"It's just that never-die attitude. Any time you lose you have to come back strong. We won the national title one year without having a champion that’s because of the way they wrestled in the wrestle backs. They came back strong. They came back hungry and ready to win. So here every single match is going to count. Every single point is going to count. We know that and it may come down to winning by a half a point. Anything you can do to score bonus points or get another point for winning a match is going to be important. So any time you lose you got to know that third place is still there and you can still get big points for your team."

On the team performing:

"I think they will do their best and still be able to compete to the best of their abilities."

On performing as a team:

"It’s been a real up and down year. A lot of good moments, some bad moments we just kept fighting the whole time and we are just going to keep plugging away. I think we showed them what we were capable of at the big tens and I think coming into this we can show them we can move up another level. So it’s a little different attitude because now instead of being the top dog we’re the underdogs. I think we’re going to have to have a lot more fight if we’re going to have a chance to win."

Keith Gavin, Pittsburgh

On added pressure of being ranked No. 1 all year:

"No I don’t think there is any more pressure. I try not to think about those things. I just try to go out and have some fun." 

On how much fun the season has been:

"Well it's a lot more fun to win than to lose. I’m having a lot of fun." 

On a Pittsburgh wrestler winning a national title:

"That would be huge for my school the last one to do it was Pat Santoro in 1989. That would be big. We don’t get a lot of attention because we aren’t in the big conferences. It would be nice for Pittsburgh and the EWL. 

Nick Marable, Missouri

On considering nationals being a home meet:

"Yes, we’re definitely going to have a lot of fans here. I think it’s going to help in our matches. Like a lot of big matches it comes down to a point or two and then at the end of the period your just dead from wrestling a match you get your fans just going. It just gets you going so I think definitely it’s going to help a lot of our guys wrestle in the tournament."

On how last year's experience filling in prepared him for this season:

"I wrestled a lot of tough kids last year both weight classes. I would say I performed at 165 that is probably why I'm wrestling right now. I think one of the biggest things that prepared me was just wrestling with Matt (Pell) and Ben (Askren) last year in practice all the time. That was probably the toughest thing I ever had to do was wrestle them."

Head Coaches Pre-Championship Press Conference

Tom Borrelli, Central Michigan

Opening Statement

“I’m real happy to be here. I’ve been coaching Central Michigan for 17 years and this is the first time I’ve been in this press conference, so I’m pretty excited.” 

Tom Brands, Iowa

Opening Statement

“To give you a sense of where we’re at, we like our team as a program. We have guys that believe in themselves and certainly the coaching staff believes in our guys. That has been our philosophy all year and has carried over.”

Cael Sanderson, Iowa State

Opening Statement

“This is the best week of the year for us. We’re just eager and excited and ready to get this tournament started tomorrow.”

Brian Smith, Missouri

Opening Statement

“We look forward to wrestling in the state of Missouri all the time for the NCAA’s. I just want to give a thanks out to the sports commission, I think they do a great job. I get to work with them a few times a year, and I know how hard they work and all the volunteers that help to make this tournament run right. We’re bringing seven quality young men out here and they’re excited. This has been their goal the whole season, to get out here to St. Louis and perform at the highest level here. They’re very focused and we have a lot of confidence in them.”

Tom Brands on Iowa’s current number one ranking:

“I don’t think rankings mean anything right now, especially tomorrow morning. They may mean something now when you look at the season and total up the points they finish with and that’s all fine for the thousand fans coming in and making predictions. But we have to take care of each individual match as it comes up, starting tomorrow morning with 125 pounds. If we get ahead of ourselves, not a lot of good can come from that. I can make no predictions but I think it’s pretty safe to say we have nine guys here who believe in themselves.”

Brian Smith on Missouri’s chance to compete so close to home:

“I guess our trip was quicker than everybody else, that’s about it. No matter where you’re at the first two rounds you’re going to have to go out there and wrestle hard. I just think being at home the guys feel more comfortable. We actually had a chance to practice at home yesterday. But you still have to show up at the mat and wrestle hard. We’ll have fans, I know we’ve sold about 1,200 seats, so we will have a big fan base, so we’ll have to go out and wrestle.” 

Cael Sanderson on the differences of participating as a wrestler and coaching:

“Well, it’s definitely different, but there are also a lot of similarities though, you’re still competing, it’s just not as hands-on. You’re not stepping out there yourself.  But it’s been an easy transition for me because of the great staff we have and the quality of our student athletes and our program. It’s competition at it’s finest now, and we’re trying to get the best effort out of our entire team. If we can do that we can be in front.” 

J Robinson on Minnesota’s season:

“It’s been a frustrating season, there’s no doubt about that. We’ve had a lot of injures the entire way and we never really got our team together until the Big Ten tournament. Then we had some other problems, but I don’t think you have to think in terms of defending a title, you have to be here to win a title. The other part, for us, we don’t have to worry about two more months of competition, after these three more days we’re done. We don’t have to worry about trying to get someone back in two weeks, it’s our finale right now.”