Quotes from the champions from Iowa schools at the 2010 NCAA Div. I National Championships

125 - Matt McDonough (Iowa)

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 difference in this match with Iowa State's Andrew 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 championships. 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."

149 - Brent Metcalf (Iowa)

On beating Lance Palmer after losing to him in the Big 10 finals:
"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 probably the most offensive he's been. Maybe I shut down, because of the way Big 10s turned out. That's not the way I believe the sport should be wrestled, but you saw what happened at Big 10s. 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 the past three years:
"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 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 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 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 he's doing and do it at another level."

174 - Jay Borschel (Iowa)

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 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)."

197 - Jake Varner (Iowa State)

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.”

285 - David Zabriskie (Iowa State)

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."