Quotes from U.S. women's wrestler Murata and coach Scherr and freestyle wrestler Thompson and coach
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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
09/28/2005
51 kg/112.25 lbs. - Stephanie Murata, Colorado Springs, Colo. (Sunkist Kids)
"I think Jenny and I both got to a good start. Hopefully, that will translate to everybody on the team. It starts the momentum going, and can carry through the tournament. You focus on the next one, then the next one. Hopefully, you have a next one."
"I was a little hesitant in the first match, but felt better in the second match. My next match is against the Canadian Erica Sharp. It will be a good match; it always is. I look forward to it because I know it will be a good match. However, it is fun to wrestle someone you haven't faced. In that aspect, we feel like we have wrestled a lot."
U.S. Women's World Team Coach Bill Scherr
"As evidenced by the tournament so far, you have to wrestle every match, especially with these rules. You have to be ready when you step out there. Any point can win or lose the match. As we say in South Dakota, there is no time to dally. You have to go hard and fast out there."
"Jenny wrestled two opponents with difficult styles for her with how they wrestle. She likes to feed off the opponent's attack. Both of them were passive wrestlers and had good tieups. The first one was defensive and the second one had a good two-on-one. They put Jenny in positions she didn't want to be in. She showed a lot of heart to win against difficult wrestlers for her. She pulled through because she wanted it."
"Stephanie is a great wrestler. Her technique is elevated to another level. As long as she controls her opponents physically, she can do well. We will see how she will do throughout the tournament."
"I love the wins. All we need is to win them one at a time. The women's trained hard. They show a lot of heart and are ready to wrestle."
120 kg/264.5 lbs. - Tolly Thompson, Cedar Falls, Iowa (Sunkist Kids)
"The tournament isn't over in my weight class. My tournament isn't over."
U.S. Freestyle World Team Coach Mike Duroe
"We had a chance in Tolly's match. We were in a situation where we got a point when we had to in the second period. We knew if we got a point ahead, the opponent didn't have an offense to come back. If we get on top, we can control the match. In the third period, we didn't pick the pace up fast enough. (Polatci) picked up the handfighting and we didn't stay with it. The score in the third should have been two points, but they gave him three points. But Tolly still had an opportunity to come back. He had him in the zone a few times and didn't go through the zone. We worked on that in camp, but didn't get it done."
(on the U.S. team) "Obviously, it is disappointing on a professional level. We won one medal so far. We set National Team goals. When you don't accomplish goals, it is disappointing. They trained hard; they competed hard. I am not disappointed in the effort or the commitment. I'm disappointed in the result."