FROM MINNESOTA'S JAYSON NESS (FIFTH AT 125)
"I knew that I needed to go out and get that pin, especially after I lost that (cons. semifinal) match. By getting the win and pin, it nearly cancels out one of Iowa State's finalists.

WHAT DID YOU SAY AS A GROUP BEFORE ROUND STARTED?
"We just huddled up and said we need to be intense and create out own destiny and make sure we take first place."

FROM CORNELL'S TROY NICKERSON AFTER FINISHING THIRD AT 125

(on semifinal loss) "When you wrestle here, you have to be on top of your game to win. I wasn't on top of my game and let the refs decide my match. Unfortunately, I did not wrestle my best. To win this tournament, you have to have five perfect matches. I'm still an All-American, which is a great compliment.  I have some work to do before next year.

SHOULD SEMI LOSS HAVE GONE TO STALEMATE INSTEAD OF PENALTY POINT?
"It should have been at least a stalemate. I was coming up the whole time. I was above his knee trying to cut across. It's hard to do anything when the guy is kicking like that. I should have had a bigger lead and won it in regulation. Instead, I let the ref win it." 

FIRST TIME TO WRESTLE IN CONSOLATION SINCE BEFORE HIGH SCHOOL?
"It was definitely disappointing. I haven't been in wrestle back since I was in PeeWees. It's definitely a different experience, but I was able to clear my head and get back on track for today."

FROM NICK SIMMONS OF MICHIGAN STATE AFTER HIS THIRD PLACE MATCH AT 133 POUNDS

CAN YOU PUT THIS IN WORDS?
"It's disappointing, big time."

ARE YOU HAPPY THIS COLLEGE STUFF IS DONE?
"Yes and no. No., because I'd like another shot to try and get (the NCAA title). I just have to move on and hopefully get my international career going and make an Olympic or World team. "

DO YOU HAVE TO WAIT FOUR YEARS TO APPRECIATE FOUR ALL-AMERICAN HONORS
"I'm proud to be a four-time All-American, but everyone knows that I'm disappointed after this weekend."

ON THE SEMI LOSS TO SCOTT
"I got caught early for that four (point move) and then it was a dogfight to try and catch up after that. I did what I could to try and catch up. He wrestled a good match."

WHEN WILL YOU STARTING TRAINING FOR WORLD TEAM
"Probably after I take a week off."

FROM RIDER'S DON PITSCH, AT 141 LBS.

WHAT HAS THIS WEEKEND BEEN LIKE FOR YOU
"I came here unseeded, but beat a lot of good guys. I wish I was in the finals."

ON SEMI LOSS, WHICH WAS PROTESTED
"I felt pretty confident that he didn't have two." 

ON TRIALS OF CAREER
"I'm just happy that I didn't give up." 

WHY COME BACKTHIS YEAR
"I was ranked last year, had a bad year this year. I'm happy that I wasn't ranked because a lot of guys did not know who I was. 

HIGHLIHGT OF WEEKEND
"Probably beating Rivera. I knew I was an All-american after that."

FROM CHARLES GRIFFIN OF HOFSTRA, THIRD AT 141

WHY WERE YOU AND HOFSTRA SUCCESSFUL THIS WEEKEND
"We've been working all year for the end of the year. At the beginning of the year, that's what we had our mindset on, doing good at the end. As long as you're winning here, you feel good.

WENT THROUGH COACHING CHANGE
"The coaching staff did not diminish. We have great coaches now, just like we'd had in  the past. I'm sure any coach we had would do the same thing and make sure everyone was doing the best they could."

FROM DUSTIN SCHLATTER OF MINNESOTA AFTER FINISHING THIRD AT 149

ARE YOU PHYSICALLY OK
"In the Big Ten finals, I sprained my MCL (in right knee). It doesn't excuse losing. The only problem was I didn't get to really train at the end. It hurt me, but is no excuse for losing." 

ON MENTAL PRESSURE YOU HAD TO DEAL WITH THIS YEAR IN TRYING TO REPEAT
"They are enormous in compared to last year. You know this year was tougher for me, based on the closer matches. Everyone was scouting me a lot more. I had a target on my back. Last year, I was a no-one freshman."

DID INJURY FORCE YOU TO WRESTLE MORE DEFENSIVELY
"At this tournament, it was a little harder to get my offense going. It was hard to get my shots going.When you face guys who back up, back up, it makes it hard to wrestle."

REGROUPING OVER LAST NIGHT
"It's incredibly hard. You don't go losing for over a year and get upset after losing in the semifinals. The last thing you want to do is wrestle two more matches. We didn't have a good round. It was real bad. We knew that we couldn't give up.We're doing it for the team now. 

FROM STANFORD'S JOSH ZUPANIC AT 157 AFTER FINISHING SEVENTH, WAS DOWN 9-6 IN THIRD PERIOD, BUT CAME BACK TO WIN
"I felt like I was better than him. I just did that stupid lateral that didn't work and he got thee back points."

CAME TO MICHIGAN WITHOUT NAME AND SEED. DID YOU TRY TO EARN THAT HERE
"I came here to win the tournament. I probably had ten losses coming into here, but nine came from Top 15 guys. I just felt that I could go with all these guys. I felt good after the Pac 10s. I trained smart and felt that I could have a good tournament."

WHAT'S GOING ON OUT THERE AT STANFORD, WHICH HAD TWO ALL-AMERICANS
"It started with our previous coach Steve Budde and Kerry McCoy has come in and improved our training. He's good in scheduling stuff and making sure we do stuff. He's definitely the difference and has helped me out quite a bit." 

FROM MISSOURI COACH BRIAN SMITH AFTER MATT PELL PINNED TANNENBAUM FOR THIRD PLACE
"I just told him to stick with the game plan all year. A lot of people were criticizing us all year for cutting him down there. But I knew that he was a great wrestler and we kept him out of some events and kept him fresh."

"This year he saved the flat for the Big 12s and came out strong here.  He scored nine bonus points for us the last few rounds. I'm really proud of him. He's up at 184 for two years and came down to 165 and comes through to get a third for us. He probably sealed for us to be on the stage now, which is important for program."

Get position and score. We simplified it. We said stop thinking about what they are doing and get good position, block their shots and score. 

WERE YOU AFRAID THAT YOU MIGHT NOT HAVE THIS MOMENT AFTER YESTERDAY
"In every tournament this year, we've always stepped up  and it may be someone different every time. At the Southern Scuffle we had a back up (Marable) wrestling for Pell who took third in tournament. 

Even the guys who did not place here were scoring pins. We have only three All-americans and we are in third. Bonus points are something we preached all year. Bonus is what wins at these tournaments

FROM MATT PELL OF MISSOURI, THIRD AT 165 POUNDS

AFTER DISAPPOINT BIG 12, WHERE HE FINISHED FOURTH
"The next day I was hanging out at the coffee shop and reading and bumming. I picked myself up and got over that hump. I realized when I was sitting there that none of that mattered. What matters is that I did get to the national tournament. Who cares how. I was lucky enough to compete here and one more chance to end season on good note. 

WAS READING SIGMUND FREUD'S INTERPRETATION OF A DREAM
"This is the best tournament I've wrestled."

ON SITTING OUT SEVERAL EVENTS THIS YEAR
"I give Coach Smith all the credit. It was my senior year and I was missing out on a big chunk of the season. That was hard, but I had faith in my coaching. He knew what to do to make it happen at the end."

WHEN FIRST CAME TO MISSOURI, COULD YOU HAVE IMAGINED WINNING A TROPHY
"It did seem like far-off goal, maybe not considered attainable. But teammates like Ben Askren and the way he works with others is an inspiration to the whole team  It brought that goal that much closer."

FROM ERIC LUEDKE OF IOWA AFTER FINISHING THIRD AT 174
"Some guys don't have the right attitude. Part of it is off-season. The way some guys train in the off-season is not how guys in the finals train. like Askren and Herbert. Those guys are different than anyone else."

"We can't do anything until Brands gets his recruits. It's hard to lay the law down with some of those guys who have the full rides. Those guys with full rides on the team don't deserve them. 

"If you've been in the program for three years and haven't earned All-American honors, something had to change. We're not even in the top three and haven't contended for a title since 2001. 

MINDSET CHANGE BETWEEN JIM ZALESKY AND TOM BRANDS
"There's more of a demand for the consistency. It's about nationals. I don't know how you get in some of those guys' heads. I've said you are on a full ride. Perhaps you should give it up or 70 percent of it back. That would open their eyes and they would be offended. 

FROM DEONTE PENN OF EDINBORO, AFTER TAKING SEVENTH AT 165

HIGHLIGHT OF TOURNAMENT
"Losing just 6-5 in quarterfinals (to Perry). Against the top people in the nation, and with a little more effort I might have won it. I know that I'm good enough to be No. 1 in the nation. I'm just one move away. 

ON EDINBORO'S SUCCESS
"You don't go to Edinboro to party. You come to win. It's a dry campus and there is no drinking on campus. You come to train and win."

FROM  MIKE POETA OF ILLINOIS, WHO FINISHED THIRD AT 157
"I think a lot of times I'm wrestling two guys out there: my opponent and myself. A lot of time I've doubted myself. I think that was the case last night."

ON PROTEST
"I kept telling my coach I don't really care what they decide. I started to get cold while I was waiting."

ON QUARTER WITH SCHLATTER
"CP is so hard to score on. It was 4-0 in the third period and I was down on myself. I turned to my coahces who told me to gut it out. That was what I had to do. I just had to keep attacking."

FROM OHIO STATE COACH TOM RYAN, WHO'S J.D. BERGMAN LOST TO ONE OF HIS FORMER WRESTLERS, WEIDMAN IN THIRD PLACE MATCH
"I'm very close to Chris Weidman. He's a great young man and I'm fortunate that our paths crossed. But I'm at Ohio State now. That's the way the competition is."

ON FIRST YEAR AT OHIO STATE
"It was a great first year with great staff. It's an inspiring place with high standards and high expectations."

"Like building a sandcastle, we have a lot of sand to work with. There is great high school wrestling so it's been a great year."

IS IT A MATTER OF IMPROVING DEPTH AT OHIO STATE
"I think it's faith in the fact of what we're doing is going to work. This weekend showed that as a freshman out of high school, you can place. This tournament showed the way we are training and the way we are treating our student athletes is good.Faith in the ways we are dong things are critical.

FROM CHRIS WEIDMAN OF HOFSTRA, THIRD AT 197

DID YOU FIND IT WEIRD OR IRONIC THAT YOUR LAST MATCH HERE WOULD BE AGAINST YOUR FORMER COACH
"I had a feeling it was going to happen. We were supposed to meet in the second round, but he got upset."

ON TRANSITION OF COACHES
"Tom Ryan had more of a go-get-them style, coming from the Iowa program . They are both excellent coaches. Shifflet focused a lot of technique and shows us new stuff. When Tom left, he left us a lot tougher because of the Iowa-style. Shifflet works us hard to but it's a little different

"Last year, not being seeded, made it more overwhelming. This year I kind of expected it."