Fourth Session Quotes - NCAA National Championships
<< Back to Articles
Ted Witulski (TheMat.com)
03/22/2002
Quotes Witt Durden of Oklahoma, before wrestling Johnny Thompson of Oklahoma State "The last time I wrestled him I felt like I was making strides. I felt I was getting my shot off better. He's really explosive and can get a person out of position in a hurry." Robert Heinz, doctor for Oklahoma, on Leonce Crump's knee injury "There is some damage in there. He'll have to live with his knee injury the rest of his life so we did not want to risk further damage to it. Since he can't go 100%, he's not wrestling." Eric Larkin of Arizona State, before wrestling Nate Parker of Oklahoma "I plan on getting the first takedown. The last time it was a tight match and I ended up losing to him." Joel Greenlee, coach of Ohio, on Jake Percival "He's good, but he does not get a lot of credit. He's extremely good on top, and we work hard at keeping guys down." Chris Fleeger of Purdue, before facing Stephen Abas "The last time I wrestled him I felt I had a bad match. As a freshman, I have been working on my mental preparation. People say that there is no pressure on you when you face a guy like Abas, but I do feel it." Damion Hahn of Minnesota, on his narrow quarterfinals win "The less points I got to score, the better." (on comparing the semifinals to last year's first round loss) "It's a lot better feeling. You definitely don't want to lose at the nationals in the first round. You don't want to have to come through those matches." Mark Manning, coach of Nebraska, to his assistants after Justin Ruiz' pin in consolations "That's two wins and two pins." Greg Parker of Princeton, on his finals opponent Greg Jones of WVU "He's a redshirt freshman, so it's not like he's inexperienced. I'm trying to stay relaxed, not get too uptight, and just have fun." Jack Spates, coach of Oklahoma, on his team's effort so far "I'm just so proud of these guys. We have really proved ourselves. We have six all-Americans." (on Josh Lambrechts upset over Hahn) "I have the upmost respect for Damion Hahn. Coming out of high school, he was all-World and Josh was all-nothing. Josh sent his film to us, which for the way he wrestles may not have been the best thing to do. He has tremendous heart and now is in the national finals." Josh Koschek of Edinboro, last year's champion, on being in the consolations "With my injury, I didn't have confidence like I had last season. I want to end my career on a good note." Josh Lambrecht of Oklahoma, on why the Sooners are successful "Coach Spates has a great staff of assistant coaches that he trusts and allows them to work with each of us individually. He gives them a lot of freedom to help us." Mark Manning of Nebraska, on his second season at Nebraska "We are going through the stage of being good, to moving to become a great team. We want to be in the top four." Chris Bono, assistant at Iowa State, on his team "The boys scrapped hard and we couldn't be happier with the effort. We wrestled to our seeds, and Aaron Holker wrestled above his seed. We've had no letdowns." Coach Micheal New of Princeton, on orange blazers "They are tough to find and since I don't get paid a lot, I usually have to wait until they are on sale."