SARA McMANN
2002-03 Team USA Ranking: No. 1 at 63 kg/138.75 lbs.
Years on Team USA: 5 (1999-2004)
Residence: Colorado Springs, Colo.
Club: Sunkist Kids
College: Lock Haven Univ., Univ. of Minnesota-Morris
High School: Marion, N.C. (McDowell HS)
Born: September 24, 1980 in Tacoma Park, Md.
Height: 5-6

1. You have now won four straight national titles, and become a dominant force in the U.S. Is there anyone in this country that can beat you right now?

McMann: Absolutely. Anybody can get beat on any given day. I think it'll be a little harder for me to get beat twice. Obviously Kristie (Marano) is a tough wrestler. I don't count out Tori (Adams). Lauren (Lamb) is a five-time national champ. If she decides to stay up at the Olympic weight, she will be in the mix.

2. Seeing more big names in your weight class this year, how did you prepare for nationals?

McMann: I don't ever prepare specifically for opponents. Especially with not knowing who is coming out of the Challenge Tournament.

3. Your weight class was even a little deeper this year, with Lauren Lamb moving in. Do you expect that as the Olympics draw closer, more top wrestlers will be competing at your weight class?

McMann: I suspect that there are some girls at 147.5 that are going to move down. Sally Roberts and Erin Tomeo, even though Erin hasn't made up her mind yet. There are also some tough girls below. I would be a fool to think that somebody wouldn't come to it.

4. You beat Kristie Marano last year to win the World Team Trials, but she won a bronze medal at the World Championships and you didn't medal at all. Was that hard for you to watch last year?

McMann: I don't think so. At that point I looked at her like my teammate doing well. I was happy and it brought us a little closer in the team race. She wrestled well. I don't necessarily feel bad about how I finished Worlds. The weaknesses that were exposed in me has made me ten times tougher. It was a hard pill to swallow. I have turned around and worked so much harder and refined things better. If I never win anything at Worlds and win the Olympics because all my weaknesses were worked on, I think I would be okay with that.

5. What do you have to do differently to capture a medal at the World Championships?

McMann: It's been different each year. I have different areas that I could be better at. Scoring defensively is something I could work on. I was ahead at last year's Worlds, beating the girl who won it 4-0, but I took too many risks. At some point I have to be able to stop and hold my lead. In Sweden, I got a 5-1 lead on that same girl, and I held onto it. I conquered that demon.

6. A lot of the U.S. women have said they felt sluggish, or just not the same, before last year's World Championships. Can you be added to that list and do you think that the performance by the team as a whole can be chalked up to just a bad weekend?

McMann: I felt great. I was wrestling a great woman. If I'm not 100 percent on my game, this girl is going to beat me. Before the match at Worlds, I felt calm, relaxed and confident. Even when she put me to my back, I was still in a zone enough to think I was going to get out of it. I just happened to get pinned with two seconds left. Terry knew that I was ready. I knew that I was ready. That's the great thing about our sport. It doesn't matter if you have a 9-0 lead. You can get pinned in an instant.

7. What kind of changes have you seen in women's wrestling since the inception of the Women's Resident Program in Colorado Springs?

McMann: I think that the solid base technique has improved in everybody. People are tougher to score on. They are starting to find their own individual styles. We are not all a cookie-cutter prototype that Terry was. He lets us find what we are comfortable with. Conditioning is a lot better. Everybody comes prepared. We don't have a choice.

8. As far as training goes, who has helped you the most since you moved out here?

McMann: Obviously Terry has been a help, but as for training partners, Tela O'Donnell, Sally Roberts and Katie Downing are just tough. I try to spread it out and find people who are strong and tough to score on. I have to set them up really well to even get to their legs. And then it's a whole other battle once I get there.

9. We all know that Kristie and probably even Lauren are your closest competitors right now, but who are the young wrestlers coming up in your weight class that have impressed you and you think could be a bit of a force in 2004?

McMann: Alaina Berube, the girl I wrestled in the national semifinals. Sometimes a tech doesn't tell the whole story. She feels like she trains well and she is pretty strong, and I think that if she gets better in areas, she is going to be a force. Tori Adams is another one. She had a bad nationals, but she has improved and can be a force as well.

10. If you lost at the World Team Trials, would you move up or down in weight and challenge for the position? Why or why not?

McMann: I think I would. I would probably move down. Because I want to go to Worlds. I don't agree with the system, but I would be an idiot not to use it to my advantage, especially a year before the Olympics. There are only so many overseas opportunities.