USOC/USA Wrestling Teleconference  Tuesday, April 6, promoting the U.S. National Championships in Las Vegas, Nev. (Apr. 9-10)    Featuring  Patricia Miranda (Colorado Springs, Colo./Dave Schultz WC), 48 kg women's wrestling  Cael Sanderson (Ames, Iowa/Sunkist Kids), 84 kg men's freestyle wrestling  Brad Vering (Colorado Springs, Colo./Sunkist Kids), 84 kg, Greco-Roman wrestling    (Question about thoughts going into the U.S. National Championships during Olympic Year)    Miranda  "I am real excited for the nationals. It's a change in scenary from the international tournaments. We get to concentrate on domestic competition. It has been a long time coming. I will not look past this event. It is great to get onto the mat."    Sanderson  "I am excited about the tournament. I've been thinking about this for a long time. It is the first step in making the Olympic Team. I've been thinking about that since I was a kid."    Vering  "I have also been thinking about this for a long time. I am looking forward to winning this event. Being national champion is important. Whoever you face coming through the mini-tournament will be beat up, and it's definitely an advantage for us."    (about trying to make the Olympic team in May)    Vering  "I'm coming from a small town in Nebraska. It is hard to say that it is every kid's dream, but this has been a dream for me to do it, and represent Nebraska and Howells (his hometown). It inspires me every day. Knowing I have this small town background is special."    (about trying to win at the nationals to get the No. 1 seed at the Olympic Trials)    Miranda  "I have heard of the advantage of winning here and sitting it out. I've done it both ways. It's important for me to open up when I wrestle and to explore some new limits. I would rather put on a good performance than win at Nationals. I definately plan to win at Trials. The end-all is to make the Olympic Team."    (about if he is gettng bettern and what he is working on)    Sanderson  "I think I am getting better and better. Every time I step on the mat, I am trying to do something better. I am trying to get ready. I am on my way. Now is the time to get on the team and see what I can do. I am trying to get a little stronger physically and work on my par terre, so I can threaten my opponents with my turns. I am working on the little things associated with freestyle."    (about their mental and physical status going into Nationals and Trials)    Miranda  "Mentally and physically, I am really ready and excited. I'm happy it is happening. We will then have plenty of time before the Olympics to show where we are."    Vering  "I'm real hungry. We had extremely tough training over the winter, and some tough competition, so  that we find out where we are. We have tightened up the screws. Physically, you are there. Mentally, you want to compete."    Sanderson  "I'm excited to get this going. We've been training for a long time. Now is the time to see if we are there."    (about staying in Ames and at Iowa State to train)    Sanderson  "It is great. Ames is my home. I feel real comfortable training there. It is nice to have the training partners, the coaches and the atmospher e to do as well as I can. I'm glad I have been able to stay there."    (about what she meant about 'new limits' in her wrestling)    Miranda  "I mean there are areas of my wrestling... say, par terre transitions or different finishes to my leg attacks to blow past people on the international level. It is about not focusing on the outcome of the match but on the process of wrestling. There are certain strides I need to work on. I want to push past that and make sure I am making progress towards the Olympic Games. It is a tricky balance. If  you don't make the team, you don't get to show anything. I'm thinking, if you do send me, I am a gold medal contender and a favorite to win."    (about the competition overseas, as well as in the USA)    Vering  "As far as international competition, besides the World Championships and the Pan Am Games, you go there to gain experience. They are tough. you have to do your best to get matches. We are on the Western side of the world, and most events are in Europe. It is important to get as much out of it as you can. Here, since 74 kg was not qualified, Keith Sieracki is moving up. It looks like he might get the No. 2 seed. There are all the regulars. Quincey Clark, the 2000 Olympian, Ethan Bosch, the Olympic alternate. Jake Clark and Aaron Sieracki are very tough. I'm battle ready. It doesn't matter who I am thrown against. I'm ready for them."    (about having to do well at the Olympics to help women's wrestling)    Miranda  "I haven't thought about that until I was interviewed by ESPN. The guy was obsessed with Mia Hamm, and if I would do for women's wrestling what she did for soccer. He must have asked me a dozen times. I would hope that my actions would enhance the sport. But, I've got to do it by example. I have to work as hard as I can to try to help myself win the gold medal. I don't focus on it, for sure. Some of the outcomes I can't control."    (about her U.S. competition)    Miranda  " Clarissa Chun is always a good wrestler. She has good technique. Mary Kelly is also tough and she is close in matches with Clarissa. Katie Kunimoto has come down from 112, and Malinda Ripley will come down. They are difficult to wrestle. Nobody is worrying me, however."    (about the pain she has experienced waiting for the Trials to come)    Miranda    "Growing up, thinking about being on an Olympic Team was not something I thought of. It was not in the realm of possibility. I have had many painful moments thinking about this just recently. In college, all I wanted to do was beat a guy. Now, at the Olympic level, it is different. I feel pleased to have this opportunity. I'm trying to conclude a lifetime of waiting."    (is there more pressure since she has gotten so much media attention?)    Miranda  "I understand how it might feel like there is more pressure. It's like my personality. I don't think anybody can put more pressure on me than I do to myself. I don't feel a lot from the outside; most of it is from the inside."    (about the fact she has not won a gold medal yet on the World level)    Miranda    "Ouch... (laugh). It's a huge motivation. I'm there to win. Its about dealing with the painful losses along the way."    (same question for Sanderson and Vering)    Sanderson  "I havent' won a gold medal. It hasn't changed my goals. Last year I wanted first, not second. I didn't do what I needed to do to win. Hopefully, I learned from the experience so I can win this year."    Vering  "This only comes every four years. You might have only one or two chances at it. I have made a lot of sacrifices to get here and I will have to make some more. I am here to be on the podium in Athens. If you are not putting 100% into this, you are wasting your time, frankly."    (about going from college wrestling into Greco-Roman)    Vering    "I had Matt Lindland as a coach in Nebraska, and we were friends before I even went to Nebraska. It made it an easier transition for me. It is such a different style than college. I didn't realize that until I made my first team and then moved to Colorado. I had to make a lot of changes. I think that is why a lot of college wrestlers shy away (from Greco-Roman). You have to change and you take a lot of losses along the way. These are guys not used to losing. It's a great sport for me. I love the toughness and the technique. I want to be one of those guys who put Greco on the map."    (about all the Univ. of Nebraska Greco-Roman wrestlers)    "Being around guys were were teammates or alumni, we have a special connection. We train together and push each other. That connection of going to school together helps. We are closer because of that."    (About what makes the Olympic year different)    Sanderson  "Being the Olympic year, it feels different. But you are still trying to qualify, for the chance to be the best in the world. You feel a little different because of the Olympics this year. It's cool. It's just a big tournament still and you ha