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| John Olanowski is 10-3 entering Thursday's dual with Pitt. |
MatChat: John Olanowski Transcript
On Monday, Dec. 18, freshman John Olanowski stopped by to answer your questions. The Q-and-A session with Mizzou's 125-pounder lasted approximately 20 minutes.
The chat session was the sixth in a season-long campaign (Monday Mat Chat) -- and the final one of the fall semester -- in which fans had the opportunity to communicate with various members of the Missouri coaching staff and team.
During his redshirt season, Olanowski picked up 31 wins and four tournament titles at 125 pounds. This year, John is off to a 10-3 start entering Thursday's home-opening dual with Pitt.
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Moderator: Be sure to get those questions in early! John will be coming by in about four minutes! |
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| Devon Wolkonsi, Columbia: hey, I have been following all of your matches recently and was wondering if you could give me some advice about how to get off of the bottom position?…
Thanks,
your number one fan |
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John Olanowski: The key to getting off bottom is a quick first move. If you can get to your feet first the guy is going to let you out. I've been having my own problems though, so if you have any answers, let me know. |
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| Jay Young (St. Peters, Mo): What has been the most difficult adjustment you have had to make in the transition from high school to college wrestling? Any surprises? |
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John Olanowski: The most difficult adjustment is either getting off bottom of getting up for every single match. Every guy you wrestle is tough. In high school you have one or two tough matches, in college it's more. I'm having trouble in the neutral position because in high school I as really good on my feet. It's tough to get the takedown. People don't give it to you like they do in high school. |
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| Dan (New Bern, NC): John, congrats on your great start. My question is when you lighter guys are in practice do you wrestle with the bigger guys to try and improve your strength and technique? And can you please let Raymond know he still can't take me down. Thanks a lot and keep up the good work. |
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John Olanowski: In practice I mostly wrestler 125 pounders, because we have so many this year. Every once in a while I'll wrestle a 133 pounder like Tyler McCormick and Willie Saxton. It doesn't improve your strength but you have to be more technical. I'll let Raymond know he still can't take you down. |
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| Bill (St. Louis): John-Good luck to you and the team this season. Can't think of any other squad that deserves to be No. 1 more than the Tigers. My question is, is your natural weight pretty close to the weight you wrestle at? Or do you have to cut a lot? If so, what type of diet or workout regimen to you have to stick with? |
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John Olanowski: My natural weight now is really close to the weight I wrestle at. I had to go on a really big diet to get down to my weight because I was really small last year and lifted over the summer. My diet mostly consists of lunchmeat, chicken, fruit, yogurt, Gatorade, water... those type of things. I try and stay away from things like hamburgers or fatty foods. |
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| John (St. Charles): I noticed you're from Virginia Beach...what are some of the things you miss most from home? Any good restaurants you'd recomment to a guy heading out that way for the Virginia Duals?? |
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John Olanowski: The things I miss most about home are my friends. They're re pretty wild at home. I miss the beach but I love Missouri. It's a real nice place. The guys on the team make it worth my stay for being so far from home. Let's see… restaurants. If you go to the beach, there's a place called Captain George's that's good… if you like seafood. There's also a lot of good Mexican restaurants. |
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| Lance (Alexandria): Congrats on making the lineup this year. What's the dual you most look forward to competing in this season? |
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John Olanowski: My biggest dual this year would probably be ODU because they're from Virginia -- not far from my place at home. Or, UTC would be big. Then I can wrestle the guy I lost to in the Missouri Open earlier this year. Really though, every dual is big. I'm wresting on the No. 1 team in the country and that's an honor. |
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| Bob (Houchin): What's it like to be the first person out on the mat wrestling at a dual? Do you feel any pressure when you start duals at 125 pounds? |
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John Olanowski: It's pretty tough to be on the wrestling mat first. You set the tone for the dual. If I wrestle well the guys on our team feed off of me. If we're at home, the crowd feeds off me. If we're away I can kind of quiet the crowd and show them that Missouri is for real and ready to win the dual meet. |
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| Joel (Lincoln): Who do you see as your biggest opponent this season? |
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John Olanowski: I really don't think I have a big opponent this year. I'm still new to the college wrestling scene and don't have any rivals yet. I guess every match I wrestle is going to be my biggest. Most of the time my biggest opponent is myself. If I go out there and get the first takedown that kind of boosts my confidence and let's me know I can win it. If I go out there and I'm off on my offense then it's not good since I'm not the best defensive wrestler. |
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| Patrick (Fargo, N.D.): How are things media wise out there? It seems like everyone in the nation is hearing more about Missouri wrestling. Have you guys been swamped with interviews? |
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| Jason (Lansing): When's your next dual? |
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John Olanowski: The media is great around our wrestling team. We're getting a lot more interviews since we're No. 1. People are starting to hear about us because we're up and coming. It's really an honor to be No. 1. There's only 11 teams that have been here before. It's nice to be one of the few that have been ranked No. 1. |
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John Olanowski: Thursday at 7. Come out and see us, It's our fist dual meet. It should be a good one too. We're No. 1 in the country...come on out and watch us wrestle. |
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John Olanowski: Thanks for all the questions. I really hope everyone is able to come out and see us wrestle at least once this season. It's a pretty exciting thing to be No. 1 and hopefully we can get all of Columbia behind us this Thursday night. Thanks again... |
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Moderator: Just a note...we'll be taking next Monday off from MatChat for Christmas. Stay tuned for more details on our next MatChat available only online at www.mutigers.com.
Happy Holidays! |
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