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| Raymond Jordan |
MatChat: Raymond Jordan Transcript
On Monday, Dec. 4, sophomore Raymond Jordan stopped by to answer your questions. The chat session was the fourth in a season-long campaign (Monday Mat Chat) in which fans have the opportunity to communicate with various members of the Missouri coaching staff and team.
Jordan is coming off of a sixth-place finish at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational last weekend. Last year, Jordan won the Marshall Esteppe Award as the team's outstanding freshman. He qualified for the NCAA Championships in his debut season, and finished as the Big 12 Conference runner-up at 184 pounds. He has two Missouri Open titles to his credit, and is currently the fourth-ranked wrestler in the country at that weight.
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Moderator: We're about 10 minutes away from the start of our weekly MatChat. Send your questions in now for guest and 184 pounder Raymond Jordan! |
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| Gene (Landing): Raymond-Hey, nice job last year as a redshirt freshman. What do you think about the level of competition in the Big 12? Most people think it's the toughest conference in the country....do you agree? |
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Raymond Jordan: I think that the level of the competition in the Big 12 is very high. Oklahoma State is ranked No. 1 and Missouri is 2. I think Iowa State is in the top-10 and Nebraska and Oklahoma are among the top 20. There's only five teams, but all five on any given day could give another team a run for their money. I think Oklahoma just gave Oklahoma State a good match too, so the competition is fierce. I definitely think this is one of the toughest conferences in the country. |
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| Mike (Warsaw): What are some of the Tigers expectations this season? It must be great to be ranked so high! Keep it up! |
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Raymond Jordan: The level of competition is very high. We have Matt Pell, Ben Askren, myself and Mark Ellis. It's a brawl every day. There's no way you can come in and think that you'll coast through. You have to come in every day and be ready to battle. |
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| Dave (Rider): What's the level of competition like in the Missouri wrestling room? I hear you've got a lot of good practice partners in the upperweight classes. |
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Raymond Jordan: The level of competition is very high. We have Matt Pell, Ben Askren, myself and Mark Ellis. It's a brawl every day. There's no way you can come in and think that you'll coast through. You have to come in every day and be ready to battle. |
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Moderator: What are some of the Tigers expectations this season? It must be great to be ranked so high! Keep it up! |
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Raymond Jordan: The level of competition is very high. We have Matt Pell, Ben Askren, myself and Mark Ellis. It's a brawl every day. There's no way you can come in and think that you'll coast through. You have to come in every day and be ready to battle. |
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| Dan (Toledo): What's your diet like to stay at or around 184 pounds? Do you have to cut a lot of weight to prepare for duals and tournaments? |
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Raymond Jordan: I don't really have a certain diet. I try to eat healthy a majority of the time. I try to eat a lot of protein for muscle recovery. I love fruit...a lot. I don't have to cut a lot of weight, I have a high metabolism...which is nice. |
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| Larry (Little, Texas): Congrats to the Tigers on the start of a good season! Where is the team off to next? Any big duals you're looking forward to this year? |
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Raymond Jordan: We're heading to the state of Michigan this weekend to face Central Michigan and Michigan State. I look forward to every dual but this year I'm really looking forward to Oklahoma State. We got beat by them pretty bad last year and I think we can turn the tables this year. |
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| Frank (Joplin): Who do you see as your toughest competition this season? Personally, I think you're unstoppable...of course I'm just a loyal Tiger fan! Good luck this year! |
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Raymond Jordan: My toughest competition, I would have to say, is myself. I have to go out on the mat and wrestle myself. I feel like if I go out there for seven minutes and go hard nobody can beat me. |
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| John, Columbia: Raymond, Team chemistry is very important. How strong is the chemistry of this Tiger team and how does that show up at the duals? |
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Raymond Jordan: The team chemistry this year is really strong. It's been strong since I've been here, but it's even stronger this year with the high expectations. We realize we have to come together, work together and push each other to reach a goal. It's been one of our biggest focus points this year.
This really shows up at duals. A lot of guys on other teams don't really care what their team does as long as they look good. With our team, it doesn't matter if they're on the bench, or warming up for their next match, we're all on the sidelines cheering and yelling out our support. |
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| Jeff (Mindin): What type of weight lifting program does the team do to prepare for the season? It seems like you guys are always in good shape and ready to go a full seven minutes on the mat. Keep it up! |
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Raymond Jordan: During preseason we do heavy lifts to work on increasing our strength but as the season approaches we lower the weight and increase the reps to work on endurance. Throughout the season our schedule conflicts with lifting so we may only get one good lift. |
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| Lance (Paris): Raymond-hey, it looks like the guys on the team are pretty tight. Do you guys do a lot of things together outside the room and off the mat? Good luck to you and the Tigers. |
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Raymond Jordan: We do a lot of acuities outside of the room and off the mat. We usually eat together after practice and converse over lunch or dinner. The team is very interested in MMA (mixed martial srts) so one of the guys will order a pay-per-view event, UFC or Pride, and we'll all come over and watch it. We get pretty antsy while we watch it since we're wrestlers. There's always a little of grappling on our own.
We also do paint balling. We have paint ball championship teams and we pair up which is fun.
We really do a lot of fun things, disc golfing included. |
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| frank (lincoln, ne): Hi Raymond. What made you attend Mizzou? Good luck this year. |
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Raymond Jordan: The team chemistry made me decide on Mizzou. I checked out a couple of schools, I don't want to name any in particular. But at most that I visited there were little groups of three of four people hanging out together and each group was different. At Missouri, everyone got together and hung out together. If one guy went out, he called everyone to see if they wanted to go as well. The team chemistry is great. The fact that Mizzou was a program on the rise and up and coming was also something I wanted to be a part of. |
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Moderator: Alright everyone...thanks for all of the questions. Next week, defending National Champion Ben Askren will be stopping by so be sure to get your questions in as soon as the next chat is released on line. |
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