March 3, 2007

Big 12 Championships Site
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Jordan Burroughs (NU)- 3rd Place- 149 pounds
On approaching the third-place match against MU's Josh Wagner:
"I watched his last match and saw him getting tired so I just kept pushing it."

On finishing third:
"I tried to out-condition and out-wrestle him.  I'm pretty happy with the results."

Joel Flaggert (OU)-3rd Place- 197 pounds
Reactions to match:
"Well, I'd like to wrestle again in a couple weeks, when I feel better.  I'm not happy with the match. I would have done some things differently, I'm glad to get it over with!"

Michael Chandler (MU)- 3rd Place- 157 pounds
On his third-place performance:
"It was good, I wrestled real well. He's tough. We're looking forward to banging the next two years."

On his third-place match opponent, Will Rowe (OU):
"He beat me for third place last year and I beat him for third this year so it should be good in the future."

Mark Ellis (MU)- 3rd Place-- Heavyweight
On his third-place finish:
"I wanted to win it all. I'm disappointed with myself."

On his performance in the third-place match:
"I was determined. No matter what it took I knew I had to win and I never let any doubts get into my mind."

On his opponent, Brad Farmer of Oklahoma:
"He's pretty tough. He changed things up when he knew I was going to attack."

Nick Gallick (ISU)- 3rd place--133 pounds
On his overall performance:
"It was a good win. I was able to get the team some points and was able to qualify for Nationals."

On goals for performance:
"Basically to win and to get bonus points.."

Grant Turner (ISU)- 3rd place--174 pounds
On his overall performance:
"It started out very, very slow. I did not want to do that, but I just kept coming back and am very happy with the overall performance. 

On his goals:
"There are a lot, a national championship, win the conference tournament as a team.  Individually, I would like to get to nationals.  I'm just very happy, very, very happy."

 

Kyle Terry (OU) - 3rd Place--141 pounds
On goals for himself:
"Going in, I was nervous because it was a borderline qualification, but as soon as I stepped on the mat I became confident of a win."

On his performance:
"Overall I was extremely excited about the win"

 

Matt Storinolo  (OU)- 1st Place--149 pounds
On winning the title at 149 pounds:
"I have three silver medals from conference this year, and I was getting tired of second, so it's nice to come away with a win.  This is really big for me this year, I've had several injuries."

On an injury-filled season:
"I have had a couple injuries this season, I had a separated rib and torn bicep, but I'm healthy now.  With injuries, we want to make sure we are healthy, because there is no time for re-injury, and the end of the year is what is important.  We have to have our priorities in place and this is the healthiest I've been all season, I'm 100%!"

Cyler Sanderson (Iowa) -2nd Place- 149 pounds
On being coached by his brothers:
"It's fun being with my brothers every day.  It's great to have your family around and supporting you."

On why he wrestles:
"Wrestling is really a family sport, one person does it and then everyone else starts.  People fall in love with the sport really quickly.  I grew up watching my brother's wrestle and my dad as a coach, and it was all I ever wanted to do."

Trent Paulson (Iowa State) - 1st Place--157 pounds
On capturing the 157 pound Championship:
"It just meant a lot for me. I had to work real hard to score any points. Our team's dealt with tough times and adversity all year."

On encouragement from his coach:
"He just said some motivating words, `you're a senior and it's time to take care of business.'"

Chris Oliver (NU) - 2nd Place--157 pounds
On his second-place finish:
"Obviously I wasn't that happy with my performance, but we've got Nationals in two weeks, so I've got to be ready to go."

Coleman Scott (OU)-1st Place--133 pounds
On overall performance:
"It was alright. I shut it down in the end of the third period.  I was disappointed in myself though.  I felt great at the first two periods, but I do not really know what happened after that.  I felt disappointed in myself."

Thoughts during match:
"I got good turns, felt like I was in good position to get good turns.  Had a good feeling and wasn't going to let myself get down.  I was not going to let myself lose like that."

On his team being an underdog:
"I feel as though the team has been strong the past couple of years and wasn't going to lose with the guys we had.  We felt confident."

Ben Askren (MU)-1st Place--174 pounds
On day as a whole:
"It was frustrating, but I am proud of the guys. We went out there and did what we were supposed to do.  We should have done better, but am proud of our guys."

On team and Nationals:
"Although we didn't win, we knew we needed to qualify eight and will hopefully get some wildcards, get healthy and be just fine for Nationals."

On leaving Mizzou:
"It means a lot to me. I want to help bring the team to the top at Nationals and we have a good chance of getting it."  

How wrestling will change when he leaves:
"Hopefully, I will lead the way for somebody new, someone who will have fun with it and just go for it."

Raymond Jordan (MU) 1st Place--184 pounds
On his thoughts in final seconds of match:
"Even though the score was 3-3, I knew in my mind that I was a Big 12 Champion. I had that confidence in myself that I would pull through. My strategy was to wrestle hard and find a way to win."

On his overall feeling of meet:
"As a whole we did not do as good as we could have done.  We worked hard, but could have done better.  Hopefully in the end we can still have some wildcards to qualify at Nationals."

 

David Zabriskie (Iowa State) - 1st place-- Heavyweight
On his coaches:
"They expect the same gut out of all of us whether we're freshmen or seniors. This is a great team. We're a very close team, everybody works hard."

Stephen Dwyer (NU)-- 3rd Place--165 pounds
On difference between facing Matt Pell at the beginning of the year and facing him now:
"Different mindset. You know, at the beginning of the year he was better than me. I don't know if I'm a better wrestler now, or if it's better conditioning, but I did what I had to do to make myself better, to push myself."

On expectations:
"I knew things would be different at the beginning of the year. I pushed myself as hard as I can every time I go into the practice ring. I really improved throughout the year. That's something that I carried with me from high school and my high school coach. Starting around my junior year (of high school), I'd lose to a kid at the beginning of the year and beat him later in the year because I kept pushing myself harder."

Sam Hazewinkel (OU)-- 1st Place --125 pounds
On his strength going into the Big 12 Tournament
"I think maybe not my freshman year, but these last two years I've definitely felt strong. I'm at 100 percent."

Johnny Hendricks (OSU)-- 1st Place --165 pounds
On wrestling against him:
You gotta take me down more than once to beat me. That's just the way they (Iowa State) wrestle. Nothing really changed. I didn't have a mindset. Going out there, I'm ready to wrestle. But I'm not wrestling that well. I'm the only one that's going to be able to fix that."

Max Askren (MU)--1st Place--197 pounds
On expectations:
"I wanted to win, I thought if we won we could win the entire match, but I guess not."

Craig Brester (NU)- 2nd Place--197 pounds
On his final match:
"I wanted to get out there and get my stuff done, and come out with a win. I thought I did well and how preformed how I wanted to the first and second period, but in the third period I made a mistake in a big match and I paid for it."

On his performance:
"I see improvement, but I need to keep working."