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NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 20, 2015Cory ClarkST. LOUIS, MISSOURI THE MODERATOR: Cory Clark of Iowa, an opening statement, please. CORY CLARK: I knew I had to come out hard and ready to wrestle as every match. But a familiar opponent I've wrestled a couple times. He's really explosive, and when he goes, he decides to go and he goes hard. So you've got to be ready at all times because he's really quick like the snap of a finger. I knew I had to be ready to wrestle, just extra, extra ready. Q.  As you look back I'm sure there are a lot of things going through your head in the last 30, 40 seconds when he escaped 6‑3. Are you thinking you've got to stay in strong position thinking back to the duel? CORY CLARK: That's a good point. I told myself over and over if I get a lead just keep wrestling, and sometimes that's hard to do a short time on the clock. I feel like I did kind of go back a little bit and maybe shut down a little. But in the duel I kind of shut down completely. I wasn't really getting to my tie. This time I felt like I at least had my tie and I probably stopped going to my attacks. But I had tie and my tie and my head position, so ended up working out, I guess. Q. Looked like you kind of stepped things up a little bit when you got that reversal in the second period. Was that maybe a little bit of a wake‑up call that you had to push the pace a little bit? CORY CLARK: Yeah, came out looking to score first and I wasn't able to score in the first period. Fought off a good leg attack. When he got that reversal it was really time to go, which, whenever I'm on bottom, I'm usually pretty quick to my feet. Maybe it was a little bit of a wake‑up call or maybe it was just me continuing to wrestle. Q. Were you aware of what happened to Gilman right before you went on the mat? CORY CLARK: Yeah, I heard. Terry told me Gilman got pinned. At first my first instinct was I was a little bit shocked and kind of like blew me off my feet for a second. But then I just took a breath and just brushed it off my mind because I can't be thinking about those things. That type of stuff happens. I mean, you wrestle on dual teams your whole life. Stuff like that happens before you go out and you can't let it affect you. Q. What did you see and what was going through your mind down there on the edge? CORY CLARK: When I got the reversal off of his shot, I mean, it was a good shot by him and the number one defense for me to go to was legs back. And he kind of stopped that. He kind of cut me back so I couldn't go legs back. I'm a good scrambler, and you don't want to be scrambling unless you have to, and that was a situation I had to scramble. I scrambled to my best ability and came out on top. Q. You're moving on to the 133‑pound finals like Ramos did a year ago. Does that mean anything to you following in his footsteps? Has he had any influence on your development at all? CORY CLARK: Yes, definitely. We were roommates. Just coming to Iowa in general it's guys like Ramos is one of the guys you look up to and you want to wrestle like that guy. I mean youth, kids, everyone, there are a lot of people out there that want to wrestle like Tony Ramos. I happen to be one of those people. He was my roommate. So I've got a really good idea of how he lives his life and how he got to the national title and gave me good footsteps to walk in. Q. You had a moment before the round started where Tony came down in the stands and said something to you. Can you share what was said then? CORY CLARK: Real short and sweet. It was just: You know how to beat this guy. You've got to wrestle the full seven minutes. I know you can beat him and you know you can beat him, good luck. Something like that. That's all I needed to hear. When he initially waved me over it was kind of like I was trying to get ready for my match and I don't really like to go just talk to someone about nonsense, and I was hoping he wasn't going to try to start some random conversation. But luckily he was on the same page I was on. Q. What is your history with Brewer? What are your thoughts about your opponent tomorrow? CORY CLARK: Brewer, no history there. We've never wrestled. Almost positive on that. Thoughts on him, he's obviously a tough wrestler. He's in the national finals. I haven't really watched him a whole lot. I feel like from score‑wise I feel like he's been dominating guys. Doesn't really worry me or scare me because I know in order for me to win the national title, I've got to wrestle at my very best, and I'm sure he's thinking along the same lines. Should be interesting. We'll see what happens. Q. You chose before the year to jump up to 133. Do you feel like when you had that in mind ‑‑ is this the sort of end point you had in mind when you decided that? CORY CLARK: I'm the type of competitor that hates losing and I always want to win. So my coaches have told me and I've told myself whatever weight I decide to go, I'll be competing for a national title. If I'm not in the finals, I'll do my best to put myself in a position. I feel 25 just was a lot of ups and downs that year. This year has had ups and downs. So kind of similar years but different years. But, yeah. Once I made the move up, I wasn't going to go from thinking I can win a title at 125 to just moving up just to wrestle for fun or whatever. I was moving up to go for a title as well. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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