|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 20, 2015David HabatST. LOUIS, MISSOURI THE MODERATOR: We welcome 149 pound finalist David Habat of Edinboro. First off, David, start off an opening statement talking about your match tonight. DAVID HABAT: I was excited to be in the semifinals. I think when you get really competitive and you know you can win it, you don't want to enjoy the ride, and all I've been doing this year is enjoying the ride, so I took it one match at a time. You guys know I opened up for Josh Kindig, a finalist who beat me in overtime last year. It was a good thing. I actually wanted it, because then you can't look past your opponents. You can't look further in the bracket. So I hadn't thought about it until today that I had the quarterfinals match. I hadn't thought about him. I really liked the kid a lot. He's a good wrestler. Very, very good wrestler. He beat me at the Midlands and I wanted to get revenge on him. But I like the guy. It's just a competitive thing. It wasn't a personal grudge, so he wrestled really hard. He wrestled like my teammate Mitchell. Mitchell scores more points, but he's older so maybe that helps. I remember saying when I lost in Midlands he beat me in double overtime. He's a very strategic wrestler. I thought when I went to double overtime I felt like once in my life I'm at a disadvantage in a position wrestling where it's not to go down, I get down, he gets to go top, I getting to top. There is no disadvantage there. In the match I didn't want it to go to overtime. It did, and he had a mental edge over me. Everybody kept saying if I can take him down, I can win, which is what ended up happening. But I was prepared to go to double overtime, because that happens in wrestling. You can't feel like you're at a disadvantage at any point in the match, or you won't win. So I felt like going into this match compared to earlier in the year, the reason I won is I felt I had taken care of everything that I could on and off the mat. Q. Can I get your thoughts on Drake Houdashelt? Have you wrestled him in past years? What are your thoughts about going against him? DAVID HABAT: He's a worthy opponent. Of course, he's in the finals. I wrestled him here last year, and he lost a heartbreaker, so we're all very familiar with each other. I wrestled him in what would be tomorrow morning in the Wrestle‑Backs, and we had a very exciting match, I think. So I like him. I think he has a good style. He rides hard on top. He brings a lot of pressure, kind of like (No Microphone), but I think he tries to score more. He's going to be a good opponent, and I think it's going to be a fun match. Q. Edinboro entered this round in fifth and you've got two guys in the finals back‑to‑back. Just talk about your team. Obviously you believe in yourselves because you're putting it out there. DAVID HABAT: Just talk about it? Q. Yeah. DAVID HABAT: There is a lot to say, but I'll try to keep it‑‑ I probably talked more than I should. I'll try to‑‑ of course, I'm roommates with Avery. I think just starting off with the team, I don't have to tell you guys we get after it. We don't care how the facilities look or how the resources look. We have wrestling matches just like everybody else. We expect to win like everyone else, and we train like it. I can say that for A.J. and Mitchell. Even Kory Mines. We're all the same age. We came in together. I don't know what Mitchell would say, but I know that I'd like to say that I think I've helped him a lot, and I can definitely say he's helped me tremendously. You know, so I think us training together is really‑‑ I mean, I think those two, A.J. and Mitchell, will be fine on their own, but I think we took it to a new level together. As far as Nick Avery goes, that dude has been really good for a while. He works extremely hard, very hard. If you say anyone deserves to win, he deserves to win. I started it. We've been friends throughout the year, but we weren't as close. We became really good friends about last year, and then this year we decided to live together. I'd say the biggest adjustments I made was I'm a 24/7 wrestler. What I mean by that is I always work hard in the room. But Vic helped me with the off‑the‑mat stuff as far as sleeping and eating right. You know, it's tough when you wrestle every day. You dream of these moments, but when you're at practice it's a lot harder. You're in a basement of a gym and you really have to prepare like you're wrestling. That's another part where Mitchell comes in. If I want to wrestle Mitchell Port, I can't go out and eat bad food. I can't stay up late because he'll kick my butt. He's doing it every day. He's going to bed on time and he's doing all the right things. So if I want to get beat up by Mitchell Port every day, then I'll do the wrong things. If I want to compete with him or try to beat him, then I have to do the right things. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|