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NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 20, 2015Adam CoonST. LOUIS, MISSOURI THE MODERATOR: We welcome heavyweight finalist, Adam Coon of Michigan. We'll start with an opening statement from Adam talking about his match for tonight, and open it up for questions. Adam? ADAM COON: Really in this match I went out there and battled for position. Lost to him previously, so I kind of knew what I was expecting. Knew it was going to be easily led on his feet and loves to take those open shots. I just had to make sure I was low and in position for the whole match. That's what I was fighting through for the whole match. Came down to overtime and just had to kind of register that in my head, especially at the semifinals of the NCAAs. It's down to the person with the most heart and the one that's more willing not to lose. So I just kind of ignored any pain that I was in for the 7 minutes and just went after it. We got to that 30‑second scramble. I knew if I kept my butt off the mat, I was still alive. So I scrambled as much as I can to keep me off my butt and put him on his. Q. Last year's first NCAA tournament didn't go the way you wanted it and this year you're in the finals. Tell us the difference in yourself and in your approach this time that was successful to put you in a chance to become national champ? ADAM COON: How did I know that question was going to come up? Yep, Yep, pretty much just really is the mental aspect. As a freshman, you really weren't used to the grind. It's a huge step up from high school, and I think I underestimated that a little bit. Basically this year was keep training hard and make sure my mind is ready for the full season drive, and that started from the first day of practice. Q. You said you underestimated the grind and stuff. Do you think the success you had last year hurt you when it came to the postseason and you had to readjust yourself after that? ADAM COON: Yes, and no. I got a lot of good experience from the beginning of the year my freshman year. So I say that was a definite positive just getting the experience for some of those top‑notch guys and having success to give myself some confidence. But, yeah, it did hurt me a little bit because I wasn't mentally prepared for the postseason. I figured I could ride out that success all the way through, and realize that postseason is a whole 'nother season. Q. Over the summer you wrestled both freestyle and Greco at the junior worlds and medaled both. Did that experience help in this development so that you can come here? Obviously you're not afraid of challenges. ADAM COON: No, definitely not afraid of a challenge. I like to step up to challenges whether win or lose. I like to put out my best effort. In regards to the summer wrestling that I had, it was definitely a help to bring back the confidence. I was kind of riding that roller coaster season, postseason, kind of coming back up to the World Championships and stuff. It definitely helps build the confidence and helps me kind of get my mind back to get into a whole 'nother season. Q. Heavyweight is obviously a weight class we don't see a lot of scoring because a lot of people don't see a lot of movement. But the type of heavyweights we see are now athletic. I can go on and on. What is going on there in that circle with you big guys that we do not see? ADAM COON: You see a lot of, I mean, really movement in the practice room. I know the crowd is sick of seeing those chess match headway matches. Frankly, us heavyweights are the same way. We like to look like a lightweight. Get a bunch of scores on the mat because it makes for an easier match when you're up by eight points. It's just the training is a little different. You don't see as many monster heavyweights anymore. You're seeing more the agile heavyweights just because that's the way we train. We try to train like a lightweight pretty much, so we have an advantage when it comes to the bigger, bigger monster headway because we're more mobile. So you see more mobile becoming more mobile because they're getting defeated. Q. Just thoughts about going against the defending champion Gwiazdowski. He's been successful at many levels? ADAM COON: He's been extremely successful. Congratulations to him for his National Championship last year and making it to the finals again. I have all the respective for him. With that being said, I'm going to take it as another match. You've got to have the best guy in the finals. So basically I'm going to go out there and wrestle my best and may the better person win. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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