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NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 21, 2015Gabe DeanST. LOUIS, MISSOURI THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Gabe Dean. Gabe, we'll start with an opening comment. GABE DEAN: You know, it's against a real tough kid that I've seen a lot of this year. He's going to come out and wrestle and he's going to come out and wrestle hard. So the game plan going in was to stay on the offense and we did and we ended up on top. Q. When you walked in the media room you looked like you wanted it, like you knew what you were doing. How good does it feel to walk into the media room as NCAA champ? GABE DEAN: It hasn't really set in yet. It's a surreal atmosphere to wrestle in and I guess no other words to describe it but it's just incredible. Especially to share this with my family and close friends and my teammates and my school. It's the best. I'm truly blessed. Q. You were able to get a key takedown about midway in the match in the third period able to take advantage of him trying to get in on you. Talk a little bit about winning on your feet and how much that made a difference in this match. GABE DEAN: We knew that the match was going to be won on our feet. So it's important to keep coming forward and keep the pace high and just looking for attacks and executing. And that was our game plan and kept it simple and ended up working. Q. Your dad has been in the finals of the NCAA Tournament. What's your relationship like throughout the course of the season as far as advice and relying on him? What kind of relationship do you guys have? GABE DEAN: My dad and I, we're incredibly close. And I wouldn't be even half the man I am today without him. And he's just my hero. I look up to him so much, him and Damian Hass, the best ‑‑ the two men I credit the most for the person I am today. Q. How about your mom? GABE DEAN: My mom is just the biggest fan. And my mom, she just loves that I just made it to the NCAA Tournament. So my family doesn't judge off of accolades and things like that. We just love each other to death and we just go out and compete and let it all hang loose. Q. Last summer you got to represent the United States overseas at the World Championships and won a medal. Did that level of wrestling help you this year when you came back against the Americans? GABE DEAN: Yeah, I think so. Wrestling, doing the training camp in Columbus with, gosh, with amazing talent all around you. So doing that and then along with, along with being ‑‑ the competition overseas was great and that whole experience definitely helped me grow. So, yeah, I think it definitely did help. Didn't get too much skill building time just because it was like another training cycle getting ready for the world championships. But this offseason probably will be a little more relaxed and working on things I can get better at and skills and things like that. Q. Did you wrestle your best this weekend? GABE DEAN: I wrestled good, you know. But I definitely got caught up in the NCAA Tournament. It's like a marathon. It's a three‑day tournament, and it seemed like Saturday night is so far away. Could I have wrestled better? Yeah, I think I definitely could have. But wins are wins. And it's just great to walk out of here as a national champ. Q. Talk a little bit about the pride and the success of the Cornell program. Clearly you chose to go there and you probably could have wrestled somewhere else. And academic school but also one that has done a great job of developing champions and building a team that's very competitive every year. GABE DEAN: You gotta look back on the coaching staff there and what Coach Koll has really done. He's our leader of our program and the face of our program and he's brought in‑‑ he started literally from the bottom and built this program into a powerhouse. And all that credit to that question goes directly to our coaching staff. Even our trainer of 15 years, sitting back there, he's almost like a fifth coach. But more on life, come in, tell you how it is. But it's just a program that Coach Koll has put together and it's amazing. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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