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NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 18, 2016Dean HeilNew York, New York Q. Dean, if you might make a quick general statement about your match. DEAN HEIL: Well, I knew it was going to be a tough opponent. I always -- when I was little I looked forward to wrestling Ashnault. I looked forward to wrestling him last year, but he got hurt in the first, so I didn't really get to comment. So getting him to wrestle him while he was healthy and being able to beat him, I guess as dominantly as I did, felt good. But that's already in the past. Thinking about one person and one person only, and that's Bryce Meredith, who I have in the finals right now. Q. Dean, you said you wanted to look forward to Bryce Meredith. How much do you know about him, and how surprised are you that he's in the finals with you? DEAN HEIL: Not surprised at all. He's a tough guy. I wrestled him earlier this year. Tough opponent. I think a 3-1 match, 3-2 match, something around there, maybe 5-3. It was a minimum margin win. But the dude is tough. He'll go. If you overthink him just the slightest bit, he'll catch you, and obviously he did that all throughout the tournament. I knew he was going to be tough, and I didn't overlook him one bit. Seeing him in the finals is not surprising to me at all. Q. You came as one of the -- you're the highest placing All-American coming into the season and people had high expectations for you, but you put together a great season. Talk about how much improvement you've had in the time since last year when you were an All-American. DEAN HEIL: It's a different mindset. Last year I had a lot going on. Coach Smith talked me through it, kind of held my hand a little bit throughout the season. This year, I was kind of more on my own, more maturity, more growing to be an adult. And I think that's a lot of what had to do with it this season, just finally growing up. I think that's when wrestlers start to develop is when they start to become self-reliant and be able to go and do workouts or be able to put in the work and the time without your coach being on your back every practice, every minute. Q. Can you just elaborate a little bit more on last year, the struggles you had that you said John helped you with? Was it homesickness? What was it? DEAN HEIL: There was a lot going on, a lot of personal issues towards the beginning of the season. There was also a lot of weight problems, just different -- wrong mindset, just bad everything. Bad background, bad people in my life. Just a bunch of stuff that was just going on, and I had to put things together. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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