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NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP

March 18, 2016

Morgan McIntosh

New York, New York

THE MODERATOR: Morgan McIntosh, Penn State, finalist at 197, 35-0 after his victory tonight. If you want to make a brief statement about your match.

MORGAN McINTOSH: My match? I don't know what to say about that. He was a tough kid and it's been fun wrestling him over the years. Obviously I would have liked to have gotten more points and taken more shots, but some matches score like that and you just gotta move on and take what you can and learn from it and move on to the finals.

It was fun and, you know, it was exciting. You can't ask for a better place to be wrestling out there than in the semifinals of the tournament in a place like this in front of a crowd like that. So I'm happy to be here and grateful for the opportunity.

Q. Morgan, in October you talked about being here, you're here now. How have you maintained your focus now that half a year has turned into one day?
MORGAN McINTOSH: I think just being consistent with every competition you take. Not changing anything up and knowing what you want, too, is the most important thing to stay focused. I want to win a national title and I think as long as you know that, then, you know, you know what it takes to get there, the rest takes care of itself and you're going to stay focused. I got a lot of great people around me who keep me focused and a lot of great teammates I can learn from and look to them for advice and inspiration and great coaching staff and family. There's a lot of things that help me stay focused.

Q. Morgan, what's it mean to you, you have these young guys wrestling like they're seniors out there and you guys are out there dominating the team like you are in your final year?
MORGAN McINTOSH: It's just fun to watch, that's about all I can say. It's pretty cool to see guys that are that young and that mature and can come into a tournament like this and not hold anything back, not be scared of the competition, not be scared to take risks and go out there and wrestle hard and it's definitely paying off.

If you look at the team race, it's a really fun group of guys and a great team to be on and we don't take ourselves too seriously, wrestling too seriously. We just have fun with it and try and enjoy every bit of the ride, and I know that's what I'm doing. This is my senior year. I'm just trying to enjoy it and have fun, have fun with every last minute I have on this team and wrestling for this school. I'm just trying to enjoy it and not really put too much stress on myself.

Q. Morgan, J'Den was just in here, you guys have gone back and forth the past couple of years. He had high praise for you and your wrestling IQ, your scrambling IQ, as he put it. How would you describe him as a wrestler?
MORGAN McINTOSH: He wrestles hard. He's a good, smart kid. He wrestles hard. He's strong, athletic, and he's powerful and explosive and he's a guy that I like to wrestle and challenge for sure. I think he's got a couple wins over me in the past, but he's a good competitor and a good guy from what I know of him. So I'm excited to wrestle him and I'm sure he is, too, and it's going to be an exciting match tomorrow.

Q. You seem like a bright kid, a people person, after you step off stage tomorrow where did you go from here? Do you see yourself sticking with wrestling and the wrestling profession or do you see yourself somewhere else, east coast? West coast?
MORGAN McINTOSH: As of right now, I'm planning on staying at State College and wrestling free style with the guys that we have there. That's my plan. I love wrestling and I'm not quite ready to be done with it, so free style is my plan for now.

Q. You have a couple of Olympic champions that are big guys in your room, guy named Sanderson, another named Varner, obviously you've wrestled these guys over the course of your career. What's it been like to have that resource of excellence and people that can roll with you and teach you?
MORGAN McINTOSH: It's huge. That's one of the things that drew me to Penn State was the guys that were there, Coach Cael and the coaching staff and Varner I knew was there as well, and tons of other guys that were there when I was younger, student-athletes, Edwards and David Taylor, guys like that.

But having Olympic gold medalists like Coach Cael and Varner is huge and I don't think I would rather be anywhere else. I would make the same choice every time. It's a big deal and I can't be grateful enough for those guys to be in the room and have my back and be able to train with them.

THE MODERATOR: Morgan, good luck in the finals, Morgan.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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