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NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP

March 22, 2019

Joey McKenna

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

141 pounds

THE MODERATOR: Joey McKenna from Ohio State, congratulations on the win. Talk a little bit about your match and the feelings that went into the victory heading to the national championship match.

JOEY McKENNA: Yeah, it's been a long time coming. Been to the national semis three times now, and finally pulled through to make it to the championship. So excited about that.

You know, I knew it was going to be a tough match. I knew I'd be breathing like this. Wrestling Nick Lee, it's my third time this season. Just a guy that's always caused me fits, made me work super hard, all they way to the brink, all the way to the last buzzer to win the match.

Just not as many points scored as I would have liked to in that match, but I did what I needed to do to get my hand raised at the end, and I'm in the national finals, so pretty psyched about that.

Q. Joey, you mentioned this afternoon about from the previous two semifinal appearances, scoring points was going to be critical. How big was being able to get that takedown to accomplish just that fact?
JOEY McKENNA: Yeah, after the second period locking up a little over a minute of riding time, thoughts in my head were maybe get out in less than five seconds, and then win the match on riding time. But he rode me a little longer than five, put my riding time under a minute, so score was tied, and somebody needed to score to win. Whether that was in that minute and a half left in the match or overtime, I wasn't afraid to pull the trigger and go get a shot, and luckily it worked out for me, got to a leg and finished and rode out for a little bit, secured that riding time and won the match.

Q. Joey, you talked about you've been here before; has this been a year of destroying ghosts, in a sense, what's prevented you from getting to the top?
JOEY McKENNA: In a sense, yeah. Just battling myself and the things that have held me back in the past. I've been saying in a few different interviews throughout this tournament that this is the most free I've felt out there on the mat. Maybe it's because it's my last go-around, but I think it's more due to my faith and the things that I'm wrestling for.

There's a fire inside that's bigger than myself. I'm representing a lot more than just Joey McKenna out there, God, my family, my teammates, and wouldn't be anywhere where I am today without all of them.

Q. In the finals you're going to be heading on to face Yianni, who you lost to late in the season. What's going to be sort of your approach heading into that match, and what did you take away from the last time facing him?
JOEY McKENNA: He's really good at leg defense. I was on his legs four times and didn't finish once, so I've been working a lot on that. But really trying to go to the mat with zero expectations, that's been one of my mottos. Really for the second half of the season since I lost to Lee the first time and lost to Yianni, I've kind of scripted those matches out, and then they didn't go as planned.

National tournament here, just going into each match with zero expectations can allow wrestling to happen and keep me a little calmer, a little less stress, less anxiety that builds up during the match when things don't go according to script.

Q. Joey, stylistically, what does Nick Lee do that makes him a tough matchup for you, and what did you have to do to overcome that?
JOEY McKENNA: Yeah, he just goes the whole time, doesn't stop, gets taken down, gets right back in your face, hand fights hard, and similar in style to me in terms of the way he leads and the shots he's taken, but he's just super busy, and that leaves for a little downtime in the match, allowing me to just kind of get in my zone, feel things out, time things a little bit, just forces me to be a little more on the ball and attack scores that are right there, like right there in my face that's open, and just got to attack that and follow through with it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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