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NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPMarch 23, 2019Spencer LeePittsburgh, Pennsylvania 125 pounds THE MODERATOR: Spencer Lee, national champion, back-to-back years. How does this one match up to last year's? SPENCER LEE: It was great. I went through a lot of adversity this year. But I really attribute all of my success to my coaches and my teammates who believed in me every step of the way even when maybe I didn't believe in myself. I remember losing to Oklahoma State and freaking. I had whole team grab me and telling me they loved me, and we were a family and we're going to be in this together. And I know that moment there is when I gotta move on. I've got to be the better version of myself. And thanks to them. I wish I could have seen them after the match. Last year I got to hug them, but don't worry; that will be the next step after this. Q. You mentioned adversity now. We all know about the losses but was there anything more than that? SPENCER LEE: It's not really -- it doesn't matter. I don't make excuses. I got beat. Everyone has losses. They beat me fair and square. Doesn't matter if you're hurt, injured, sick, who cares? This is a gladiator sport. We're tough guys and we put everything on the line. And props to Jack Mueller; he put everything on the line. Q. Spencer, what is it about this time of year or these big moments that you seem to be able to dial up your best? SPENCER LEE: Terry Brands always tells me big time wrestlers show up at big time moments. We preach that at the University of Iowa, and everyone on my team believes that they're a big-time wrestler because that's the mindset you have to have to be in this sport. We preach that -- big time wrestlers show up at big time matches. I believe that too. I believe we all show up the best we can, especially when you face a great opponent like Jack Mueller. He's a great exponent. Q. Beat the Streets is going to invite the NCAA champs to wrestle the No. 1 freestyle guys at Madison Square Garden. Would you accept that opportunity? SPENCER LEE: Me and Gilman are good friends. That's not up to me and him to decide. We wrestle a lot in our room. So I don't know. Q. What does it mean, how does it feel the second time around after winning last year as a freshman, now to be halfway possibly to a four-time champ, but to do it in your home fans in Pittsburgh? SPENCER LEE: Being in Pittsburgh is awesome. I don't really care about being a four-time I'm not a three-time national champ. These are my brothers; I told you they'd be here. I'm focused on what's next. That's going to be summer wrestling and we'll see how that goes. And gotta get healthy and everything, whatever, you know how it is. Big time big national tournament, everyone is a little tweaked up, getting ready to finish the summer off strong. That's pretty much it, just focusing on the next thing. Can't worry about four-time champ national because you can't win four if you don't win three, and I haven't won three yet. Q. Was there any question what interim music you were going to walk out to tonight? SPENCER LEE: Yeah, I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to be like cliché, doing it again. But I'll do what my teammates said: That's who you are. They're not wrong. I'm a big Pokémon nerd. And I love it, and I'll love it to the day I die. It's pretty cool to be able to run out to the Pokémon theme song. I thank the players for allowing me to do that. Q. You outscored your opponents 55-7 this week. What were you seeing this week or what were you doing that was working for you? SPENCER LEE: I just gotta believe in myself. And my teammates, they instilled a lot of power into me, mental power, because they tell me every day that I'm the best wrestler in the world. You've got to believe that. I truly believe that you have to believe that. And they tell me that. Sometimes I may not believe it while we're in tough practices. But they keep me uplifted. And I think that was the difference for this weekend, just those guys, they just kept on me. They knew that, Spencer, you can do this, you can do this. I can wrestle for seven minutes and more if needed and that was the goal. Q. There were a lot of doubters coming into this tournament. They said Spencer can't go seven minutes. How did you shut them out? What did you do to prepare for that? SPENCER LEE: I don't really care if people don't believe in me, because I'm the one who's got to do it. They can say it and say I can do it. There's people that believed in me, too. But just because they believed in me doesn't mean I'm going to win. But it helps. Even people that doubt me, I've been pretty much off social media and everything for a while. I used to tweet a lot about Pokémon stuff. But I haven't tweeted at my Pokémon buddies. I'll tweet tonight, probably. A lot of them tweeted at me today, telling me good luck, Pokémon theme song again. And that was pretty much it. Q. Why are you the baddest man on the planet? SPENCER LEE: I don't know. I don't have an answer for that. I'll take your word for it, how's that? I don't know. Q. What's your favorite Pokémon? SPENCER LEE: Arkmon, but you don't know who that is. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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