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NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP

March 23, 2019

Jason Nolf

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

157 pounds

THE MODERATOR: Jason Nolf, three-time national champion, how does that sound to you?

JASON NOLF: Not as good as four-time national champ, but I'll take it. Look, coming into college, I think everybody wants to be a four-time national champ. I was definitely willing to work for it and sacrifice.

But after the first year, my goal was to be a three-time national champ, and that's what I am.

Q. You've had somewhat of a storybook years at college. You met your wife. You've had so much success in the wrestling room. What lessons are you going to take away from Penn State beyond, obviously, meeting your wife and three national champions and all the accolades?
JASON NOLF: I think I just found a lot of wisdom through my coaches that I can't even begin to make a list of all the things I've learned. But I'm definitely blessed and I'm looking forward to having an impact on others' lives as well and to share my faith with others.

Q. With Tokyo only months away, do you quickly get into freestyle? And a follow-up question, would you wrestle up in the Garden at the Beat the Streets thing against the No. 1 guy?
JASON NOLF: I'll wrestle whoever whenever, as long as my coaches think it's the best idea for me, I'm always game. I'm going to transition in the freestyle pretty quickly here. We have a lot of awesome training partners at (indiscernible) Wrestling Club. I've kind of already been training it throughout the year. But, yeah, I'm looking forward to it.

Q. You talked about when you first came in here, I'm going to take you back to the '14-'15 season, your true freshman season; that's the year that Cael redshirted, not just you guys as true freshman, but Megaludis and Retherford. Could you talk about that year, had he not done all those redshirts would you have had that career you had?
JASON NOLF: Obviously our coaches know what they're doing. We compete well. We compete at our best this tournament every year. I would have been ready to go whenever. But it just happened to be this way and that's what it is.

Q. You also have four team titles being part of that. Just give me your thoughts on that, too?
JASON NOLF: That's definitely a blessing to be part of such a great team. Sometimes you can take it for granted and kind of expect that it's going to happen. But at the beginning, at the end of the day, you've got to go work hard for it, and everybody individually has to do their part.

I'm definitely blessed to be around people that have such a clear mind and know exactly what they want. And they're willing to sacrifice maybe some other things that other people are doing in order to get it. Our team is just full of a bunch of great guys and definitely blessed.

Q. You talked about giving back and how important that is to you. Is that something growing up with Rob Waller, Isaac Greeley and Jody Strittmatter, is that something that they kind of instilled in you throughout?
JASON NOLF: Yeah, those and my high school coach and my dad and my mom and I think everybody that I've touched has definitely had an impact on my life. And it's hard to say if I didn't have this person would we still do this. I think I'd still be me. But all of my coaches have had an impact in such different ways.

It's just unbelievable, the surroundings I've been surrounded with. And all my coaches have always told me to surround myself with great people. That's what I've done at Penn State.

So I'm looking forward to one day maybe having a chance to do that, kind of like what David's doing with them, too. It's a great club.

Q. You heard the crowd erupt and then you got a little smirk on your face. You don't show a lot of emotions after your matches ever. What goes into controlling all that and how do you do that, I guess?
JASON NOLF: I treat every match -- I think that everybody should wrestle every match the same. And I don't know if it's adrenaline, but when I get on the big stage I think I do a lot better and I just compete at a higher level. I give the same effort and attitude; I just compete better.

But just knowing that the crowd was behind me gave me joy in knowing that I put my heart into this sport and into the things I love, and you can kind of start to see things pay off. So kind of puts a smile on your face.

Q. You've always been kind of a forward-thinking wrestler, but do you think you'll take a lot of time to reflect on what you've accomplished in your Penn State career, or is it just on to the next step for you?
JASON NOLF: Yeah, what's next? What is it, the U.S. Open or Beat the Streets, whatever. I'm looking forward to that. And it's good sometimes to reflect and learn from the things you've done. And I don't think you have to lose to learn things.

I can take a loss in this tournament and learn from it but I'm not going to be dwelling on this. I'm going to keep moving forward and keep looking to get better. And that's what I'm looking forward to do.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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