2022 NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP

March 18, 2022

Daton Fix

Media Conference

Q. Ultra dangerous guy there. Super explosive, much like yourself. A super dangerous guy. What was the game plan going into that one to get a rematch from last year's final?

DATON FIX: Play the same. We are there about points. Would have liked to score more points. Only put up five points. You know, he is a good competitor. He is a quick -- I kind of feel he was just kind of sitting back waiting for me to take a sloppy shot. He was going to try to run corner, staying back, kind of dropping to his knees. He was just trying to sneak or go behind, steal something late.

Q. Daton, I apologize. You know, obviously, you talked so much about extending scores. What changed for you tonight to kind of extend the score and get the 5-1 victory?

DATON FIX: You know, you're in the national semis. I've been waiting a whole year to get back to national finals to face the guy I have. I'm guessing he won.

Q. He did.

DATON FIX: Yeah, that's the match I've been looking for for about a year now, so it's here tomorrow. It's going to go down. It's been on my mind ever since it took place last time, so you know, wish I would have scored more points, but I can do that tomorrow.

Q. Daton, how many points do you think you have to score tomorrow night? You know how hard he is to score on, and have you watched the video at all from last year's match?

DATON FIX: I just know I need to score more than him, whatever that is. He scores one, I score more than that. If he scores five, I'm going to score more than that. That's the mentality I have.

Yeah, the match from last year, I really feel like I did a good job dictating the pace on our feet and really the entire match. I think I ended up getting three stall calls. Just took a sloppy shot in overtime, and he scored.

Q. I know last year you were really disappointed in your performance here on the finals. You were good all year long until the finals wasn't. The Daton Fix that a lot of people thought they would see or you thought you would perform like, when did something happen in the international scene? Was it when you won the trials to wrestle for the world team that you started to say, I'm back, I'm ready to go and do the things I used to do and have fun doing it?

DATON FIX: Yeah, you know, I took a little time off after the Olympic trials. Obviously, that didn't go how I would have liked it to go either, so I came off two pretty devastating defeats there in about a two-week span, and I just took about a month off and really relied on my faith and the people around me, my family, my girlfriend.

Those people really kind of got me back in the right mindset, and whenever I came back and started training again, I just really liked what I was doing with my training, and I just kind of took what I was doing in the room to the world team trials and wrestled really well there and took me to a world silver medal. Would have liked it to be gold, but I came away with silver. Hopefully I get that one back here as soon as I can as well, but since then, I've just kept up with that same mentality in my training, and I think it's paid off a lot.

Q. Daton, I don't need to tell you how tough the times have been in the Oklahoma State program the last two months, especially to lose to Ferrari. How have you avoided thinking about that and just focusing on yourself?

DATON FIX: It's hard. Especially being I'm a really big team person. Everything I do is not only for me. It's for way more than me. I wouldn't be anything without God, first and foremost, and I do it for him. I do it for my family, my friends, my teammates, my coaches because I know that I wouldn't be who I am without all of them.

It's no fun getting to celebrate by yourself. Having all those people with you and encouraging you and pushing you, it just makes it even sweeter in the end whenever you get to go back and celebrate with them.