2023 NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP

March 22, 2024

Parker Keckeisen

T-Mobile Center

Semifinals Media Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Parker Keckeisen from our 184-pound Championship, from the University of Northern Iowa. Comments?

PARKER KECKEISEN: I honestly felt it in my legs a little bit, but Trey is a good wrestler and I like to think I'm a good wrestler, too. We let it fly and it came my way this time. Thank you, God.

Q. Parker, you were here a year ago. What did you learn from that experience so that you will be on top tomorrow night?

PARKER KECKEISEN: What did I learn? I learned that I gotta to be relaxed. Can't let the moment get too big. That's not saying -- I got beat last year, straight up, but it's -- I have to stay composed. I can't just go back to the basics and wrestle hard. You've got to be able to take a deep breath and you've got to be able to set up your offense and -- I think my freshman year I just wrestled hard. It was like a bike sprint the whole time. So it was like -- you've gotta -- some of the best wrestlers in the world, we all got good cardio so I've got to get to my attacks and relax, breathe. That was one thing we worked on this summer; breathe, get better. Breathe, relax, win the next position.

Q. You've had a really tremendous year. One of the things we've seen all year is Doug Schwab has given you guys great speeches. What does he say to you before you go perform?

PARKER KECKEISEN: He says to me to go be myself and trust in your training. We have a great leader in Doug Schwab. I know you guys see on social media. He freaking fires you up and I think one of the most underrated coaches in the NCAA. And he freaking loves us. He doesn't care. He wants us to be ourselves. He wants us to be better humans. That's what he means by be me. I'm not perfect. I make mistakes. I got asked why I wear a Snuggie. That's me. I'm a little goofy. I try not to take it so serious. That's what I try to do and he just tells me to be myself. And be a cleaner. We didn't have the best blood around and this guy, David Montgomery, I think his name is, he talked to us about being cleaner, and no matter the circumstance, you can find a way to get the job done and that's what I think us as a program, we represent.

And, you know, take our facility away, give us bad travel, we are cleaners. We are going to find a way to get the job done no matter the circumstance. Your legs are tired, you know, you gotta shower at home. We gotta build a facility. We're going to find a way to get the job done, that's what the UNI is. That's what the Panther train is. Went on a tangent there but --

Q. You have Plott tomorrow night, what are you expecting with that match-up?

PARKER KECKEISEN: It's going to be a great wrestling match. He's going to go hard, I'm going to go hard. He has great offense. I like to think I have great offense. We're going battle it out for seven minutes. We're going to represent God -- I know he's a believer. We're going to try to represent His kingdom as best we can. Our wrestling match is going to be fun.

Q. What are the disadvantages and also the benefits of facing a guy for the third time?

PARKER KECKEISEN: That used to bug me back in the day, wrestling the same guy and then Roper talked to me one time -- it was with Marcus Coleman in first tournament of the season and it was like, all right, now we're going to wrestle in the duel. I always get nervous because you see all the time, David Carr beat Keegan O'Toole, right? Anybody can get beat on any given day, but Plott is not the same guy that I wrestled two Sundays ago. And I'm not the same Parker he wrestled a couple Sundays ago. So got better at our skills. Looking at it from that perspective, he's better, I'm better. Yeah, the name is the same, but we're two different wrestlers. So, yeah, that.

Q. You said you kind of felt it in your legs. Do you think that was just the grind of the weekend or was it a different prep going in or was it mental or just your body kind of feeling the grind of the tournament?

PARKER KECKEISEN: Probably my body feeling the grind of the tournament. You have to find a way. We're all tired. It's Day 3 of NCAAs. Everyone is hurting. Yeah the grind of the tournament is good. It's fun, but that's what -- we're so prepared. You can't let it affect you. I like to think Doug puts us in situations where we gotta wake up early, outside work. We are prepared and ready whether we're doing seven minutes dancing motion every day. We are prepared and ready for the grind of an NCAA Tournament and I know I will be ready and we will get good recovery in all day tomorrow and we're going to wrestle.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Parker.