2023 NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIP

March 23, 2024

Caleb Henson

T-Mobile Center

Finals Media Conference

CALEB HENSON: It was a lot of fun out there. I was just grateful to compete in such an amazing arena. And to have the health and the focus and the clarity to get it done, it was truly a blessing. And it was a lot of fun out there.

Q. How do you go 1-0 yesterday and 15-7 today?

CALEB HENSON: I told you it was a weird match for me yesterday. I'm not used to 1-0. And I knew Gomez would let it fly a little more; he's got wide set of offenses. And I was going to come out there and let it fly. When two guys like that have 7 minutes you're going to see points on the board. And that's just what happened.

Q. Expand on that a little bit, specifically talking about that explosion of scoring in the second period. Were you as surprised as much as the fans were? It was just incredible?

CALEB HENSON: I'm always looking to score. When the opportunity presents itself, you take advantage. And I was able to secure a couple of those positions. And one thing led to another. When I looked over I had 15 points.

But 3-point takedown now, you can't get too comfortable; he can come back real quick. So staying focused trying to get the tech was the goal at that point. You start setting biggers goals as the match goes on to keep pushing yourself.

Q. Gomez' offense is what he said earlier, just off the walls. Was that your mindset going into there, just like gotta make sure you can't fall for anything -- I think he hit --

CALEB HENSON: Definitely respected his offense a little bit more. I know he was going to come at me, like I said earlier. That gets me excited. It makes me excited to compete, especially for the fans. It's fun when you can see two dudes scrapping rather than sit in front of each other.

I was anticipating it, and he didn't let me down. He brought it, and I was willing to bring it back and ended up on top.

Q. Georgia's first-ever national champion, how does that feel?

CALEB HENSON: (Indiscernible). That's all I'm going to say.

Q. You said you knew he was going to come at you. What was your game plan to stop his dynamic offense and make sure you could get to yours?

CALEB HENSON: Just make reads as the match goes on. You can watch film. But at the end of the day you can't really detect what he's going to do until you feel it. I gave up one early, made some adjustments.

I was willing to let points come on the board and not let that stress me out and just know that I got 7 minutes of mat time. And I'm going to make the most of it and leave no regrets out there.