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NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS

March 18, 2011

PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA

149-lb. Championship

MODERATOR: Joined by No. 4 seed Kyle Dake from Cornell who improves to 30-2 with his win under the 149 final.
We'll take questions for Kyle at this time.

Q. What was your biggest concern with him coming into the match tonight that you and Rob had talked about?
KYLE DAKE: We knew that he was a really good upper body thrower and he was he wrestled a lot like an international guy, because that's what he is.
And I just had to prepare for it, not give up any tie-ups that would keep me -- get me in danger, and just wrestle a really smart match.

Q. Can you touch on your approach to the first period specifically.
KYLE DAKE: First period, just trying to get it moving a little bit, trying to get his feet moving, trying to keep him off my head. And then I went -- I didn't really hit my offense like I wanted to, but it paid off. It worked out.

Q. Kyle, you mentioned that you guys looked at him as an international wrestler, but did it give you a little confidence that you've wrestled overseas, that you've done a lot of the international styles, that guy you -- well, whatever he did, you've done Greco, you've done freestyle, there would be nothing that he could do that you haven't done before?
KYLE DAKE: Yeah, I'd say so. No new move overnight. I pretty much knew every attack he was going to bring me, and being a freestyler and wrestling Greco has helped me a lot to learn how to -- body awareness and trying to stay out of his secure locks, I guess.

Q. You've got Molinaro in the finals. What do you take from your last meeting with him in tomorrow night's final?
KYLE DAKE: Just wrestle hard, don't let him bang you or push you around and just wrestle your match. [Inaudible] my first time back in over a month and I wasn't in tiptop shape, so tomorrow night's going to be a fun one. It's going to be a lot different.

Q. Two questions, Kyle. Talk about the two years' difference, how much -- are you having as much fun as did you last year when you seemed to be the carefree freshman? And also the fact that you're facing a Penn State guy tomorrow, how will it affect the team race?
KYLE DAKE: I don't know. I have a little more experience obviously, and just this year going through some things and kind of got over them. And now I'm back to my old self, having fun, and wrestling like I should be.
And the Penn State thing, that's going to be a fun one. It's where -- probably going to be one of the deciding factors in who wins the national title. Both teams are wrestling really well, and we just got to continue as Cornell as a team, do what we can to win all of our matches.

Q. Kyle, now that it's over, looking back did you care about the 4 seed? I mean, defending national champion, two-time All-American, is that something you kind of used as motivation? Or what was your thought on this evening?
KYLE DAKE: Well, what happened was I lost. Can't do much about that. I didn't wrestle well at the WUAs. Had no offense, just strictly wrestling defense. [Inaudible] had a really good plan.
And getting the 4th seed was a bit of a surprise, but we had prepared for it. You prepare for every situation that can possibly happen basically, and so I was prepared. I wasn't too worried about it. That's it.
MODERATOR: Thank you.
We're now joined by Frank Molinaro.

Q. Being here and conducting an interview, watching you on TV, just looked very similar to the way you wrestled this whole tournament. Would you describe it as workmanlike?
FRANK MOLINARO: I think I'm just wrestling smarter now. My third time at this tournament, and I had a game plan for each match; and I've prepared a game plan for every match in Big Ten, and I kind of just like to prepare a little more and had a game plan for that match. And I needed that first period takedown. And riding was optional. I didn't know if I was going to be able to ride him actually. I think the difference is having a good game plan and sticking to it.

Q. Blake Challis described you as an Energizer Bunny, packed full of energy. How did you feel? Or maybe you didn't even know that he said that; but if you did, how does that make you feel?
FRANK MOLINARO: Makes me feel good. I pride myself on being in good conditioning. I want to be in the best shape I can, so I'm not making mistakes just because I'm tired. And I'm glad he said that because my best, probably, whatever.

Q. What do you take from your last meeting with Dake into tomorrow night?
FRANK MOLINARO: Well, personally, I got to score from all positions, and I got to beat him in all three positions. So top, bottom, neutral.
Also, last time I wrestled him, I had some opportunities to score in shots that I may not have shot as hard because I thought I would have more opportunities towards the end of the match. And you can't wrestle like that. And I learned that the first time I lost to him.
He stuck our defense. He's got good technique. And you have to secure the two, because he scrambles out of every position. So take that into mind going into the match. I will try to use my conditioning as a factor, I'll push the pace, and I want him to wrestle my match. And I gotta finish my shots.

Q. Besides your own personal national championship on line. There's also the team battle with Cornell and Penn State, how much do you have to keep that in mind all the time during the matches?
FRANK MOLINARO: Yeah, I don't know what the points are right now. But this round is going to pretty much give us an idea of what we have to do to win.
Similar situation at Big Ten going into that last placing round. We knew we had to win every match, and we knew we had to score bonus points and come up big. So same thing tonight, we'll look -- we won't look too much into it but give ourselves an idea of what we have to do to win but we still have a lot of wrestling left tonight.

Q. You said this morning you thought you are wrestling a little bit tight. Do you feel like you wrestled that way tonight too?
FRANK MOLINARO: I felt a lot better tonight, actually. I was in good position the whole match. And like I said before, I had a game plan in that match, and it worked out perfect for every period.
So I just kept building in the match, and then I kept telling myself I won the buffer zone, the third period. So I can battle it out and hand fight it, because I'm good at hand fighting.
And third period came and that's exactly what I got. And I didn't expect to ride him that time, but I was going to try to ride him, and it was just good having a buffer zone. And my game plan worked.
So I feel a lot more loose, I guess. Still a little tight in the beginning. And the first 30 seconds actually I kind of looked at the coaches, maybe 40 seconds, and I was like why haven't I attacked yet. I've been in my tie-up, the one I try to get to every singe time.
And I was a little hesitant about shooting. But once I got that first shot off and finished and heard the Penn State fans, I kind of loosened up a little.

Q. This is pretty much exactly where you wanted to b e at the end of the season. What's your mindset going into tomorrow? The amount of pressure for you personally.
FRANK MOLINARO: Yeah, I mean, I would tell you relaxed, but that's definitely not the case. There's so much as stake, and who knows what can happen next year. I can get hurt again. At the beginning of this season I was hurt.
I'll treat this match like it's my last one. It's my opportunity at the national championship. And I'm just going to have fun.
Just like Cal says, go out there with a smile on your face and wrestle and have fun because you're prepared. So I'll try to do that tomorrow.
I know there's going to be a lot of people, a lot going on, and a lot of distractions. Team race and everything, but I'll just hang low, stay around the coaches, hang out with my family, and just have fun out there and smile and wrestle.

Q. You just mentioned anything can happen next year. Did what happened to Caldwell affect that thinking a little bit?
FRANK MOLINARO: Yeah, I watched him go down. And just the beginning of the season, I broke my ankle, missed the first five matches. And that was the hardest, I'd say, two months sitting out and watching wrestling and not training. That was the hardest point in my life.
I couldn't imagine being around me those two months. I think situations like that, and I've been battling injuries all year, so you never know what can happen. Caldwell, he didn't expect to get surgery on his shoulder, come here. He worked his way all the way, get back to get in shape, and comes it out to his home crowd and dislocated his shoulder, or whatever happened to him. It's tough.
Round before I watched two guys from my team, they get hurt. So that kind of weighs on your mind. Our 25-pounder, he's the hardest worker I've ever seen. And that kid has been injured his whole career and fought through injuries the entire time at Penn State. And I tip my hat to that kid because those things can happen. Sixth year. He busted his knee real bad and he had to wrestle with it.

Q. Frank, it's going to be Taylor versus Bubba. Comment?
FRANK MOLINARO: That's a great matchup. It's a matchup I think Penn State wants to see. And we want to see. It's been a lot of talk about it, obviously. And us guys talk about it on the team. So I'm looking forward to that.
There's no doubt in my mind, with David, hasn't been an offseason. I've seen him get scored on multiple times in a period, comes back and [inaudible]. So it's going to be a good match. So it probably won't be as explosive as it would as if it happened at the Virginia Duals. But it will be an exciting match. And it's definitely a matchup.
MODERATOR: Thanks, Frank. Congratulations.

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