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NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPSMarch 17, 2012David TaylorST. LOUIS, MISSOURI 165-lb. Champion Q. David, you said you weren't going to get beat again. Talk a little bit how you felt out there on the mat and why it went totally different this time than last year? DAVID TAYLOR: I had a vision my head was going to go the same way last year. I got caught. We wrestle to score points. Sometimes you get in trouble. I was in eighth grade actually, I was up by nine points in Greco Finals in Fargo, and I got head locked and pinned, and I was still trying to score. And someone told me: Don't be ashamed of yourself. You trying to score is going to make you better day. I got caught last year, but it made me better. This year I scored 22 points. Q. What's your motivation? DAVID TAYLOR: I want to be the best, and, I mean, we contribute to a team title and then we have it locked up in the Finals just to go out for yourself. And, man, my motivation is just to go out and dominate someone. So I go into practice every day. That's what I train my whole life to do. Q. Frank mentioned you guys have 35 guys on the team and 35 guys total here. Is that special to you that your teammates, some of them drive that far to get here to support you guys? DAVID TAYLOR: Maybe for another team, it's not normal. But not for our team. I said it 100 times. Our team is not the ordinary team. Proves it. We've got a bigger student cheering section than some teams have, because we bring our whole time. It says a lot about our team, the character of people. Q. How much do you think you've improved this year, David? They're talking about you being the dominant wrestler in college this year. What kind of steps did you take in the last 12 months? DAVID TAYLOR: I think it took me until the first match of this tournament to realize the improvement I've made. This whole year I think I wrestled with a little bit of‑‑ I don't even know how to describe it, just wanted the NCAA Tournament to be here. I wanted to be on that stage and make up for last year. And I think the season‑‑ I wouldn't let myself feel like I was getting better. And then this tournament I think I realized, man, I feel a lot better than last year. And I don't know. Q. You guys go out there; you saw two more guys go out in the Finals. How much could you say about how you've wrestled as a team this week? DAVID TAYLOR: It's awesome. Winning team championships are rare. Win two in a row, and this year it really even wasn't close. And hopefully we can keep adding on to it. And I think this year you'll be able to enjoy it more than last year. I'll let you know in a couple of weeks. Q. Two things, just going in, you had a chance to make history and be the first person since 1980 to pin your way through the tournament. Number one, was that on your mind? And number two, could you tell that he was trying not to get pinned when you were wrestling? DAVID TAYLOR: Maybe a little bit. Guys have done a couple of things this year, most of them they just tried to keep it close. And I just really let myself enjoy the moment. And after I got a couple of takedowns I felt I could keep pounding the points on. And if I got the pin, it would come off of takedown, get off my feet, got the tech instead. Which is more what I'm known for, I guess. Still feels great. Q. Where does the challenge come from? You make it look so easy there. National tournament, pinning two guys, teching in the final; does the biggest challenge come from within? DAVID TAYLOR: It's in my room and with the coaches. I wrestle Coach Cunningham three days a week. And he's the best guy in the country in my weight class. He's unbelievable. And a couple of the guys in my weight class, they're the best guys in the country. I have the best training partners in the country every day in the room. If that's not going to make you tough, nothing else is going to. Q. The Olympic trials are in a couple of weeks in Iowa City. Is that an event you want to get into, and what goals would you set for yourself wrestling for a spot on the team? DAVID TAYLOR: I want to go to the Olympic trials. It was hard this season to really think about it, because this was first. But we talked about during the season this was a training process for the trials in a month. Wrestle 163. My goal is to make the Olympic team. My goal is not to go to lose. My goal is to win. And we'll see what happens. Q. I think you're amazing from all three positions. If you could say you had a weakness, what would it be and how much do you work at all three positions? Your bottom works great. You're great at scrambling. Your ankle pick is superb. What would be your weakness? DAVID TAYLOR: Myself. If I let myself go out and I'm not 100percent, and I can let myself not be relentless and kind of play the pace of my opponent and let him tie me up, slow me down, and that's really the biggest thing. And when I don't let that get to me and I just take what's there, that's when I'm the best. When I don't do that, that's when I'm the worst. And that's really the bottom line. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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