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NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPSMarch 17, 2012Anthony NelsonST. LOUIS, MISSOURI 285-lb. Champion THE MODERATOR: Questions? Q. Tony, want to walk through the last couple seconds of that last match, how you were able to get the takedown and take it? ANTHONY NELSON: We got in a good scramble there and he had my leg. Just knew it was time. Had to score there. Couldn't give up that takedown. And I was able to spin around and catch his other leg for 2. Really exciting. Q. Stage on the top, everyone in the country watching you. Did you feel good out there, wrestling the defending champion? Did things go well under that kind of spotlight, and why do you think you were able to do so well under that kind of pressure? ANTHONY NELSON: I trained hard all year. And this is what you work for. And I just went out there and didn't change anything. Just tried to act like it was any other match. Wrestled my style. Tried to get after him. It was a little slow pace. He's a strong guy. It was hard to get to his legs. And in the end it all worked out. Q. You started at some point there in the third period thinking, preparing yourself for an overtime. ANTHONY NELSON: Yeah, I knew that was a possibility. He's got a lot of overtime matches. I didn't want it to go there. But we got in that scramble, and it kind of turned out into who had more in him. And I pulled it out there and got the win. Q. How much do you feel like you have improved this season to get to the point where you're national champion? I mean, coming in the fall when you started getting ready for the year, did you perceive what it would take to get to here, and how much did you learn and improve in order to put yourself in this position? ANTHONY NELSON: You know, you work hard all summer. The offseason's huge for getting better. And came up seventh place last year. And national championship's what I've wanted. I put in the time. And just thank God for everything He's done for me and He brought me here, and now I'm an NCAA champion. Q. In the second you were able to ride him for about half the period. Do you think that tired him out a little bit? ANTHONY NELSON: He was holding a tripod there for a while. And once I broke him down, I think that took a lot of energy out of him when I was on top. He was able to get a Granby roll there and get out. But I think it wore him down quite a bit. It helped me out a lot. Q. Second place, a runner up, a champion, everybody but Zach and Sonny are back next year, so you got to think that pretty good things lie ahead for you. ANTHONY NELSON: We had a good tournament. It wasn't great. We would have been on top if we all wrestled great. We had two guys have some losses early that hurt us. And Penn State, they wrestled awesome. They had five in the Finals. That's hard to beat. But we did get seven All‑Americans, and we'll have five returning. And Nick Dardane was right there. Cody was strong. He'll be a senior next year. He's a strong leader. And we have a few guys to fill in those spots. That will be real tough. Q. You were talking about how strong Rey was as a wrestler. What was your strategy on dealing with his style of wrestling so that you were able to open him up and get your attack where you could win it? ANTHONY NELSON: You know, he doesn't take a lot of shots, just from watching him. And he likes to stay on his feet and he'll take a stance here and there. But I just wanted to stay low and kind of hang on his head and wear him out. And I was able to, I feel, get him pretty tired there, and that's what helped me win it in that last scramble. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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