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NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPSMarch 22, 2013Derek St. JohnDES MOINSE, IOWA THE MODERATOR: To my left Derek St. John of Iowa. Victorious in his semifinal. Derek, would you give us a brief synopsis of the match? DEREK ST. JOHN: You know, it was kind of felt like I was chasing a lot of the match. He was backing up quite a bit. Just kept trying to stalk in and stalk in. I fought off a couple of shots, got in deep a couple of times and he snaked out. I never really finished a takedown to win that match, so I don't‑‑ I needed to get a takedown to get an exclamation point on that match instead of going to the second overtime or fourth overtime, whatever it was. Q. Derek, were you surprised when you got the second tie breaker that he let you up, didn't try to ride you? DEREK ST. JOHN: No, not really, I figured that's what he was going to do. Really he's got to get a takedown to win after I drove him out of there. Q. You and Tony both went into the second tie breaker and had the gut‑out wins. Can you talk about the resolve, whatever it takes mentality to come out on top? DEREK ST. JOHN: It's the mentality of staying calm, staying relaxed, knowing you have to score to win ultimately in a spot like that. Just staying calm and relaxed and not getting too ahead of yourself is the key in a situation like that. Q. You hadn't been able to ride him out and you rode him out in the first tie breaker following the second overtime. How close were you to "letting up" as far as him getting away from you, or did you feel like you had total control that? DEREK ST. JOHN: No, I came down on his ankle a couple of times, could have easily kicked out, but just keep crawling back up the leg and getting to your tight waist rides and just stayed heavy on him and rode him out that period. Q. You have a history with Jason Welch, but you haven't seen him this year. Do you expect him to be a different wrestler? What have you seen out of him this season? DEREK ST. JOHN: I haven't seen him wrestle at all this year. Like you said, we have had a bunch of run‑ins. I'm assuming there is going to be more energy and more of an exclamation point than any other times we have met. He's going to be ready to go and fired up. It's for a national title. Q. Talk about what it feels like to make it back to the finals this year, and will there be any difference in your approach to make sure you come out on top? DEREK ST. JOHN: No, I don't think there will be any different approach. Doing the same ritual, getting ready for the match and going out and executing. Been here before and I didn't execute the first time. I'm going to turn that around to get the win. Q. What did you do to regroup when the season coming into here, in this tournament didn't end quite the way you wanted it to? DEREK ST. JOHN: You know, it's not like I haven't lost before. It's no different. You bounce back, like any other time in your career. There's even more of a reason to bounce back, per se, going into the biggest tournament of the year. It's do or die. If you don't do it, you're not going to be on top of the podium, essentially. THE MODERATOR: Derek, congratulations. We watched your mom on TV several times during the match. DEREK ST. JOHN: Oh, boy! THE MODERATOR: She must be feeling a lot better now! DEREK ST. JOHN: Hopefully she has some hair! (Laughter.) FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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