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NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPSMarch 23, 2013Quentin WrightDES MOINSE, IOWA THE MODERATOR: To my left is the 197‑pound champion, Quentin Wright of Penn State. Quentin, you got several takedowns late against a guy who had not been taken down all year. How did you do that? QUENTIN WRIGHT: I used the underhook and found a way. I just played right into how high I wrestled and stuff. It worked real well out there. Q. Quentin, obviously, a hometown guy from right down the road from the Penn State campus. Do you want to leave the mat there? And what's going through your head knowing that's how your career ends. Is that the best‑case scenario in terms of clinching the title for your team's school? QUENTIN WRIGHT: Yeah, a pin would have been better, but a win's good. Really, the team race is really important to me personally. Winning too, but more importantly, the team race is important. I knew one of us had to take it upon our shoulders to get it, and I thought why not me? Let's go out there. Let's win this. Let's clinch the team race. So it will take the pressure off of Nico and Dave. Q. You said yesterday you thought you would have to outsmart Kilgore. Did you feel that you did that? QUENTIN WRIGHT: Yeah, except for the one time he punched me. I got a little nervous there. Q. Quentin, bring us through the review of the takedown and you came back and rebounded with another takedown right after that. Kind of take us through your thought process. QUENTIN WRIGHT: It would have been a little easier if I'd have got that takedown. I wasn't sure. I was hoping I'd get it because kind of like when I had those arms around him, I didn't show I had control. I just swung my feet out of bounds, which I thought they were in. I don't know because I'm not looking out there, but they must have been barely out. So I've had a bunch of close calls like that in the past go my way. Sometimes you don't get those close calls. I knew that I had to just be smart and know when to take the risk. After that, he seemed rested and ready to go. I wanted to tire him out a bit. Q. (Off microphone) when did you discover that, and whose idea was it to go to that? QUENTIN WRIGHT: First time I got it really. I didn't do anything. I had to go out and wrestle my match. I knew going into my match he was going to wrestle me tough, but I thought he was going to take a lot more shots than he did at my legs, more than he did. Really, I just happened‑‑ I used the underhook, and it happened to work magically every time. Really, I didn't‑‑ that's one of my major moves. So I wasn't able to hit it on anybody else's really except for that was the first time I was able to get it consistently all tournament. I was pretty happy about that. I'm glad it worked. Q. (Off microphone) a lot of guys are just the opposite when they're really good on the way in in the finals, but you just let it go for the finals. QUENTIN WRIGHT: I had a little bit of senioritis going on. It would be terrible if I didn't make All‑American. I had all those fears like every senior does, and I know everybody goes through it. It was terrible. I had to fight that. I was trying to force the underhook too much the first two, three matches there, definitely the first two, and that's why the scores were so close, because I kept looking for the underhook because that's an easy takedown. Really it wasn't there, and I needed to do a bunch of other things. Those guys scouted me real well. They stayed low. They didn't take a shot. They did what they had to do to try to beat me. I start out fighting myself there with the fear of not being an All‑American, not being a four time. I had to really get past those doubts, push those aside, push self‑doubt, talk me up, give myself a talking up. Really after I made it to the semis, then the pressure was off. Four-time All‑American, three different weight classes, Penn State, all of Penn State, and I'm finishing strong. Q. I want to take you back to your sophomore year, an interesting year when you won your national title. Really nobody in their right mind would have thought you would win that year. I think you got pinned in your last dual meet, and then you made the magical run through the Big Ten Tournament and then the NCAA Tournament. Really you were the reason Penn State won its first national title since '53. Compare that year where you did everything wrong going into the NCAA Tournament and this tournament where you go undefeated and win it. What's the difference between the two? QUENTIN WRIGHT: Really that year was a lot of growth to me. I was dealing a lot of personal struggles that year. The coaches, my family, my wife now, and her family really helped me get through that tough period when, at the time, I was a sophomore, I thought I was worthless because my whole life I was wrestling, and a lot of times those athletes, they base a lot of what you do on wrestling. So really I turned to my faith in Jesus, and I asked, Lord, what's wrong here? He said, Be patient. It's perseverance. And that attitude taught me just be patient, persevere. That attitude came out that I learned from reading the bible, and my teammates really coached me up after all those losses. I just kept persevering no matter what. Even if I was losing, I kept talking away, getting 1 percent better every day. Then I had that magical run there through sophomore internationals, and I found a way to win. So I used that attitude last year. I had a few more struggles like that, but I used‑‑ that year really set me on a base of who I am today. Last year‑‑ especially that year and a little bit last year, losing in the finals, dealing with those doubts and stuff, going through those things made it possible for me to go undefeated this year and beat the people that I did. Q. Quentin, Ed was in here a little bit ago talking about the unusual nerves he felt watching 74 unfold. Given the team race and how much that meant to you, what's running through your mind as those two matches unfold, 74 and 84? QUENTIN WRIGHT:  I didn't watch the 74 bout because I don't‑‑ I get too emotionally involved in matches. That's one thing I learned early on, especially sophomore year. I can't watch the matches. I get too emotionally involved, and I literally drain my energy watching other people because I'm twitching the whole time trying to wrestle with them. I didn't watch 74, and I watched Ed. It was inspiring to get that win with eight seconds remaining. It's huge for a teammate. It's relaxing to watch Ed, let's say that. He helped out a lot sitting there. Really I try not to watch, especially in tournaments. I know I can help them so much, but I just try to focus on myself because the best I do is going to be the best for the team. Q. Quentin, when you're out there on the mat, it looks like you really enjoy wrestling. It's not just something you do, it's something you have a passion for. Do you see a future for yourself as an athlete out of the college journey? QUENTIN WRIGHT: Definitely. I really had to learn how to wrestle both styles. Freestyle wrestling I love. Greco is my first style, and I absolutely love it. But my dad a long time ago said, if you're going to be good, you'd better be good in freestyle. You can take them down, but you can't throw everybody. I started learning to take shots and take people down. Coach said, whatever you want to do today, I get out the crash pad and start throwing people. They enjoy it as much as I do because they're not landing on a hard mat. Yeah, I definitely see myself wrestling freestyle because that's a little bit more the way I wrestle. THE MODERATOR: Quentin, congratulations. QUENTIN WRIGHT: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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