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NCAA WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPSMarch 21, 2014Joshua KindigOKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA 149 POUNDS Q. No one could see this going in. Why is this different for you? JOSHUA KINDIG: It's a great feeling to be where I'm at. Going in, it's a tough weight class, so seeds really don't matter. Coach has been telling us that everybody came to our city. It's our town to perform, to own the mat. And I came in like I was the best, and that's the way I wrestled. So now I wrestled and wasn't thinking about seeds or anything. Q. Talk about this match. What was the difference for you and how did you establish the lead that ended up winning? JOSHUA KINDIG: Well, I stayed calm and focused. Big thing is being focused, because I'm usually‑‑ every match I was scoring in the first minute. And this one I just kept pushing and stayed focused and kept my defense ready, too, for quick little shots, and that's how I scored my first takedown. He shot in and I hit a quick spinaround. When the shots aren't there, whenever you're moving forward, you always have to be ready for them to shoot, and that's what I did. Q. Being from Pennsylvania, what was your history with him? JOSHUA KINDIG: We were friends. He was always a lighter weight than me. So like kids on my team who were the lighter weight wrestled him. But my girlfriend's from that school, so I'm friends with him. Jordan Oliver. So it's a little personal. I haven't wrestled him before, but it's always nice to‑‑ especially being the older one, to show the dominance, especially from your area. Q. Coach Smith talked a lot about having guys wrestle well above their seed for you guys to have a chance to win. Could you talk about how it feels not, only for you individually, but it's also helped the team out by wrestling well above your seed already. JOSHUA KINDIG: Yeah. It was a battle the whole year. I had a lot of tough kids. One time I wrestled seed 1, seed 2, seed 1, back‑to‑back weekends. And it was a grind. But especially coming off of injury, tearing my hamstring from last year, recovering, which I just did in the beginning of February. There was also a lot of adversity this year, and I just kept pushing through, and I performed to‑‑ I went through way too much this year to give it up or be worried about a seed and wrestle, thinking about that. But when it comes to the team, coach has told us‑‑ I really established it after beating the No. 6 seed to Sueflohn. We're a kind of a team where, you know, I think we're the best, but we feed off each other. And this round it was huge for me to get us going. And that's what I did. And we get forward to the Finals, we're sitting pretty good. Q. What's the feeling like for you to go into the, Finals? JOSHUA KINDIG: It's indescribable. After my quarterfinal match, I went up and said hi to my family and stuff. They were crying. I'm like, it's the quarters. But it's great. It probably shocked the nation. But that's the exciting part about it. Just performing and doing it for all my fans and family, everybody watching on ESPN, which is great that we started this. So it's really exciting. Q. Josh, you described yourself earlier as a dark horse, and you say the seed didn't bother you, but did that drive you a little bit, maybe? JOSHUA KINDIG: Yeah, I always love challenges. Just the way I grew up. Fargo Nationals, always took second, always the guy behind, and I'm always‑‑ States in high school. I stayed at a certain weight class so I could wrestle Jordan Oliver rather than go and win it. So coming in this tournament, I knew it was going to be a grind all the way through, and it was exciting to have people think that I'm not anywhere in the hunt for it, and then surprised everybody. So it's a good feeling. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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