Post-Dual Quotes: OSU vs. Wyoming

Head Coach John Smith

On how his team wrestled tonight:
"You know it was a good match. I liked the turns. Didn't like the scoreless first periods. You know I think we had three of them in a little bit tougher matches. In the end, it was mixed feelings. The scoreboard looks good but there are somethings that we need to continue to improve on. And a lot of it's just wrestling in positions. Trying to wrestle in all positions. We kind of chose at some of those weight classes to wrestle only in a few positions, so that's where we need to go."

On the rematch at 141 pounds:
"I thought it was good. I think both guys wrestled well. I mean you went zero-zero no real attempts in the first and then the two wrestlers kicked it up a notch, which people wanted to see. In the end the take downs make the difference. We saw that work for Dean."

On his favorite performance of the night:
"Anyone time you send someone out like our heavyweight, young guy, local kid, not far from here, it's just fun to watch him win. That opportunity, they take advantage of it, they go out and they win. It may not have been pretty but those are fun matches that you enjoy seeing because they're in the room every day and they get this opportunity and take advantage of it."

On coaching against his former wrestlers at coaches:
"You like to see what they're doing and I think we've seen Mark raise the level of interest at Wyoming and definitely the level of effort. We've seen big changes. You get pretty intense when they come in because you they're here to to wrestle. I'd much rather watch them from afar and see how they're doing but, I'm glad we get an opportunity to compete against them."

On the current lineup's performance:
"It's probably not our full strength lineup. Hopefully we'll see that in the near future. I don't know that yet. I like the fact that if there is a match that we have that seems a little but slow, it seems like the next guy is coming up and turning it up a notch. You like to see guys change that attitude on the mat. I thought that Dean did a little bit for us today and then a good effort by Crutchmer extended himself out, scoring points. Then those last three guys weren't as important."

On the 125 matchup:
"Well I don't think he (Nick) was aggressive enough in the match. When you're planning on wrestling someone else, which we were, then all of a sudden you have a scenario where you're wrestling someone with a different style, you have to get pretty physical pretty quick. Nick didn't really feel like he wanted to touch him. Didn't really know what he wanted to do so, that's when you better change your mind and get after it. I think he did that late in the first period when he picked up two take downs.

On Dean Heil::
"Dean can wrestle in a lot of positions. The more you wrestle in those positions, that's why you were a national champion last year. It's because you got to a lot of positions that you can compete in, I mean wrestle in. Even in bad positions. And I want to see that. I want to see him wrestle in those positions."

Dean Heil – Junior, 141 pounds

On the target on his back:
"I don't really see it as a target. Meredith, whether he's ranked eighth, second or whatever, he's a good guy, and I expect to see him at nationals again this year, and I'll see him again at Big 12s. I have a lot of respect for him. He's one of those wrestlers that likes to put me in positions that most wrestlers don't, and I give him a lot of credit for that. He came out and wrestled tough, and it was a good match."

On if Meredith is a guy who finds your weaknesses:
"He's wrestled me differently every time we've wrestled, which is kind of hard because I like to feel out my wrestler before I start scoring points. It was 0-0 after the first, which I don't really like, but I got the takedown in the second and third, which helped open up the scores. I'll take it. I'm scoring offensively which I like."

On if they performed better tonight compared to last week:
"Yeah, overall, I think a lot of guys did better. There's still a few guys that I'd like to see push the pace a little bit more, but overall I think we did better."

On how he thinks the back-end of the lineup is doing:
"It's nice to see guys putting up bonus points. When it comes to nationals, that's what wins the tournament is bonus points, so if we can start getting used to putting up points now, hopefully, we can keep rolling to nationals, but as of right now, we're thinking about Sunday against OU."

Preston Weigel – Redshirt Sophomore, 197 pounds

On if he and Boyd are hitting their strides right now at the right time:
"Yeah, coming back from a week off, we have to keep training hard and keep everything up. I kept working out hard. I didn't slack and didn't let my body get dull. You have to keep training."

On if time away lights more of a fire for that first match back:
"I wouldn't ever say it's good to get hurt, but yeah you go through a lot of adversities, and I've been through a lot with everything."

On if he's excited about how the team is performing down low:
"It's fun when you have a good team. It makes you want to go out there and do it for your team."

Oklahoma State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Dean Heil

Preston Weigel

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