Oklahoma State University Athletics
Post-Game Quotes
March 06, 2010 | Cowboy Wrestling
March 6, 2010
Oklahoma State John Smith
Opening statement:
“It's definitely good to be on top in the Big 12. It's been since, I believe, 2006. They become really special when you haven't won one in a while. I was really encouraged by our effort today. There were some ups and downs throughout the tournament. In the end, it took a couple sophomores and a junior that won in the finals to put us over the top. Clayton (Foster) sealing the deal there at 184 against a tough competitor and a guy that he hasn't beat in his career. Special win for him.”
On if Foster's victory was an unusual spot to win:
“I like the way that we were competing in the finals with Jordan (Oliver) starting us off, Jamal (Parks) following up and Neil (Erisman) in a tough battle. I just thought, tonight, that it appeared that we were going to wrestle hard and win the championship. We needed everybody's effort; it took everything.”
On winning a championship with a young team:
“It's definitely a plus. We just need to embrace what we have from this point forward with the NCAA tournament. Really feel relaxed and feel good about what we accomplished this weekend as we going into our training for the next week and a half.”
133-Pounder Jordan Oliver
On if he was surprised his winning takedown move was effective against a senior All-American in Nick Fanthorpe:
“When we wrestled in a dual meet earlier he kind of knew it was coming and circled away from it. In this match, when he did get to my leg and I released out and went for it, he didn't circle out. He put more pressure into me to try to get the takedown, I think, more than worry about the tilt. Caught him off-guard and I got him.”
About being co-most outstanding wrestler of the championship:
“I had no clue I was going to get that. I was sure that was going to be either Clayton (Foster) or (Jarrod) Patterson. It was awesome. It's an exciting think to get voted outstanding wrestler in the Big 12 Conference with all these outstanding wrestlers. I guess it's something I'm going to have to keep pushing for these next three years.”
On looking ahead to NCAAs:
“Definitely, in nationals, kids are going to come out hard in every match with nothing to lose. I think we are going to have to pick up the pace and get better in certain positions. We still have stuff to work on, but we can wrestle better than we did. I'm not saying we wrestled bad, but there's time for us to get better.”
Players Mentioned
