Oklahoma State University Athletics
Photo by: Bruce Waterfield
Cowboys Preview North Dakota State Dual
November 22, 2017 | Cowboy Wrestling
STILLWATER – The Oklahoma State wrestling team met with members of the media Tuesday afternoon to preview this Sunday's dual at North Dakota State. The contest is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT in Fargo, N.D.
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Head Coach John Smith
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On North Dakota State:
"It's a dual meet that I'm not sure we've ever wrestled before in the history of (our program), so that's exciting that we're wrestling someone that we've never wrestled in Division I. For that reason, you want to win that first one. It's a long trip up, so we need to be ready to go. We want to take advantage of last week's performance and run right into it."
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On preparing the team for an extended road stretch:
"I don't think they even think about it. They probably haven't looked at the schedule past this week. We take it one week at a time and wherever we need to go, we'll go. Home or away, you always enjoy your home matches, but your away matches, you'll grow more. You learn to wrestle harder and you have to because it's on the road, so we're looking forward to seeing our team do that this week."
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On keeping his guys focused heading into finals week and Winter Break:
"You need to stay focused on your weight and not let it slip. We all know that these holidays are tough on weight. It's no different for wrestlers. It's really important for us to remain focused after North Dakota State. We probably will wrestle in another open tournament, possibly Fort Hays State. Several guys could end up going up there, and then of course the two dual meets we have with Northern Colorado and Wyoming. What we'll do with our team in the next month will just determine on the number of matches we have. We'll take guys to Reno, and there could be some starters in Reno, but we just need to get a feel for where we're at and what we need."
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On his Thanksgiving plans:
"Well, we'll have the day off, which is nice. We take one day off this week and it's going to be on Thanksgiving. Everybody gets to go home, and then come back on Friday to work out."
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Chandler Rogers – RJr., 165 pounds
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On how he felt like he bounced back after a tough loss in New York:
"I think it was all just about how I was practicing and viewing my scores. When you go into a week of practice you think about what you need to work on. My biggest thing coming into the season was probably handfighting. And I thought I did a great job of handfighting, but I needed to take that same intensity to finishing my shots. I got to the guys legs four or five times in that match and he got to my legs twice. He didn't finish any of them, but he scored off of my shot. Just being able to finish in this match I had on Sunday. I was in on the guy's legs four or five times and only finished one of the shots, so I'm still working on finishes. That was a tough loss, but you need those to humble you."
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On staying focused heading into finals week and Winter Break:
"I think what's great is that there are a lot of guys that are going to stay in town and my family lives here. My brother is going to be in town for a while, so I'll be able to work out with him. He's so good about eating healthy, so he won't try to make me go out and eat."
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Head Coach John Smith
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On North Dakota State:
"It's a dual meet that I'm not sure we've ever wrestled before in the history of (our program), so that's exciting that we're wrestling someone that we've never wrestled in Division I. For that reason, you want to win that first one. It's a long trip up, so we need to be ready to go. We want to take advantage of last week's performance and run right into it."
Â
On preparing the team for an extended road stretch:
"I don't think they even think about it. They probably haven't looked at the schedule past this week. We take it one week at a time and wherever we need to go, we'll go. Home or away, you always enjoy your home matches, but your away matches, you'll grow more. You learn to wrestle harder and you have to because it's on the road, so we're looking forward to seeing our team do that this week."
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On keeping his guys focused heading into finals week and Winter Break:
"You need to stay focused on your weight and not let it slip. We all know that these holidays are tough on weight. It's no different for wrestlers. It's really important for us to remain focused after North Dakota State. We probably will wrestle in another open tournament, possibly Fort Hays State. Several guys could end up going up there, and then of course the two dual meets we have with Northern Colorado and Wyoming. What we'll do with our team in the next month will just determine on the number of matches we have. We'll take guys to Reno, and there could be some starters in Reno, but we just need to get a feel for where we're at and what we need."
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On his Thanksgiving plans:
"Well, we'll have the day off, which is nice. We take one day off this week and it's going to be on Thanksgiving. Everybody gets to go home, and then come back on Friday to work out."
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Chandler Rogers – RJr., 165 pounds
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On how he felt like he bounced back after a tough loss in New York:
"I think it was all just about how I was practicing and viewing my scores. When you go into a week of practice you think about what you need to work on. My biggest thing coming into the season was probably handfighting. And I thought I did a great job of handfighting, but I needed to take that same intensity to finishing my shots. I got to the guys legs four or five times in that match and he got to my legs twice. He didn't finish any of them, but he scored off of my shot. Just being able to finish in this match I had on Sunday. I was in on the guy's legs four or five times and only finished one of the shots, so I'm still working on finishes. That was a tough loss, but you need those to humble you."
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On staying focused heading into finals week and Winter Break:
"I think what's great is that there are a lot of guys that are going to stay in town and my family lives here. My brother is going to be in town for a while, so I'll be able to work out with him. He's so good about eating healthy, so he won't try to make me go out and eat."
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