Oklahoma State University Athletics
Cowboy Wrestling Previews Minnesota Dual
November 17, 2021 | Cowboy Wrestling
STILLWATER - Oklahoma State head coach John Smith and wreslters Luke Surber and Trevor Mastrogiovanni met with members of the media to discuss the Cowboys' dual with Stanford and the upcoming match with No. 8 Minnesota. Here is some of what they had to say:
John Smith
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On the team's win at Stanford:
"I thought we wrestled well. I didn't think we wrestled great, but I didn't expect it either. I just was glad we won the close ones. It was really the difference in the scoring at 125, 157 and 174. Those were kind of some battle matches that we probably knew they were going to be, and we won them, so it was the difference in the outcome. They didn't have their 141-pounder, who's one of the best kids in the nation. Â In the end, I was hoping that maybe we'd look a little bit further along than I hoped, and we weren't, but that's OK. We grinded out some really tough matches and although it wasn't perfect, it was start being on the road."
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On bright spots from the dual at Stanford:
"I was pleased with Luke Surber. First match out at heavyweight. [He] beat a really good kid off the team and then followed it up with a really good match. That was exciting for him. I thought Dakota Geer really kind of took it to another level. Stretched his lungs out, unlike his ranking matches the week before. You just like to see the improvement when his performance in his ranking matches is not good enough and to do something about it. That's what we saw with his performance. Outside of that, I love the battle matches that we won. I'll tell you, I've always said, I'm not going to complain about an ugly win. I don't complain about them."
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On the upcoming dual with MinnesotaÂ
"Minnesota's a tough team. It's going to be a good matchup. No 'gimmies' here. We're going to need to probably win six matches. You think of some of their strengths that if we went 5-5, they got some real strength at a couple of those weights where I think there's bonus points. We need to make sure we're pushing this to a 6-4 match, 7-3 match. That's going to be hard to do. [It's] going to be very competitive. We'll have to wrestle better. We'll be better than we were at Stanford. But we have to be, this is a better team."
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Luke Surber
On joining Dustin Plott in the starting lineup:
"It's pretty cool. In the moment I didn't really think about it, I was just focused on my match. Looking back on it now, it is really cool since we grew up together and went to high school together. It was a really awesome moment. Hopefully we will have many more memories moving forward."
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On wrestling Gable Steveson:
"My mindset is going to stay the same. It's obviously a little different when I'm going up against an Olympic champion, but I'm just going to go out there and wrestle. I've competed my whole life and I've wrestled in a ton of matches, so it's really just another match. It's going to get me ready for NCAAs and that's what the season is about. I'm going to go out there, give my best effort and wrestle as hard as I can."
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Trevor Mastrogiovanni
On the difference between his freshman year and this year:
"Last year getting thrown in as a freshman was tough. I had to win a lot of matches by one point, which I think I won a majority of them by one point. I'm coming into this year with a whole different attitude. There's no fear and I'm always prepared for a battle. As a sophomore now I'm prepared for every match to be a battle no matter what. Training with (Daton) Fix for a year has prepared me technique-wise. If I can score on him, then I can score on anyone at 125, so that's helped me out a lot."
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On how Daton Fix motivates him:
"He wasn't happy with his performance at Stanford, so he went and ran six miles before he ate and before he rested. I looked at my dad and was like 'No, I wouldn't do that.'. He won, he got an ugly win, but he won. Seeing him do that is going to change how I look at myself after matches seeing that just last weekend…that's something I want to follow now."
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On wrestling No. 5 Patrick McKee:
"Our last match I was up 10-0 and the score ended up being 11-10. It was just a battle. I'm ready for it. It was a fun match, and it was a grinding match. He comes out you, that's just how he wrestles, and I love having someone who's actually going to wrestle and not be timid and try to make it a one-point match. I want to wrestle and have fun."
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John Smith
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On the team's win at Stanford:
"I thought we wrestled well. I didn't think we wrestled great, but I didn't expect it either. I just was glad we won the close ones. It was really the difference in the scoring at 125, 157 and 174. Those were kind of some battle matches that we probably knew they were going to be, and we won them, so it was the difference in the outcome. They didn't have their 141-pounder, who's one of the best kids in the nation. Â In the end, I was hoping that maybe we'd look a little bit further along than I hoped, and we weren't, but that's OK. We grinded out some really tough matches and although it wasn't perfect, it was start being on the road."
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On bright spots from the dual at Stanford:
"I was pleased with Luke Surber. First match out at heavyweight. [He] beat a really good kid off the team and then followed it up with a really good match. That was exciting for him. I thought Dakota Geer really kind of took it to another level. Stretched his lungs out, unlike his ranking matches the week before. You just like to see the improvement when his performance in his ranking matches is not good enough and to do something about it. That's what we saw with his performance. Outside of that, I love the battle matches that we won. I'll tell you, I've always said, I'm not going to complain about an ugly win. I don't complain about them."
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On the upcoming dual with MinnesotaÂ
"Minnesota's a tough team. It's going to be a good matchup. No 'gimmies' here. We're going to need to probably win six matches. You think of some of their strengths that if we went 5-5, they got some real strength at a couple of those weights where I think there's bonus points. We need to make sure we're pushing this to a 6-4 match, 7-3 match. That's going to be hard to do. [It's] going to be very competitive. We'll have to wrestle better. We'll be better than we were at Stanford. But we have to be, this is a better team."
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Luke Surber
On joining Dustin Plott in the starting lineup:
"It's pretty cool. In the moment I didn't really think about it, I was just focused on my match. Looking back on it now, it is really cool since we grew up together and went to high school together. It was a really awesome moment. Hopefully we will have many more memories moving forward."
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On wrestling Gable Steveson:
"My mindset is going to stay the same. It's obviously a little different when I'm going up against an Olympic champion, but I'm just going to go out there and wrestle. I've competed my whole life and I've wrestled in a ton of matches, so it's really just another match. It's going to get me ready for NCAAs and that's what the season is about. I'm going to go out there, give my best effort and wrestle as hard as I can."
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Trevor Mastrogiovanni
On the difference between his freshman year and this year:
"Last year getting thrown in as a freshman was tough. I had to win a lot of matches by one point, which I think I won a majority of them by one point. I'm coming into this year with a whole different attitude. There's no fear and I'm always prepared for a battle. As a sophomore now I'm prepared for every match to be a battle no matter what. Training with (Daton) Fix for a year has prepared me technique-wise. If I can score on him, then I can score on anyone at 125, so that's helped me out a lot."
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On how Daton Fix motivates him:
"He wasn't happy with his performance at Stanford, so he went and ran six miles before he ate and before he rested. I looked at my dad and was like 'No, I wouldn't do that.'. He won, he got an ugly win, but he won. Seeing him do that is going to change how I look at myself after matches seeing that just last weekend…that's something I want to follow now."
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On wrestling No. 5 Patrick McKee:
"Our last match I was up 10-0 and the score ended up being 11-10. It was just a battle. I'm ready for it. It was a fun match, and it was a grinding match. He comes out you, that's just how he wrestles, and I love having someone who's actually going to wrestle and not be timid and try to make it a one-point match. I want to wrestle and have fun."
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