Oklahoma State University Athletics
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Smith, Cowboys Preview NCAA Championships
March 14, 2024 | Cowboy Wrestling
STILLWATER – Head coach John Smith and wrestlers Daton Fix and Dustin Plott met with the media Thursday in Stillwater to discuss the 2024 NCAA Wrestling Championships. Here are some of their comments:
Head Coach John Smith
On the next week of training:
"A lot of it is just maintaining your level of intensity, keeping your weight under control… They need to be on the mat. They need to be sweating, maintaining their sense of confidence on a daily basis. You do that in hard workouts and training. We'll work all the way through Monday. I really don't like jumping ahead too far, every day is real important."
On preparing for the long weekend of competition:
"It's going to take three days of success. It's going to take three days for our team to do good. Three days of possibly having to win some one-, two- and three-point matches, probably a lot of them. Just kind of wrapping yourself around that, giving them a little bit of what they're going to be experiencing. The good thing is we have some experience, and we have some guys that are going to have to make their experience."
On the Big 12's competitiveness:
"The conference has done a nice job building and opening their doors to the teams that we have in here, and we've got some great wrestlers in the Big 12. We had some great final matches that really, really showed some strength in our conference."
133-Pounder Daton Fix
On the team's depth throughout the lineup:
"It's nice being on a team where there's a lot of guys that are doing well. We've got 10 guys in and five top-10 seeds. So, that means we've had a pretty good regular season, but it means you've still got to perform. Just because you have five guys in the top-10 doesn't mean that you're going to get any All-Americans. Still got to go out there and win. We're prepared to do that."
On his postseason mentality:
"I'm not worried about anything else other than just the match that I have at that moment. I'm worried about one match at a time. If I just put complete focus into each one of them, then the results are going to happen. I'm going to feel good about the results."
184-Pounder Dustin Plott
On confidence in his own abilities:
"I think that's kind of our team culture here a little bit. I think if you were to ask anyone in the room, they'd have a pretty similar response. I think that just goes back to our training and our coaches. We know that we're good enough wrestlers where we don't have to really focus and dive into what our opponent is doing. We train hard, we train right and we know we have the skills to get it done."
On the growth from younger wrestlers:
"Our young guys are doing awesome this year. With the amount of teams I've been on so far, I think this is the best group of first-year guys in the lineup that we've had. They've done a great job of responding to everything, competing every week. I'm really excited to see how we do as a team (next week)."
Head Coach John Smith
On the next week of training:
"A lot of it is just maintaining your level of intensity, keeping your weight under control… They need to be on the mat. They need to be sweating, maintaining their sense of confidence on a daily basis. You do that in hard workouts and training. We'll work all the way through Monday. I really don't like jumping ahead too far, every day is real important."
On preparing for the long weekend of competition:
"It's going to take three days of success. It's going to take three days for our team to do good. Three days of possibly having to win some one-, two- and three-point matches, probably a lot of them. Just kind of wrapping yourself around that, giving them a little bit of what they're going to be experiencing. The good thing is we have some experience, and we have some guys that are going to have to make their experience."
On the Big 12's competitiveness:
"The conference has done a nice job building and opening their doors to the teams that we have in here, and we've got some great wrestlers in the Big 12. We had some great final matches that really, really showed some strength in our conference."
133-Pounder Daton Fix
On the team's depth throughout the lineup:
"It's nice being on a team where there's a lot of guys that are doing well. We've got 10 guys in and five top-10 seeds. So, that means we've had a pretty good regular season, but it means you've still got to perform. Just because you have five guys in the top-10 doesn't mean that you're going to get any All-Americans. Still got to go out there and win. We're prepared to do that."
On his postseason mentality:
"I'm not worried about anything else other than just the match that I have at that moment. I'm worried about one match at a time. If I just put complete focus into each one of them, then the results are going to happen. I'm going to feel good about the results."
184-Pounder Dustin Plott
On confidence in his own abilities:
"I think that's kind of our team culture here a little bit. I think if you were to ask anyone in the room, they'd have a pretty similar response. I think that just goes back to our training and our coaches. We know that we're good enough wrestlers where we don't have to really focus and dive into what our opponent is doing. We train hard, we train right and we know we have the skills to get it done."
On the growth from younger wrestlers:
"Our young guys are doing awesome this year. With the amount of teams I've been on so far, I think this is the best group of first-year guys in the lineup that we've had. They've done a great job of responding to everything, competing every week. I'm really excited to see how we do as a team (next week)."
Players Mentioned
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