Championship Recap: PSU ties NCAA record with five individual champions

[Tim Owen/BWI staff]

Penn State goes 5 for 5 in the finals of NCAAs, in a way that has never been matched before. Quotes from each champion at the link below, along with comments from Cael Sanderson, Cody Sanderson and Casey Cunningham

Wrestling: PSU ties NCAA record with five individual champions

 

[Ian]

Insane...

And 142 points returns next year!

Penn State went a perfect 5-0 in session five and picked up 4.5 bonus points off a major, a tech and a fall. Penn State posted a superb 35-6 overall record, picking up 32.5 bonus points off five majors, nine tech falls and seven pins. Sanderson has now coached 18 national champions, 16 at Penn State. His teams have garnered 58 All-America honors, 43 at Penn State. All of this in addition to leading the Nittany Lions to six national titles in the last seven years. The Nittany Lions, with six All-Americans this year, now have 206 all-time All-Americans, 43 of those have come under Sanderson’s tutelage. Penn State’s 146.5 team points in the tournament are the most in school history, breaking the record of 143.0 set in 2012. Sanderson has led Penn State to its top six all-time NCAA point totals (all title winning runs).

 

[androcles]

... let's compare the two performances:

2005:
Oklahoma State -
149-Esposito(1) dec Simpson(2) 5-2
165-Hendricks(3) dec Perry(4) 5-2
174-Pendleton(1) dec Askren(2) 10-5
197-Rosholt(2) dec Stender(5) 5-4
285-Mocco(1) dec Konrad(2) 3-1

2017:
Penn State -
149-Retherford(1) wtf Mayes(3) 18-2
157-Nolf(1) majdec Levallee(3) 14-6
165-Joseph(3) WBF Martinez(1) xx
174-Hall (5) dec Jordan(3) 5-2
184-Nickal(2) dec Dean(1) 4-3 xx

XX= 2 time returning NCAA champion

Note: Penn State wrestlers beat three
#1 -seeded wrestlers on their way to their triumphs- Martinez, Valencia and Dean.

Now you decide...

 

[tikk10]

I received post-final round transcripts from the NCAA shortly after they happened, and this seems like a good place to post them for future reference. I'll make them separate posts. Tom, I leave it up to you as to whether it should be a separate thread.

 

[tikk10]

http://asaptext.com/asap_media/media/79/319/transcripts/16457.pdf
http://asaptext.com/asap_media/media/79/319/transcripts/16457.html

NCAA Wrestling Championship
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Zain Retherford
Press Conference
THE MODERATOR: We're joined by 149-pound national champion Zain Retherford.

ZAIN RETHERFORD: Same story as last night. Just got done with the match so kind of winded but not much to say. But thanks for being here.

Q. So much output. It's unbelievable the amount of pressure and heat you put on people. How do you sustain that through five matches at the NCAA Tournament and just make guys absolutely not want to be on the mat with you? And how much of that is the culture of Penn State wrestling? And you're the face of it right now. How much of that is culture, coaching and what you guys are doing with all the pressure and output?
ZAIN RETHERFORD: It's what we do every day in our room, have fun with it, compete hard, and learn. So it's hard to show up in practice and be a different person than match day, just being that same person consistently every day. I think that's what happens.

Q. You were taken down first.
ZAIN RETHERFORD: Yep.

Q. You were unfazed by that. Talk about how you were able to bounce back and not only win but just dominate the rest of the match, despite the open takedown.
ZAIN RETHERFORD: Not really getting down on myself. I've been taken down before. I was feeling kind of nervous a little bit, but more excited nervous. So that's the signal it's go time. It's national finals, let's go. So, yeah, just focusing on keep scoring after that point, doesn't matter.

Q. You mostly dominated every opponent this year except for a couple of times, but you're always talking about not only having fun but getting better. How do you evaluate if you're getting better in competition when you do that to a guy?
ZAIN RETHERFORD: Just making sure my mind's set every time. Everyone gives up points here and there, gets put in a situation that we're put in. So just embrace it and deal with the hand you're given and just keep rolling.

Q. You really mauled everybody last year, maybe one close match -- you had the Collica match and the Sorensen match. Did those help you start to build this national tournament, this Zain Pain Train, just drowning people into fodder, a tournament like you did?
ZAIN RETHERFORD: Yeah, those two matches taught me a lot. They were close matches. And I got scored on in the Iowa match a couple times. But I learned a lot from them. Learned to be patient. Learned to keep learning, keep trying new things.

A couple of the moves I had out there I had to, they kind of go with what I already do, but just making small adjustments and being willing to learn and grow.

Q. When you talk about all these nicknames that's been given to you, and there used to be a time when guys would have roles or whatever, moves named after them. Would you like something like that named after you? And what makes that so unique?
ZAIN RETHERFORD: Something like what?

Q. The Bo and Arrow --
ZAIN RETHERFORD: Oh, that move has been around for a while. I can't take credit for that.

Q. Anything unique about it?
ZAIN RETHERFORD: Not too much. I take a couple of things from our coaches, you know, how -- it's like a freestyle move. You keep rolling with it. So it's not usually a pain combination. But making that adjustment to the turn to getting the pain was something I picked up from our coaching staff and I've kind of made some adjustments to make it mine.

Q. You were third in the Olympic trials last spring. Are you going to go back and do some freestyle here? Obviously the number one guy is in your workout room, too. Talk about your goals now that you're done with the college season?
ZAIN RETHERFORD: I love freestyle wrestling. I think wrestling is wrestling. So it doesn't really matter. Take some time off. Whatever the coaches think is ideal then get ready for the freestyle season. Those are my goals. See how far I can go with that kind of stuff. I really like freestyle.

Q. I do have to ask you about the Hodge Trophy that will be announced soon. Your thoughts about that.
ZAIN RETHERFORD: I think, I kind of wanted to be honest, I wanted to win last year. So I think not getting it, Alex Dieringer, a very worthy guy to receive the award, very tough competitor. But obviously you want to win that. And that was out of my control.

So after realizing that last year, after I didn't get it, I really didn't put too much weight on it this year. It would be an honor to get it. But, like I said, that's out of my control.

So I just do whatever I can out there, score points, not let that make me nervous or anything like that. But it would be awesome to get it for sure.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Rev #1 by #188 at 2017-03-19 02:01:00 GMT

 

[tikk10]

http://asaptext.com/asap_media/media/79/319/transcripts/16460.pdf
http://asaptext.com/asap_media/media/79/319/transcripts/16460.html

NCAA Wrestling Championship
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Jason Nolf
Press Conference
THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by 157-pound national champion Jason Nolf from Penn State.

JASON NOLF: Pretty excited as you can tell by my face. But no, I'm more of a mellow, stoic kind of guy. But I was really excited scoring a lot of points out there. I still think I could have scored more. But that would just keep me ready for next year. And I'm really looking forward to watching my other teammates wrestle. Zain did a great job, and hopefully we can keep getting more bonus points.

Q. Jason, you're very much, personality-wise it seems, like Coach Cael Sanderson. You got the same kind of personality -- stoic guys, dry sense of humor, but you're fun to watch. You wrestle like him. You make up moves. You've got such a crazy high pace. How do you do it, man?
JASON NOLF: I think it's just having fun out there and just trying to create openings to score. Doesn't matter how you get on top of them, you just gotta figure out a way. So play wrestle a lot in practice, and I think that's where it comes from. And just wanting it.

Q. You and Zain all year have played a game of one-upmanship with bonus points and playing back to back. How much does it really drive you and motivate you to push for even more when you see him putting up big scores and big team points?
JASON NOLF: Yeah, I wanted to get the pin there in the finals. He was kind of hard to open up. I didn't really get a pinning combination up except for the one take -- I didn't even get the takedown either. But I had, in the third period, I had him on his back a little bit, but he fought it off, and the ref didn't really know what was going on.

So, yeah, I am looking to get a pin out there every time no matter what. And I'm kind of upset a little bit when I don't. So even though I just won the national title, I'm still looking to improve. But I'm really grateful for all of this.

Q. You guys must go some matches in practice. I mean, is it more difficult to beat your teammates who are all around the same size or the opponents, even here in the NCAA finals?
JASON NOLF: Yeah, I mean our guys are pretty good, as you can see. We've got five guys in the finals back to back to back to back to back. So those guys are definitely some of the toughest guys I get to wrestle.

We get to learn each other's -- how we wrestle. We're continuously evolving because we're competitive and we want to keep getting better and better and we all just help each other do that.

Q. We saw you give Cody a hug in the tunnel here. I think maybe a couple of other coaches as well. Can you talk about the importance of Cody and Casey to the team? And Cael credits the staff quite a bit. What do they bring that maybe we don't see all the time.
JASON NOLF: Those guys, they just do more individualized workouts. Cael kind of talks to the team as a whole and tries to help out everybody. And Cael and -- or Cody and Casey are more like individualized guys, so they're the ones that kind of tell us what we should be and what we should be doing, what time we should start warming up.

And so I mean a lot of the credit goes to those guys because they take a lot of time, they look back past years what they've done. And they know what they're doing. So I love my coaches and I'm excited for another few years with them.

Q. After the last season, getting to the finals and not getting in --
JASON NOLF: Yeah, there's a video of it right there.

Q. How much of was it a motivation and does it still motivate you?
JASON NOLF: Yeah. It was super heartbreaking last year. That was my goal, it was my goal to be a four-time national champ. That obviously stopped that. So Martinez is a great competitor, and I have a lot of respect for the way he wrestles. And I just, I didn't score more points on him that day.

So I just continuously look to score more points and create opportunities like I keep saying. But that's what it's about. You can't have a close -- you can have a close match, but you don't want to if you can help it. I could have ridden that guy out a little bit longer and try to work on top a little bit and won the match 5-3. But that's not what I want to do.

I don't want to leave it up to a last-second takedown kind of like it was last year. I guess we were tied last year and took me down with like 30 seconds left. So I don't want to leave it up to that. I want to be able to get taken down at the end of the match and still be up 13 points. I guess that wouldn't really work out, but 12 points.

So, although I don't want to ever get taken down, but it doesn't matter to me if I do. I just keep scoring and scoring and scoring and keep the pace.

Q. Could you talk about this group of five or whoever this is, do you call yourself like a fraternity? Like today during the All-American round, a lot of you were here, why is it? Is it just a tradition? And I need to ask you more about this personality, this stoic, have you always been like this?
JASON NOLF: Yeah, I used to be really, like, when I would get interviewed I would just say yes or no the whole time. The guys would be, like, give us some answers. But I kind of guess I've always been that way.

I've opened up a lot more. And, yeah, I mean our team's really good. I'm just going to keep saying that. But we've got a lot of really good guys on our team, even guys that aren't even starting, guys like Jimmy Gulibon -- I still think he's the best 141-pounder in the country even though he didn't compete. I thought he wrestled really well. And guys like Nick Suriano, who weren't even in the lineup. We just had -- we have a really good training program. And it's a lot of fun to be a part of.

Q. There's so many just freaks in your room, David Taylor. Obviously Coach Sanderson, both of them. And Coach Cunningham. I hear myth and folklore of him. The guy has got a motor. He trains. Is that who you train with the most? Who is your main workout partner? What are the goes like with Zain? Who are the main two, three guys? Is Coach Cunningham one of them?
JASON NOLF: He's not one of them. He's usually going with one of the bigger guys like Mark or Bo. They asked him, like, three weeks ahead of time. No, but anytime I ask Coach Casey to go, he's like, I got Bo or Mark or Nevills. I work out with Coach Cody a lot because he's a guy who knows what he's talking about, and he kind of knows know how to wrestle like these other guys do. And it's just great experience, and I've also wrestled Zain a lot. We go hard. So a lot of fun.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Rev #1 by #188 at 2017-03-19 02:24:00 GMT

 

[tikk10]

http://asaptext.com/asap_media/media/79/319/transcripts/16461.pdf
http://asaptext.com/asap_media/media/79/319/transcripts/16461.html

NCAA Wrestling Championship
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Vincenzo Joseph
Press Conference
THE MODERATOR: We're joined by 165-pound national champion, Vincenzo Joseph of Penn State.

VINCENZO JOSEPH: I'm just very thankful to be here right now. I want to thank my coaches, my family, my teammates.

Q. Double overhooks, double underhooks -- you guys kept getting in -- I think you had double overs, right?
VINCENZO JOSEPH: Right.

Q. Double overs. And he's trying to, like, buck you with his hips. And did you hit the inside trip on him? Did you initiate it with your right leg?
VINCENZO JOSEPH: Yeah. You know, he was taking out a lot, and after my first takedown, he was trying to force it a lot more. My second, and then he'd be coming hard at it and kind of set it up perfectly.

Q. Did you scout him for that?
VINCENZO JOSEPH: No, I already wrestled him twice this year, so I had a pretty good idea.

Q. NCAA champion Vincenzo Joseph, how does that sound to you?
VINCENZO JOSEPH: It's pretty cool. Like I said, I'm just really, really thankful to be here right now.

Q. Does it make any more special that last year Jason Nolf lost a real close match to him in a three-match series this year? And did that give you motivation to have redemption for your teammate? I saw on the screen, he was going crazy for you when the fall happened. Talk about that, how that happened. A lot of Penn State fans aren't the biggest Martinez fans.
VINCENZO JOSEPH: My teammates, those guys are like my brothers. I'd do anything for them. They'd do anything for me. But it was more so I wanted to accomplish my goal being a national champ than anything. Not really redemption.

Q. They say Isaiah is very strong and really hard to open up. And you were not only able to get him open for shots but also take him to his back. Were there some changes in your game plan or certain preparation you had that made this different than almost anyone else who has wrestled him?
VINCENZO JOSEPH: I think it was just more of a mindset going into the match. I was confident going in. And even after I gave up that first takedown I was, like, they went to review it. I went back, talked to my coaches. First thing I said to them was: I'm scoring soon. I could feel it starting to open up, and I knew I was going to get to my attack soon. Get an opportunity there.

Q. You talked about confidence, and it seemed like during that match the momentum was swinging in your direction throughout the start. Can you talk about the last two matches that you had with I-Mar and what adjustments you made this time around?
VINCENZO JOSEPH: Well, he's a phenomenal wrestler. He's a bully on the mat. And this time I was definitely ready for that. I was coming right back at him. He likes to slap me in the face a lot. So first match he kind of slapped me, quick, like four or five times right off the whistle. And he didn't get called for that, but if you hit him back you're going to get called. I didn't even care I was coming right back for him.

Q. Everyone will remember this match for the way it ended. But you also won the takedown battle, 2 to 1 and got better reps on your feet. What things did you see when you went back and watched the last two matches? And what did Coach Cael and Casey tell you to be a little better on your feet against Martinez and take him down twice?
VINCENZO JOSEPH: You know, a few little tweaks here and there, hone different positions, little hand-playing things. But mainly just they tell me you're the man, you're going to win this match. Like you have to believe that and I did believe that.

Q. Pennsylvania high school state wrestling with four NCAA champions, you're the four. I'm an Ohio guy and it's hard to admit but is Pennsylvania the best. Ohio's got nine All-Americans; you guys got eight. But you're batting .500 on NCAA champs. Is Pennsylvania wrestling the difference for high school wrestling, how Cael has been able to keep you instate? Is it the difference; is it the best state?
VINCENZO JOSEPH: First of all the Whip Hill (phonetic) is the best region in the country. No, no, Whip Hill. It goes in swings, but Whip Hill for the most part. But Pennsylvania, I think it's because we battle each other. We go across state, cross-country, everything from such a young age, it just helps us a lot for these kinds of tournaments.

Q. When did you know either tonight or in one of the first two bouts that you were at his level, that you were going with him?
VINCENZO JOSEPH: Just how the matches go. I feel like I kind of got in his head a little bit the first time we wrestled because I have pretty good gas tank for the most part. I'm pretty good at keeping my composure while I'm wrestling.

If I'm wrestling a guy who can wrestle hard for seven minutes, no matter how many times he gets taken down, or how many points he goes up, he'll keep coming at you with everything he's got.

I'm like, man, this guy is tough. I feel if I wrestle like that combined with some of my better offense, I feel like I can really get in guys' heads.

Q. You mentioned composure. You seemed pretty reserved for just having done what you've done. How do you celebrate this? How do you celebrate this?
VINCENZO JOSEPH: Go to my hotel. I'm pretty tired. That's all I've got so far.

Q. Freshman right? And you won?
VINCENZO JOSEPH: Yes.

Q. Talk about your goals being a multiple champion. I-Mar was very aggressive after his first that he wanted to win four. Just curious now after you've won your first one, how you think about that?
VINCENZO JOSEPH: Obviously everyone wants to win four national titles. I want to win four national titles but I'll just keep taking it one year at a time, one match at a time, just focusing on every match because if you keep looking forward, well, I want to win four, I want to win four, you kind of lose sight of what's right in front of you.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Rev #1 by #188 at 2017-03-19 02:42:00 GMT

 

[tikk10]

http://asaptext.com/asap_media/media/79/319/transcripts/16463.pdf
http://asaptext.com/asap_media/media/79/319/transcripts/16463.html

NCAA Wrestling Championship
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Mark Hall
Press Conference
THE MODERATOR: We're joined by 174-pound national champion Mark Hall of Penn State.

MARK HALL: It's a tough tournament. Probably I wrestled a lot of places. This is one of the tougher places. There's a lot of people out there. I've wrestled around the world, different people, different countries.

And the important thing, just have fun. I told myself over and over as soon as the negative thought came into my mind, I replaced it with Jesus loves you, NCAA champion, over and over. And whether I was to win or not, Jesus would still love me. And NCAA champion will one day be in his plan, of course be fulfilled, but just have fun, the most important thing.

Q. You're a multiple time world champion in freestyle. A lot of RV rides with dad, Mark Hall, Sr. Did it ever seem like they were going to pay off like this? And immediately you're redshirting. And then all of a sudden you're in the lineup. You lose the match to Meyer in Carver-Hawkeye. Everything so up and down for you. Did all the RV rides pay off?
MARK HALL: There were hundreds of those. And different people along my journey with me, still with me. Some of my best friends. And again, it's all worth it in the end. I remember calling my dad over and over, asking him, hey, can I pull my redshirt, can I pull my redshirt. Over and over, no, no, no. And ultimately what I wanted to do, I knew it would pay off. And here I am.

Q. Touch on the world title cadet and junior. How does this title compare to that?
MARK HALL: It's awesome. But I'm still a junior. Still go get another one. That's what I'm going to work for. For sure need to get more offense. I got to his legs a lot, but throughout the tournament I wasn't shooting a lot. So there's still a lot to work on. It's all those things.

It's all buildup. One day I want to be an Olympic champion. That's my ultimate goal, and then coach my college team, just like Coach Cael. That's the guy I look up to.

If I could be half the man he is, my life would be a perfection. He's a good guy. So it's all build-up. And just one stepping stone at a time.

Q. You touched on pulling your redshirt and winning the nationals as a true freshman. Obviously Cael Sanderson is a four-time national champion. Have you given it any thought?
MARK HALL: It's my journey. If I wanted to go on Coach Cael's journey I wouldn't have pulled my redshirt. He redshirted and I had already had a loss in my redshirt. I would have a loss regardless if I pulled my redshirt.

It's still something I think about. I'm one of four for now. I'm going to work on my second one. You only win one at a time. Take it one match at a time, one tournament, one dual, things like that. But it's freestyle season now.

Q. You've been saying that size doesn't matter but Zahid was 20 pounds heavier than you last year at the Worlds. And Bo's a big guy, and you're very technical. And against the bigger guys, you have to wrestle a little differently. Talk about how you had to adjust yourself because you're not as big as those guys?
MARK HALL: Yeah, I've got to wrestle smarter. There's a lot of things that can happen in a match. You wrestle smart, you wrestle through it. I don't know. I didn't want to cut any weight. I probably will go 174 again next year. Cutting weight sucks and it makes the season a long season. I think anyone who cuts weight can tell you the same thing.

So at the end of the day, I said before, it's not about the size of the dog in the fight; it's about the size of the fight in the dog. One thing Coach Cael always tells us is it's the story I like. He tells us when a pit bull is around, and a small dog walks by, doesn't bat an eye. But when a pit bull is around and a big dog comes by, he starts flexing, puts his fist in the ground and he's ready to fight. And I'll be the pit bull.

Q. Walk us through the exchange that led to the takedown. At one point it looked like Bo Jordan had the upper hand in the scrum and you ended up getting the takedown. Walk us through that. Did you ever think you were in serious trouble in the scrum or were you confident all the way that you were going to get the 2?
MARK HALL: As long as I kept my hands locked I knew I would be okay. I got in that same kind of scramble against Alex Meyer. I unlocked my hands and ultimately it didn't pan out for me.

I kept my hands locked I was ready to finish the match. Finished that takedown. Yeah, I wasn't worried. I get in those scrambles all the time in practice. Keep your hands locked, wrestle through the position.

Q. Speaking of wrestling through positions, they review it. What do the coaches say during the review? It obviously goes your way, 3-1 lead. You're in good position there to win that match. How much does that play wrestling that you guys do, how much of that really plays into how you guys wrestled? Sounds like you guys do a lot of that.
MARK HALL: It was just -- Coach Cael was telling me you're the man, you're the man, you're the man, you're going to win. Keep wrestling smart. Keep your left hand down, circle right, you've got this.

And that play wrestling helps a lot. Especially with the partner that I have. There's a lot going on. I don't have a bad partner ever. I'm just always wrestling in those positions. I'm always in those positions. There's no reason for me to panic if I'm there all the time.

I said it before, there's not a lot of positions you can put me in that I haven't been in, and it's because I credit my teammates for that, my coaches. They put me in all these positions, just ready for anything.

Q. You talked about your teammates, what does it look like when you're wrestling Nickal who is wrestling now and Joseph. When you wrestle those guys in practice what's it like?
MARK HALL: It's competitive. We have days where I might not get a takedown. We have days where some of our best guys are struggling. And it's just because we're all so good. We're so good out here, but when we're in the room it's like you're just another guy. There's no favoritism. We're all one.

I think that's a big part of -- it's a big part of the legacy we're building. We're all one. And I think, yeah, the partners are who I credit. And, again, just those positions always in them (indiscernible).

Q. You did say it's freestyle season. Would you like to win another junior title? Are you looking to do any senior? And are you 74 again? Because that's going to cost you a little bit of weight cutting.
MARK HALL: I'm 74 again. Ultimately it's just, yeah, it's 11 more pounds. But I only do it, like, three or four times. It's not as bad. Still wrestling smart. My training, coaches train us the best. For fact I'd put up with anyone. Freestyle season, I'm ready. Go into our junior world title, try my shot at the Senior World Team if I get that chance.

Q. I know it's hard doing this interview with Bo out there wrestling Dean, but where would you be without Mark Hall, Sr.? And how much of a driving force has he been through everything you've done? I've never seen a dad so invested in a son, and he really loves you and he's behind you all the way. What's it been like having a dad like that?
MARK HALL: My dad, oh man, he's always been pushing me. Always made sure I was at the right places when I needed to be. I was in the right places when I needed to be. I never had anytime for playing around. I never had any time for -- I was hanging out with friends, but at the end of the day it was school and wrestling.

That's what I'm living for now. I'll have fun after my career is over with. Hopefully by that time I'll have, like, 40, 50 years left on me. But he's always pushed me. And I think credit goes to my mom, too. There's no easy way out with her. And, yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Rev #1 by #188 at 2017-03-19 03:10:00 GMT

 

[tikk10]

http://asaptext.com/asap_media/media/79/319/transcripts/16470.pdf
http://asaptext.com/asap_media/media/79/319/transcripts/16470.html

NCAA Wrestling Championship
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Bo Nickal
Press Conference
THE MODERATOR: We're joined now by 184-pound national champion Bo Nickal of Penn State.

BO NICKAL: Thanks for sticking around forever, I guess.

Q. Match management, last year in the NCAA finals you get caught on your back. That out-of-bounds throw. You're initiating action a lot.
This one, a lot different than how Bo Nickal wrestles a lot. Normally it's gun slinging. There wasn't a whole lot of gun slinging. There was match management tonight. What was different? What was the coach's staff message to you?

BO NICKAL: Go out and be yourself, if you wanted to gun sling, then we'd gun sling. But he didn't want to too bad, make it more a tactical match.

Hats off to him, because he's a strong dude, good technique, holds good position. It was hard for me to get to my angles and positions but I capitalized when I needed to.

Q. Talk about your scoring moves and how you were able to get him. Again, you're going against a guy who is pretty much like a brick wall, isn't easy to score on, but you were able to get what you needed to score the points to win this match?
BO NICKAL: I definitely felt wish I would've got to the legs a little more. I felt like once I was to the legs I as going to finish, work on finishing the legs a lot, when I got to the single leg, he sprawled out, I knew exactly what I needed to do thanks to Cunningham, he helped me with that position over my redshirt year I knew what to do from there. And once I got the leg. I knew I was going to get it.

I wish I would have got to the leg a little bit more scored more points had a little more action, but that's all right, I guess a win's a win.

Q. I asked the Coach this but probably more appropriate for you. Not a lot of, I don't know, maybe the first national champion from Texas. What's this mean for the state of Texas and state of Texas wrestling?
BO NICKAL: It's awesome. I'm proud to represent Texas. It's a state that's definitely on the come-up as far as wrestling goes.

You see a lot of -- there's a lot of athletes and the numbers are getting a lot better. And so with the numbers are increasing you'll definitely start to see more better wrestlers, super proud to represent my state and put Texas wrestling on the map a little bit.

Q. Is this the case how you wrestle, everybody's got a plan until they get punched in the face. Don't get double overhook and thrown. Don't get splay hooked. Like I said, you gun sling. Are you just going to do what you do, it doesn't matter, if you're going to gun sling you're going to throw them you're going to splay them you're going to do it?
BO NICKAL: No doubt I'm just going to be myself out there. I feel you don't really lose until you stop being yourself and you lose your freedom. If you're going to go out and lose a match and be yourself, then that's the way it's going to go. But if you're going to go out there and do something that's not who you are really, I mean and even if you win I feel like that's not really even winning. So I'm just going to go out there and be myself no matter what.

Q. Bo, only three other teams had five champions, and you guys did five in a row. So I'm trying to picture your workouts, these five straight weights all the guys that won the nationals in addition to all the other studs in your room. Is that one of the reasons why you guys are so good, is because of the quality of the kids that are working with each other every day?
BO NICKAL: Yes, it's definitely. I think that just excellence breeds excellence. And that's what we're doing at Penn State. So each and every group that we get is top-notch. A kid not only as a wrestler but as a person. And I feel that really is what's going to make the difference over the long run. I mean, there's a lot of talent out there.

But at Penn State we get the right kinds of people and kids with character. That shows. You see kids coming in like Nick Suriano, Mark Hall, Vincenzo, kids coming in, winning at the highest levels.

Some of them weren't even 20 years old to start the season. And that's incredible and I'm so happy that my team got to go out there and win five straight. And I got to kind of put the exclamation point on the end of it. Awesome feeling proud of my team.

Q. To piggyback on that. You said you guys are uber competitive within the room, you like to sit around with Zain look at YouTube videos to try to find new things. How much does it help keep you motivated when they go out and put in these performances with you where you're always trying to one-up them?
BO NICKAL: I wouldn't necessarily say I'm trying to one-up them, but definitely motivates me to go score points for the team. We're a collective unit. We're not going to win national championships unless everybody's going out there performing. So it's something that I really feel does motivate me.

But it's not necessarily, it doesn't motivate me to be better than Zain or Nolf. I just want to be a better version of myself of who I was yesterday. So those guys, I definitely look up to them. And I see those guys, I'm like, that's incredible, I'm so happy. What they're doing wants me to be a better version of myself really.

Q. You may have answered this already. But how much did last year's disappointment drive you this year and how much did you allow it to maybe after the disappointment, how much did it take for you to maybe put it away and move on?
BO NICKAL: I still think about it a lot every day and it's something that I'll probably think about for a long time from now. But with that being said it's not something that I feel really drags me down, it's not something I dwell on.

It's just like a little bit of motivation and I feel that through that loss I've learned a lot and grew. And so when I look back on it, I'm not really going to consider that like a true loss if I grew and learned a lot from that and became a better wrestler and a better person because of it. In the end that's going to be more positive than negative as far as I'm concerned.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Rev #1 by #188 at 2017-03-19 04:05:00 GMT

 

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NCAA Wrestling Championship
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Cael Sanderson
Press Conference
THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Penn State head Coach Cael Sanderson. We'll begin with an opening statement and then questions.

COACH SANDERSON: I don't have an opening statement.

Q. You're a man of few words. Actions speak louder than words. Mark Hall said if he's half the man that you are he will have a great life. You really have built a championship culture. I think the person you are is really what drives that. Your guys love you. They'd lay in traffic for you. How do you build a culture like that? How do you do it? Is it your type of personality? Is it the type of person you are? How do you do that?
COACH SANDERSON: First of all, I think Mark's probably just trying to make a joke about my weight, right? Just a nice guy. We have just a great group of people. And the job that Coach Cody and Coach Casey and Varner and Adam Lynch, just phenomenal.

I mean, they're the best of the best. And I'm just grateful that they're coaching with me and we're working together. We love what we do. And we trust each other and we have a great staff. And I think that it's the kids trust the coaches and we're here for the kids. It's not about me. It's not about Coach Casey. It's not about Cody.

That's why today is so -- I'm still kind of like it's just crazy because usually you have somebody lose or something doesn't go right, and as a competitor your heart is always with the kid that doesn't reach his goal. And so this is very special.

And we had, as a team we had eight wrestling, and, what, six All-Americans. But Jimmy Gulibon had a great tourney, won three matches, picked up bonus points twice. Won a head-to-head match with a second place team. That's huge. He had a great tournament. Matt McCutcheon picked up a fall in the first round. Had a great year, wrestled well.

Just a guy that's -- Studebaker got upset. And he had to go through Studebaker and he got beat. But a guy that's part of the glue of the program still hanging around. Still smiling. He's hurting but just lucky that we've got great people around us and it makes it fun.

Q. To expand on that a little bit, what role do they serve that maybe we don't always see? And how did that yesterday, when Casey challenged the technical violation of the headgear, you trusted in him, in completion, from your comments yesterday, could you expand on what they do behind the scenes that we might not always see and how that trust has been built over the years?
COACH SANDERSON: Well, they do everything that I do and more. I'm the one that has to come to the press conference. That's the difference. Neither one of them want to do that. They're both better at it than I am, however. But they're great coaches, wrestling coaches, technique coaches.

They're great mentors for our guys. And they're committed. They're loyal. They just love what they're doing. But they're both -- I mean, they're both a lot better at a lot of things than I am. I'm just the one that has to -- I have to be responsible for those decisions, if they're the right decision or not, and take the heat or if they go wrong.

But either one of them, I mean, they both -- they do a lot. I mean, they're running practices and I'm asking them for advice and what are we doing here, what's the decision, what are we going to do. Just like that I'm going to support you because they're that good. And I would do anything for them.

Q. You've been on some great teams. You've coached some great teams. This team won five in a row. And there's only been three teams that have won five, I'm being told. And your guys did it back to back to back to back. And just talk about that stretch of wrestlers that were able to win tonight and obviously there were a couple that maybe people didn't think would win?
COACH SANDERSON: Yeah, this is a great team. And with Suriano getting hurt, he was a guy we felt had a legit chance to win a national championship as well. This is our best dual season ever, just in how we competed and we're on the road.

So when you have a great dual season like that you want to finish it off with a national championship. And so we're glad that things have worked out for us. But we're always looking ahead, obviously. But we're going to enjoy this, just really happy for the guys.

Pulling a guy like Mark Hall out of redshirt and whenever we did that, that's a tough decision. That's a tough deal. And I'm not the one that makes that the right decision. He is. Mark has to make that the right decision by the way he thinks about it and he goes out there and competes. And he did. And that was special.

Q. I don't know when the last one was or if he was the first, but not many national champions from Texas talk about finding Bo and maybe what's that mean for the state of Texas and wrestling?
COACH SANDERSON: Great people come from everywhere. I mean, when you have a culture of wrestling in hotbeds like Iowa, Pennsylvania, Ohio, the Midwest, Oklahoma, New Jersey, now you name them, if you leave someone off they get mad. But it's just different because you don't have the competition on a regular basis. But Bo's parents have been taking him all over the country since he was a little kid getting him the best competition. So it's not that risky when you see kids competing on a national level now.

U.S.A. Wrestling provides these kids with all kinds of opportunities, and I think that's the reason why you are seeing kids winning as freshmen and ready to go right away. Doesn't matter where you're from. If you have the right attitude.

He was the guy. He saw Penn State and he saw how we wrestled and our mindset and he wanted to come to Penn State. And when kids do that, that helps us out, because we want kids that want to be with us.

Q. I'm sure you don't want to use the word "dynasty" but since all these kids are coming back, many are underclassmen, is this the start of something special that we could see for several years?
COACH SANDERSON: I think it's special now. I'm having a good time. We're excited about the future. We'll enjoy this at least for a little while. If you're coaching you're always thinking three, four, five years ahead. So we're going to have the potential to have a great team next year, we're excited about that and great leadership.

Five of our guys are back that won the nationals. We've got some guys that have been hurt that will be back in the mix. But there's some great teams. There's Ohio State has everybody back. And Iowa has a great team coming in, and Oklahoma State's always good. There's a lot of great competition.

Q. Vincenzo Joseph lost to three different wrestlers this year in Keaton Subjeck, Isaiah Martinez and Isaac Jordan. In the last two weeks he's turned around each of those results. How has he progressed throughout the season? What has he done to turn those around?
COACH SANDERSON: He's just gotten better with experience. He's a tough kid. You see that -- you see the look in his eye. He had a great look in his eye during that finals match.

He had some big-time wins. In the quarterfinals I think he scored with a few seconds left against a tough, tough kid. He's just a tough kid. And those guys are all training together all the time. You have Nolf. And you have Zain and Vincenzo and Hall and Bo. And they're battling. They love wrestling.

When they warm up, we have to make sure they don't warm up too much, because they start going and you've got to keep an eye on them because they'll wrestle too much.

Q. Could you talk about Bo's match against Dean. Obviously a kid going for his third NCAA title against another real talented guy. As coaches and athletes, how did you get Bo prepared? And did he follow a game plan or did he just get it done?
COACH SANDERSON: I think you know what your opponent's tendencies are. Gabe Dean has been dominating. He's a phenomenal wrestler. Tough, tough kid. Put him in a tough spot, make him wait three hours for his match. That's how wrestling is now. It's a little different than it was a few years ago.

But Bo's just, he's tough to wrestle. He has great hips. He's good in all positions. So it's just a good match.

Q. Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, how huge is that for this dynasty, this wave we're about to see, what David and Ed Ruth, how you won with those teams, I think that was instrumental in it, but is this the RTC that you guys have there, the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club, how huge is it to your guys success and is there any tread left on your tires?
COACH SANDERSON: Any tread left on my tires? Not much. Yeah, the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club we value that a great deal. We have to raise a lot of money to do that and we have some generous people to help us out. And we do that because it's worthwhile.

Just like all the other big programs and every program that has the capabilities is doing the same thing that we are because it's beneficial. And it helps your kids get tougher, better, faster, and so, yeah, we obviously value that and that's why we put the time into it. We get home tomorrow. We have practice. Because we've got freestyle. We have the U.S. Nationals coming up.

So as a staff it would be nice to call the season over, I'm going fishing, but it's because we love wrestling and we'll be back in there.

We don't get home -- yeah, we get home tomorrow but practice will be Monday. We'll be in there at 1:30 with the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club getting ready for nationals and we love it.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Rev #1 by #188 at 2017-03-19 04:06:00 GMT

 

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NCAA Wrestling Championship
Saturday, March 18, 2017
Vincenzo Joseph
Press Conference
THE MODERATOR: We're joined by 165-pound national champion, Vincenzo Joseph of Penn State.

VINCENZO JOSEPH: I'm just very thankful to be here right now. I want to thank my coaches, my family, my teammates.

Q. Double overhooks, double underhooks -- you guys kept getting in -- I think you had double overs, right?
VINCENZO JOSEPH: Right.

Q. Double overs. And he's trying to, like, buck you with his hips. And did you hit the inside trip on him? Did you initiate it with your right leg?
VINCENZO JOSEPH: Yeah. You know, he was taking out a lot, and after my first takedown, he was trying to force it a lot more. My second, and then he'd be coming hard at it and kind of set it up perfectly.

Q. Did you scout him for that?
VINCENZO JOSEPH: No, I already wrestled him twice this year, so I had a pretty good idea.

Q. NCAA champion Vincenzo Joseph, how does that sound to you?
VINCENZO JOSEPH: It's pretty cool. Like I said, I'm just really, really thankful to be here right now.

Q. Does it make any more special that last year Jason Nolf lost a real close match to him in a three-match series this year? And did that give you motivation to have redemption for your teammate? I saw on the screen, he was going crazy for you when the fall happened. Talk about that, how that happened. A lot of Penn State fans aren't the biggest Martinez fans.
VINCENZO JOSEPH: My teammates, those guys are like my brothers. I'd do anything for them. They'd do anything for me. But it was more so I wanted to accomplish my goal being a national champ than anything. Not really redemption.

Q. They say Isaiah is very strong and really hard to open up. And you were not only able to get him open for shots but also take him to his back. Were there some changes in your game plan or certain preparation you had that made this different than almost anyone else who has wrestled him?
VINCENZO JOSEPH: I think it was just more of a mindset going into the match. I was confident going in. And even after I gave up that first takedown I was, like, they went to review it. I went back, talked to my coaches. First thing I said to them was: I'm scoring soon. I could feel it starting to open up, and I knew I was going to get to my attack soon. Get an opportunity there.

Q. You talked about confidence, and it seemed like during that match the momentum was swinging in your direction throughout the start. Can you talk about the last two matches that you had with I-Mar and what adjustments you made this time around?
VINCENZO JOSEPH: Well, he's a phenomenal wrestler. He's a bully on the mat. And this time I was definitely ready for that. I was coming right back at him. He likes to slap me in the face a lot. So first match he kind of slapped me, quick, like four or five times right off the whistle. And he didn't get called for that, but if you hit him back you're going to get called. I didn't even care I was coming right back for him.

Q. Everyone will remember this match for the way it ended. But you also won the takedown battle, 2 to 1 and got better reps on your feet. What things did you see when you went back and watched the last two matches? And what did Coach Cael and Casey tell you to be a little better on your feet against Martinez and take him down twice?
VINCENZO JOSEPH: You know, a few little tweaks here and there, hone different positions, little hand-playing things. But mainly just they tell me you're the man, you're going to win this match. Like you have to believe that and I did believe that.

Q. Pennsylvania high school state wrestling with four NCAA champions, you're the four. I'm an Ohio guy and it's hard to admit but is Pennsylvania the best. Ohio's got nine All-Americans; you guys got eight. But you're batting .500 on NCAA champs. Is Pennsylvania wrestling the difference for high school wrestling, how Cael has been able to keep you instate? Is it the difference; is it the best state?
VINCENZO JOSEPH: First of all the Whip Hill (phonetic) is the best region in the country. No, no, Whip Hill. It goes in swings, but Whip Hill for the most part. But Pennsylvania, I think it's because we battle each other. We go across state, cross-country, everything from such a young age, it just helps us a lot for these kinds of tournaments.

Just an F.Y.I.... It's not 'Whip Hill' that he said. It's W.P.I.A.L. (the western high school regio n around Pittsburgh.)
Q. When did you know either tonight or in one of the first two bouts that you were at his level, that you were going with him?
VINCENZO JOSEPH: Just how the matches go. I feel like I kind of got in his head a little bit the first time we wrestled because I have pretty good gas tank for the most part. I'm pretty good at keeping my composure while I'm wrestling.

If I'm wrestling a guy who can wrestle hard for seven minutes, no matter how many times he gets taken down, or how many points he goes up, he'll keep coming at you with everything he's got.

I'm like, man, this guy is tough. I feel if I wrestle like that combined with some of my better offense, I feel like I can really get in guys' heads.

Q. You mentioned composure. You seemed pretty reserved for just having done what you've done. How do you celebrate this? How do you celebrate this?
VINCENZO JOSEPH: Go to my hotel. I'm pretty tired. That's all I've got so far.

Q. Freshman right? And you won?
VINCENZO JOSEPH: Yes.

Q. Talk about your goals being a multiple champion. I-Mar was very aggressive after his first that he wanted to win four. Just curious now after you've won your first one, how you think about that?
VINCENZO JOSEPH: Obviously everyone wants to win four national titles. I want to win four national titles but I'll just keep taking it one year at a time, one match at a time, just focusing on every match because if you keep looking forward, well, I want to win four, I want to win four, you kind of lose sight of what's right in front of you.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Rev #1 by #188 at 2017-03-19 02:42:00 GMT