TEN QUESTIONS WITH...

You’ve gone 37-2 this year, the best winning percentage in school history and go into the NCAA tournament ranked second by the NWCA, the highest ranking a UB wrestler has ever received. How confident are you going into the tournament?
I’m real confident. I think I’ve done everything I could. I think, not just practicing, because I’ve always practiced and worked hard, but I really think the difference for me this year is that I lived right. I did everything right out of the room. I never went out. I ate right. I never drank. I never partied. I lived clean for a full year and I think that, on top of my training, is why I really believe that I deserve to win.

This year, you set school records for wins, dual meet wins, dual meet takedowns and consecutive wins. After five years in the UB program, how much does it mean to you to have earned these records?
It means a lot to me to earn these records, but it just means that I’ve had a pretty good career. That’s how I look at it. I just want to put an exclamation point on the end of my career, heading to nationals. That’s all I want. The records are a pretty good story and I just want to put an exclamation point on the end of it.

This is your third trip to the NCAA tournament. In your first trip, your first round match was with four-time NCAA champion Cael Sanderson. How much of an impression did wrestling him leave on you?
I wouldn’t say it left a huge impression, but it was nice to wrestle him. It was kind of motivating to know that someone could be that good and someone could be that dominant. It was an interesting experience to wrestle that kind of match.

Last year, you redshirted after earning All-American status during the 2004 season, a move that surprised many wrestling fans around the nation. How much thought went into that decision and what made you ultimately decide to wait until this year to make a run for the national title?
I think that there was a lot of thought. It was the best for the team and the best for me. I think that I got a lot better during that redshirt season because I saw the very best competition in the world. I went to every good tournament in the country and international tournaments. I think that redshirt year really helped me. It gave me more time to work with assistant coach Jeff Catrabone and he trained me a lot in the summer. I wouldn’t have had those opportunities if I didn’t redshirt.

This year’s team accomplished a lot of firsts. Mark Budd beat No. 1-ranked Shawn Bunch in December, the team finished third at the MAC Championships for the first time and four wrestlers earned national rankings in the course of the season. How proud are you of what Coach Jim Beichner and his assistants have been able to do with the program since you’ve come here?
I’m real proud. I think that it’s just a start. I wish I had some more time because I really think the program is headed in the right direction with Coach Beichner. I think they’re going to continue to have that kind of success. I think guys like Mark Budd and Mickey Moran, the sky’s the limit for them. Next year, Mickey has to come out and realize how good he is and just be mature enough to have success all season. He’s as talented a wrestler as anyone on our whole team and him and Mark are really going to turn some heads next year in the nation.

You, more than anyone else, have gotten to see the development of Harold Sherrell from a walk-on five years ago to a MAC Champion last weekend. How much has having a guy like Harold, who was always willing to do whatever it took to help the team, there to practice with in the past five years helped you?
I think he’s helped me a lot. Harold is such a good person. He’s such a deserving person of the success he’s had. You’ll never find someone nicer and more team-oriented than Harold. I really admire him. He doesn’t complain. He’s a good leader and a good student. He does everything right. He just wants to get better and he’s stayed around and lifted. I really admire him for that.

You’ve also seen the development of Mark Budd over the course of the last four years, as it also culminated this year in his 36-4 record and MAC Championship. How nice has it been being able to watch Budd’s development into a nationally-ranked wrestler?
Mark, I think, his mentality is more similar to mine than Harold’s. He really believes that if he does his best than he is the best and that will help the team. I really admire Mark because when he beat 2005 national runner-up Shawn Bunch, he didn’t say, ‘I beat Shawn Bunch. I’m a national champion.’ He knows that was just a dual meet. He never says he wants to be an All-American. If you ask him what his goal is, he says, ‘I want to be a national champion.’ I really respect him for thinking that way and never being satisfied with how he wrestles. I think that’s why Mark is going to continue to get better and better.

This summer, you had the opportunity to wrestle in Olympic-style US competitions, including finishing fifth at the US Nationals, the highest place-finish for a collegiate wrestler in the weight class. What has competing in the national events taught you and helped you with?
The US Open, that’s as big as it gets. I think it helps me go into a tournament and look at a 64-man bracket and say well, I have to win six in a row and then I’m in the finals. It’s made other tournaments look small and not as tough. I just think any time you wrestle eight times in a day it prepares you for hard matches. You just have to get up after a loss and come back and wrestle and beat someone tough. You never get an easy match and it just seasons you. It helps you prepare for big matches.

You’re a guy who has to carefully control your weight to ensure you are less than 197 pounds each time you weigh-in, so after your last match on March 18, what are you going to go out and get for dinner?
I don’t know, probably just a big steak dinner. Definitely a milkshake and lots of fluids, like 10 or 11 Gatorades.

What has been your favorite moment as a student athlete at the University at Buffalo?
I would definitely have to say winning my All-American match as a junior against Indiana’s Pat DeGain. He was someone who beat me four or five times before I finally beat him. I beat him at the most crucial time. I’ve been thinking about that match a lot lately because going into nationals, I’ve lost two times to Wynn Michalak of Central Michigan. I think before, I would have been down about that, but after I beat DeGain, I think that I know how hard it is to beat someone three times in a row. I think that’s going to help me rise to the occasion. That was a defining moment in my wrestling because I slayed a dragon that was always beating me. I think that’s going to help me this year.

- The “10 Questions With…” feature is compiled by Joe Guistina.