He wrestled with it the rest of the year, but there was a point where he wanted to quit. I was talking to him and talking to him about it, but he needed to find himself, and he did.

On my varsity lineup, I can't come up with anybody who either doesn't live on a farm or hasn't worked on a farm. They understand what hard work is and understand the sacrifice I am making to be there. When I come to wrestling (practice), I am there for one reason.

If he (Jeremiah) can't be ready for a tournament like this with the practice partners he's had, he'll never be ready.

I thought his conditioning might be a bit off when he came back. I told him I wasn't going to watch him ride the bike. That was up to him. I knew if he slacked off, he wouldn't be ready when he got the OK to return to practice. You can see he must have been pretty serious about riding the bike.

He's really a hard-nosed, gut-it-out type of kid. When he said he was in some pain, I told him he had to tell his mother.

When he wakes up (today), I know he's going to be a lot happier than he is tonight. He was second two years in a row, and tonight he gets to be a champion.