Tom Arlis Quotations

They genuinely don't like each other -- they're both very competitive and they're both very physical. They flared up a little bit, and the ref had to step in and calm them down. They were getting after it.

We are a really balanced team. I'm very impressed and I thought we either met or exceeded all of our goals this year. We have a number of seniors in the lineup, more than we've ever had, and that's a maturity factor which helped us do well this year. Plus, we have a lot of younger guys so the future's bright with them waiting in the wings. We're all excited about it and this is the first time we've ever qualified for the team championship.

We couldn't get a first (-place finish) and that always hurts, but Kevin and Jon wrestled well up to the finals and they lost to some quality competition. Those kids are tough, though, and the good news is they'll be on the other side of the bracket when we get downstate. I thought Greg wrestled really well, but as a team in general, we were a little flat.

It doesn't really matter what place you are. I think he'll look back on this, when he's not so upset, and he'll walk away with some good memories.

Jon went at it like it was just another tournament and that's the key. It's tough to adjust to the finality of this tournament.

It's easier to stay on top when you're a team that's there and established. It's hard to break through and have that respect. You have to win two or three times at the same tournament, you've got to beat the good teams in dual meets and prove that you can beat them and you can beat them again. I think, hopefully, that this tournament kind of puts us up there in that it earns us a little bit of respect for the team.

Just look at Kevin -- he's a horse. He's a horse and he gets after it.

Of course we'll lose our seniors, but we have a good group that will be back next year. We have a good group waiting in the wings to step in. A good team just reloads. They don't rebuild. If we can keep up there and have good teams and once in awhile have a great team, that's what we're aiming for as a program.

(Mahan) has really stepped up and become a real leader on the team out there.

If you're going to win a big tournament like this, you've got to keep your kids in the tournament. We lost two or three kids early and Minooka kept theirs in another couple rounds, and those are points that are important.