Tom Arlis Quotations

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

He saw in the paper where I said some of our kids with better records were the top threats to win titles for us and he was upset I didn't mention his name. He said, 'You don't think I can win this tournament? I'm gonna prove you wrong.' I said, 'I hope you do prove me wrong.' And he did.

He was so ready and so focused and so determined to beat him. He had it in his mind that he was going to do it. I think that is the biggest battle you always have, inside your head, with a kid that's beaten you before.

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

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 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.

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.

Those two guys did the same thing in the dual. They genuinely don't like each other. They're both very competitive, both physical guys and they both like to set the tone and intimidate. Well, neither one wants to be intimidated so what happens is they flare up like that and the ref has to step in and calm them down like he did. ... The crowd was into it.

We got 10 in (to sectionals). That was a record.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Talk about confidence, (Mahan) has been so confident. He has stepped up and become a real leader.

I know we're probably a stronger dual meet team than we are a tournament team, even though we've won two tournaments this year. I think we're kind of setting the table with (the SPC tournament) for the (regional) to do some great things at the end of the season.

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.

He really dominated for (the final) four minutes on top.