National Champions Q&A: Sara Fulp-Allen

John Fuller TheMat.com
05/20/2005

Sara Fulp-Allen is only a sophomore in college, and that clearly made her the youngest champion at the U.S. Nationals in the women’s freestyle division. Winning the 48 kg/105.5-pound title is the biggest accomplishment of Fulp-Allen’s young and promising career. In a weight class that lost its first-ever Olympian, and is loaded with young women, Fulp-Allen has taken the early lead towards the 2008 Olympic Team. TheMat.com sat down with Fulp-Allen to discuss her national title and how she will prepare for the future. TheMat.com: You put together probably your best freestyle tournament yet in Las Vegas. What has been the difference for you in the past year? Fulp-Allen: I think having wrestled everybody that was in my weight and having that confidence. TheMat.com: In your finals match against Caitlyn Chase, you lost the first period and seemed to be struggling before you pinned her. How did you keep your focus in that match? Fulp-Allen: I knew the first round was just the first round and that I’ve beaten her by a lot before. I knew I could come back and I’ve done it in a lot of matches this year in this scoring system. TheMat.com: How will you prepare differently for the Trials this year, now that you won’t be competing in the Challenge Tournament? Fulp-Allen: I really don’t know yet. That’s hard to say. I know I’m going to keep training hard. Since I’ve wrestled everybody that qualified, I know that anybody that comes up in that finals match, I can wrestle. As I keep preparing, I’m just going to keep working hard on the things I’ve been doing the past year. I’m not really changing anything, though. TheMat.com: You would now be at a point in your career where you need to start focusing on international competitors. Which foreign opponents have you begun to keep an eye on? Fulp-Allen: Last year, I was doing a lot of that before the Olympics. A lot of people from my weight class have moved up, or done what Patricia Miranda did by taking some time off. That’s something I really need to do – is start looking at people, following people and watching more tapes. That’s something I’m going to do before Trials, and focusing off what my opponents do and improving off that. TheMat.com: What kind of progressions have you seen in women’s wrestling since you first began competing? Fulp-Allen: Numbers for sure and quality. I’ve gone up with the quality as well. Definitely everybody has taken steps forward. TheMat.com: How exciting is it for you to have your father, Lee Allen, a two-time Olympian, coaching you every day? Fulp-Allen: It’s great. He’s been my coach my whole life. He’s just always there and it’s great.