Feb. 25, 2000

Corey Bell is a junior team leader on the 1999-2000 wrestling team. He has won ACC titles in each of his first two years at 184 pounds. In addition, Bell has been an NCAA qualifier each year. Posting a career mark to date of 75 wins and 33 losses, Bell has shown that he is a contributing factor to the Tar Heels recent wrestling dominance. Wrestling now at the 174 weight class, Bell is in search of his third consecutive ACC Title and tells about preparation for an eighth team title in the last nine years.

TarHeelBlue.Com: How are you and the team preparing to defend the ACC Championship for the first time as an underdog?
Bell: Well, we're in a sense planning on defending it as defending champions do when they are returning champs. We know we want to win it, and to win it we have to get first place in most of the weight classes just like last year, and that's what we plan to do now. The only difference is that we're not starting off seeded first. Really when it comes down to it, it never really matters how you're seeded, it's how you finish. We finished first last year and we plan on finishing first this year, just from a different position, that's all. It's kind of fun. We're spotting them a couple of points.

TarHeelBlue.Com: With two veteran wrestlers red-shirting this year. How have you and your role as a team leader been affected?
Bell: It has affected me in a positive way. I feel like I'm just an average wrestler from Durham, North Carolina and the people red-shirting, primarily Chuckie Conners and John Mark Bentley, have been wrestling longer and I feel are better wrestlers than I am. Its given me this year to train and compete without them here and has given me a better chance to take a leadership position. When they come back next year, I feel like I'll be a better part of the team and not a weak link of the leadership.

TarHeelBlue.Com: Going into a big event such as the ACC Championships, how do you prepare, both physically and mentally?
Bell: Obviously it goes back to the old school. I do the same thing I've been doing. I've been here three years and have had the same training routine every time. Right now we're having two a day practices to prepare. Like I said before, I've won it twice before and I'm going to keep doing the same thing as far as the ACC's go so I can win it again, even though some say I'm the underdog this year. I'm doing the same thing as last year.

TarHeelBlue.Com: What changes have you experienced this year wrestling in the 174 weight class instead of at 184?
Bell: The biggest difference is the quickness level. I've always felt that I was stubborn enough to wrestle the big guys. Since they were slower, I was able to be stubborn. I could get in on their legs and just fight, fight, fight till I got a take down. Now with lighter weights, they don't give you a chance to be stubborn. They're like little cockroaches always running around everywhere and I'm like a can of Raid trying to spray them down. Big thing is that they're quick and really flexible and I'm just trying to get used to that.

TarHeelBlue.Com: How do you deal with the pressure of possibly being a three-peat ACC champion?
Bell: Really there's no pressure on me because I'm the underdog. I'm just trying to become a three time ACC Champion and only a few people expect me to win it. I've got some tough competition from Virginia and State. These are new people I haven't been wrestling before. Really I'm not a two-time ACC Champ this year. I'm a two-time ACC Champ at 184. I'm nothing at 174. I've got to be ACC Champ at 174 before I can defend as ACC Champion.

TarHeelBlue.Com: What activities away from wrestling most interest you?
Bell: I like performing with the Poetry Club. I like performing with Sankofa, it's a local band here around Chapel Hill. I like mentoring for fellow athletes through the ACT program. I like Carolina C-Tops. I'm also an orientation counselor where I get to meet a lot of new people. I like going around campus and just meeting people. I ran for Carolina Athletic Association president. I ran to show people and my teammates that no mater who you are or where you're from, if you want to do something, you can do it. I got a quarter of the votes, 707, just by telling people word of mouth. I never thought in a million years 707 people would vote for me. I was personally hurt by the negative comments from the DTH about my running for CAA because I'm a nice guy and have never done anything to anybody. For 707 people to still know me that well and vote for me, I was just thankful.

TarHeelBlue.Com: What will it take for the Tar Heels to win their fourth consecutive ACC Title and their eighth in the last nine years?
Bell: What it's going to take is a will to win. We are in a sense on paper the underdog, but wrestling has always been a sport where you fight and never give up. This time we're really going to have to take that mentality into the ACC Tournament. Never give up. Winning by one point. If you're better than someone else, trying to pin them and not just winning. Never giving up and just pushing and pushing. A lot of times we're used to winning and winning just for ourselves. This is a team thing this time. The good guys are going to really have to win big, so the little guys can have some room for error.

TarHeelBlue.Com: What is the greatest lesson you have gained from your North Carolina wrestling experience?
Bell: The biggest lesson is remembering the old school. Coming to college you think college is too big and you can't do things like you used to do in middle school. This isn't anything but a big middle school. If you have goals, you can go out and accomplish them. Just go back to those old school techniques like saying hello to everybody, meeting strangers, listening to your parents, and listening to your elders. Going back to listening to your elders and doing things right, that's my biggest lesson. It's so hard to take shortcuts in wrestling unless you're just the gifted athlete and everyone in wrestling is not gifted. You just have to go back to the old school.

TarHeelBlue.Com: Is it to the old school that you attribute your wrestling style?
Bell: That's exactly what I attribute my style to. My freshman year my coach and everyone said that none of my high school moves were going to work in college, so I was trying to use all of these special moves. Then my second year, I thought about how I had two moves in high school that I used to use, so I started using them again and was winning a lot. That's what I've been using all my life. Just going back to old school. I'm the old school kid. I'm the old school.