So thank you to everyone, everyone here. There's so many people that I should thank and unfortunately, I just don't have the time, but those people know what they mean to me and my family. So when I lift this trophy again it's for LSU, Ohio State, southeast Ohio and all of Louisiana. Thank you.

All of my teammates have supported me and welcomed me with open arms, a kid from Ohio coming down to the Bayou, and welcoming me as brothers. It's been so awesome.

I am happy that things are working out well and I thank God for the progress made so far. I come from a riverine area in Ibeno local government area where I used to help my parents to catch crayfish. I am equally grateful to my parents and my coaches who are keeping me on my toes. I look forward to having a successful career in athletics.

I am grateful for the platforms that have helped raised the brand and open doors for us. If not for these platforms I probably wouldn’t be where I am today and probably not have as much exposure.

I'd like to thank Louisiana, the entire state. Like I said earlier, [I'm] just a kid from Ohio coming down and chasing a dream. And the entire state has welcomed me and my family with open arms and invited us in to be native Louisianans. I've learned to love crawfish and gumbo. During crawfish season, Coach O made sure we have pounds and pounds and pounds of crawfish during our year.

I am very grateful for my education and for the chance to give to my country.

It's a game i will forever cherish, it was a great moment for me as a player and as a person. Representing your country and reciting the national anthem for everyone to see is a feeling that you cannot describe, and i give thanks to God.

I tried to leave a legacy of hard work and preparation, and loyalty, and dedication everywhere I go. And, I'm surrounded by such great people that make that so easy. Great strength coaches. Coach [Mickey Marotti] is in the audience, [he's] my strength coach from Ohio State, and Coach [Tommy Moffitt] is watching from home. And, they've made me a great person and a great player and so much better because of them.

I want to thank the Cameroonian team and the coach for giving us a good game. It was a great final to watch seeing the best two teams in Africa competing.

I was lucky enough to have amazing coaches and to play at the highest capacity. It’s one of those things that you are able to relate and have compassion for the players and know what they’re going through psychologically and use the parallels of how to push and motivate without being negative to help them grow to their highest potential.

It is always a great feeling to do well with a lot of your teammates and to have hard work pay off.

I'm always grateful to be on the starting line and grateful to see the finish line just like every other 30,000 runners out there. I'm just like them. The conditions are tough today, but it's just so great to be here.

No matter what happens tonight, I hope I have made my country proud, my family and friends proud and for sure I know my mom is sooo proud! Again thank you to everyone on my team, my sponsors, and to those who have contributed to my #roadtomissuniverse journey. I’m forever grateful

Government has done everything so; it is left for us to pay back the kind gesture. We had good training, good facilities and good coaches. If any state deserves to win this festival, it should be Rivers.