Graveyard puzzle

[willows_blessing]

this shit got me confused perplexed and quite frankly flummoxed.

 

i talk to the ghost and then i talk to the competitors and they say this

 

1st place: "i may have won but i dont look down on anyone for trying to compete"

 

2nd place: "Second place! the only thing left to do is get better for next year"

 

3rd place: "third place? i guess things can only go up from here"

 

im assuming the graves correspond to the podium posts with the far left being 2nd and the far right being 3rd so i do this

 

topmost grave on the left row since he gets better and therefore higher 

 

top grave on the middle row since he DOESN'T look down on anyone (i also tried this again with the bottom grave in case down literally means just down with no luck)

 

middle grave on the 3rd row since he wants to get better (I also tried with the topmost grave since that is better too ig) 

 

after all that with all possible combinations i could think of i still couldent get it to let me into the boss, is there somthing im missing here? i feel like if im missing anything its painstakingly obvious.