Cael Sanderson. Mention his name and everybody involved with wrestling knows his name.

He is the second-year Iowa State coach and his Cyclones wrestle the Gophers at 2 p.m. Sunday Williams Arena. Fortunately for the U, Sanderson, 28,is not still wrestling.

He won thegold medal at 185 poundsfor the U.S. in the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Before that he won four NCAA individual titles, three at 184, the fourth at 197,at Iowa State.His career record was 159-0. Four times he was named the top wrestler of the NCAA meet, three times he won the Dan Hodge award, given to the nation’s best college wrestler.

He can coach a little, too. His Cyclones were NCAA runners-up to the Gophers his first year. They won the Big 12 title, the school’s first conference championship since 1987.

And he calls sports reporters back.Sohe is OKwith me.

“It’s a big match we are looking forward to,” Sanderson said of Sunday’s dual with the Gophers. “It’s an opportunity to see them and it will show our strengths and weaknesses.

“Most of the weights will be pretty competitive. Their obviously are some key matches.”

Which ones? Sanderson skipped that question.

“This potentially is the last time we will face them — except for the national duals — until the national championships. So itis an important match for my team.”

What about the No. 1 vs. No. 2 matchup between Jake Varner and Roger Kish? “Varner is a guy who works hard every day trying to get better,” Sanderson said. “Kish is a great athlete. They are a great matchup. Varner is a lot stronger and has better technique than a year ago.”

Sanderson also is excited the dual meet is on the Big Ten Network. “It’s a great dual meet,” he said. “It will be hard for anyone who starts watching the meet toturn it off. It’s great for wrestling.”

There seems to be a lot of mutual respect between the twostrong programs. Iowa State assistant Tim Hartung wrestled at Minnesota. And Sanderson said he trained a little bit at theuniversity with J Robinson.

“[Robinson] was always good to me,”Sanderson said. “I like their coaching staff. They’ve put themselves” at the top.

A spot Sanderson and his Cycloneswant. ISU had the nation’s top recruiting class in 2005 and those wrestlers, after red-shirting their first year,are now sophomoresand six or seven could wrestle against the U.

What do you think of Sanderson? Is he the greatest college wrestler ever?

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 1st, 2007 at 1:39 am and is filed under Gophers wrestling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.