Back On The Mat!

It sounds like Dennis Quaid in the 2002 movie "The Rookie" but his is no Hollywood production.

Nearly ten years ago, fittingly in 2002, a wrestler from Iowa State University made national headlines in a sport many forget exists in athletics. Cael Sanderson finished his senior year with a national championship in the 84 kg weight class, his fourth consecutive. More impressive: he never lost a single match. He's the only wrestler in NCAA Division I history to go undefeated with over 100 victories, a feat deemed by Sports Illustrated to be the second greatest feat in college athletics (Behind Jesse Owens setting four world records in the 1935 Big Ten Track and Field Championships). Two years later, Cael won gold at the 2004 Olympic games in Athens. His performances rightfully place him as one of the greatest amateur (aka, REAL) wrestlers of all time.



Fast forward to 2009 when he took the job of wrestling coach at Penn State after a three year stint coaching his alma mater Cyclones. The stories I would read on a day-to-day basis in the Penn State paper The Daily Collegian truly made my jaw drop. I read stories of Sanderson getting on the mat himself and wrestling his players, teaching first-hand the moves that led him to four national titles.


Apparently, like Dennis Quaid's character's fastball in "The Rookie," Sanderson's moves showed that he was still an amazing wrestler, now in his early 30's. After a solid first year at Penn State, his players made a bet with him. If the Penn State wrestling team won the Big Ten Tournament, Sanderson would return to the mat.



Well, you can guess what happened next, as the best Hollywood directors couldn't have written a better script.

Penn State won the Big Ten title, but didn't stop there as they moved "onward" to a NCAA National Championship, in only Sanderson's second season in Happy Valley.





Sanderson of course kept true to his word, and the script continues. He wrestled in the United States World Trials in June, and moved on to the 2011 FILA world championships in Turkey this past Saturday. He finished fifth in the 84 kg division, the same class he wrestled in throughout his career, good enough to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games! He lost an early match to the eventual champion in the 84 kg division, but fought back to the bronze medal match. He didn't concede a point in either round of that match, and he dominated it, but lost the tiebreaker in both rounds so lost the bout. (I'll admit I don't know the scoring system of wrestling very well...I'm still working on it!) 

 For a seven year hiatus from the sport, to go out there and finish fifth in the world at his class is saying something! Give him another year of coaching his team, joining his team on the mat in practice more than likely as well, and who knows what this man is capable of doing! He is going to be a top contender in London next summer, and my money is on him to win it! He finished fifth with just a few months of training. He has a whole year now to prepare, so watch out London! Congratulations, Cael, you have impressed us yet again with your abilities as an athlete, as a leader, and as a human being.