Survey a few of those who had an up-close look at history and ask what it was like to train alongside Cael Sanderson in the Iowa State practice room or to compete against him during his 159-0 march to college wrestling immortality and you’ll hear a wide-ranging list of superlatives. 

What stood out most about Cael at the peak of his powers with the Cyclones?

For Mark Munoz, it was the overwhelming hand-fighting skills that set up Sanderson’s arsenal of attacks. 

Jessman Smith recalls Sanderson’s savvy and uncanny ability to wrestle several moves ahead of his opponents. 

Dwight Hinson remembers the little guy skills and speed rolled into an upper-weight takedown machine. 

And Billy Maldonado thinks back to Sanderson’s relentless pursuit of greatness inside the practice room and his unyielding commitment away from the mat. 

“He was the hardest worker,” Maldonado said. “I would do extra workouts in the morning, thinking I was going to try to get ahead and I’d walk into the room and he’s there already. He lived a really, really clean life as far as doing the right things outside of the room. We had a team that was kinda like that. We didn’t party. During the season it was pretty serious, but that’s what he did, he lived a pure life. 

“He wasn’t a crazed lunatic who was going to get in there and bust heads. He just did everything right and led by example really well for us and always treated everyone with respect and we all looked up to him. He lived the right life to be a champion. People say he had natural abilities, which he did, but he worked extremely hard.”

Those characteristics helped take Sanderson to a place where no other college wrestler has traveled — to the top of the NCAA mountain four straight seasons without a defeat. He also won the voting for the 197-pound spot on the Flowrestling All-Quarter Century Team presented by Defense Soap. 

“Probably the thing that separates him … is the ability to show up for every match — whether you’re injured, whether you’re sick, whether you had a bad weight cut — and to find a way to win every single match is absolutely unparalleled, not only in the weight class or the sport of NCAA wrestling, but within all of NCAA sports,” said Smith, a two-time 184-pound All-American at Iowa. 

“Every single time he showed up and found a way to win, typically in pretty dominant fashion.”

Sanderson scored bonus points in 140 of his 159 college wins — an 88 percent clip. He won 15 of his 19 decisions by four points or more. Yes, that’s correct, he wrestled in just four college matches that were determined by three points or fewer. 

“We expected big things out of him,” said Hinson, who was a senior on the Iowa State squad when Sanderson was a true freshman and later became a volunteer assistant with the Cyclones. “I didn’t expect for him to be an undefeated four-time national champion. But the more you were in the room with him and he was taking down legend after legend and finding ways to get to their legs, it was shooting toward that label for him to be one of the greatest.” 

How did it happen?

Munoz, a 2001 NCAA champion at 197 pounds for Oklahoma State, points to the advancements Sanderson made with his hand-fighting skills. 

“He just wore you out with handfighting,” Munoz said. “He was heavy on your head, pulling you down, grabbing your wrists. He was always pushing and pulling, changing directions on you. His movement was unreal. I was like, ‘If I’m going to beat this guy, I need to be able to control the ties.’ He was really good at controlling the tie.” 

Smith wrestled Sanderson four times in college and described him as “clairvoyant.” 

He knew where you were going to be five moves (ahead) and he was waiting for you there,” Smith said. “He knew where you were going to be and he was just sitting there, and that’s what made him feel so fast. You thought he took a shot and he got in so fast. That wasn’t it. He worked hard at his setups, his timing was impeccable and then he had just laid the trap and he was watching it unfold the whole time. Several positions ahead at all times.” 

Smith recalls one instance in particular from their first meeting in college. It happened at the Kaufman Brand Open in Omaha, where Smith snapped Sanderson down to the mat and thought he was about to run around him for an easy go-behind takedown. 

“I thought I was going to out-horsepower this dude,” he said. “As I was going behind, he threw an arm up and kinda somersaulted, granby, cartwheeled over the top of me the wrong direction and now all of a sudden I have no clue where I am. I’m looking up, I’m looking down, I’m looking all over the place and before I know where I am I’m flat on my belly and he’s sitting on top of me with a takedown. I’m like, ‘This guy keeps putting me in positions nobody has put me in.’ He’s doing it consistently and it’s like, ‘How do you train for that? He’s the only guy in the world doing this stuff.’” 

The Results Are In 

The Flowrestling team started with every NCAA champion from the last 25 years and pared the list down to four at every weight after tabulating the results of a staff vote. We let wrestling fans weigh in with a social media vote. Here are the final results: 

1. Iowa State’s Cael Sanderson

2. Missouri’s J’den Cox 

3. Iowa State’s Jake Varner

4. Minnesota’s Damion Hahn 

The First-Teamers

125 — Iowa’s Spencer Lee

133 — Ohio State’s Logan Stieber

141 — Cornell’s Yianni Diakomihalis 

149 — Penn State’s Zain Retherford 

157 — Penn State’s Jason Nolf 

165 — Cornell’s Kyle Dake

174 — Penn State’s Carter Starocci 

184 — Penn State’s Ed Ruth 

197 — Iowa State’s Cael Sanderson 

Facts, Figures And Those Who Missed The Final Cut At 197

— The last quarter century has produced 19 different NCAA champions at 197 pounds. 

— There were four multi-time champs at the weight during that 25-year stretch — Jake Rosholt, Damion Hahn, Jake Varner and J’den Cox.  

— Earlier this week we looked back at the four finalists, including three who wrapped up their college career before 2011. 

— Cael Sanderson (2002), Bo Nickal (2019) and Aaron Brooks (2024) were the lone Hodge Trophy winners at 197 during the past 25 years. 

— Eleven different schools won a 197-pound title during the past 25 years, led by Penn State’s five. Iowa State and Oklahoma State tied for second with four each. 

— Seniors collected 15 of the 24 NCAA titles at 197 pounds since 2001. Juniors were second with seven.