AUBURN HILLS — The Sanderson name is synonymous with wrestling.<\/p>\n
So it’s no wonder the Iowa State program has become a family affair for the Sandersons.<\/p>\n
Cael Sanderson was named coach before this season, and his first duty was to surround himself with a coaching staff he could trust. He didn’t have to look far.<\/p>\n
Sanderson hired brother Cody as associate head coach and also brought on brother Cole as nutritional advisor. Little brother Cyler, a freshman, is competing in his first championships.<\/p>\n
“My family has been a big part of my wrestling. You trust your family, you believe in them and that was a big thing for me in making sure I got the right staff on board, “Cael Sanderson said during Wednesday’s coaches’ news conference at The Palace.<\/p>\n
“It’s been a lot of fun having Cyler on the team, too. I’ve had to separate the fact that he is my brother when we’re on the mat.<\/p>\n
“It’s tough love with him, but that’s how it is with all of the guys.”<\/p>\n
Cael is a four-time NCAA champion (159-0) at Iowa State and won a gold medal in the 2004 Olympics.<\/p>\n
Cody was a three-time Iowa State All-American and Cole was four-time Iowa State letter-winner.<\/p>\n
Cael became the first Iowa State coach to win a Big 12 Conference title in his first season.<\/p>\n
For the first time since 1986, the Cyclones will send a wrestler in every weight division to the championships.<\/p>\n
All four brothers were coached by father, Steve, at Wasatch Heber High in Utah.<\/p>\n
Enough already<\/p>\n
Sam Hazewinkel is sick of finishing third.<\/p>\n
The Oklahoma senior has finished third the past three seasons and is hoping 2007 is the year to break the mold.<\/p>\n
“I’m excited to be here. It’s my senior year and I have a little bit of senioritis, “Hazewinkel said. “I’m getting excited to win a title this year. I’ve had three thirds and there is something about it being your last year.<\/p>\n
“You’re excited about coming in to win and I’m excited to win.”<\/p>\n
Next in line<\/p>\n
Josh Churella wants to win an NCAA title not just for himself, but for his family, too.<\/p>\n
His father, Dave , won national championships at Michigan in 1977, ’78 and ’79. Brother Ryan was a runner-up for Michigan at 165 pounds last year.<\/p>\n
Churella was one spot from placing last year and hopes to use his No. 3 seed and Big Ten runner-up finish at 149 pounds for a championship run this season.<\/p>\n
“I feel pressure, but it’s internal pressure, “Churella said. “It’s not so much living up to my dad and brother, but living up to me. I don’t like to let myself down.”<\/p>\n
On a roll<\/p>\n
Minnesota heavyweight Cole Konrad is on some kind of roll.<\/p>\n
The defending NCAA heavyweight champion has won 71 consecutive matches dating to 2005.<\/p>\n
Konrad’s streak is the second-longest current win streak in the NCAA to Missouri’s Ben Askren (81), who is going for his second consecutive title at 174 pounds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AUBURN HILLS — The Sanderson name is synonymous with wrestling. So it’s no wonder the Iowa State program has become a family affair for the Sandersons. Cael Sanderson was named coach before this season, and his first duty was to surround himself with a coaching staff he could trust. He didn’t have to look far. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-wrestling"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":6}},"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2B7Di-Es","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2508\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrestlingpod.com\/wrestling-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}