Cael Sanderson

Sports Illustrated named his college career as the second most impressive college sports feat of all-time, behind the setting of four world records by Jesse Owens in a single hour at the 1935 Big Ten track and field conference championship meet.

Sanderson was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Steve and Debbie Sanderson, Cael attended Wasatch High School in Heber City, Utah, where he was coached by his father, a former wrestler at Brigham Young University.

Cael Norman Sanderson (born June 20, 1979) is an American former folkstyle and freestyle wrestler who is the current head coach of Penn State's wrestling team.

As a high school wrestler, Sanderson was a four-time Utah state champion (1994–97) and compiled a record of 127–3.

After graduating from high school, Sanderson followed his brothers, Cody and Cole, to Iowa State.

Sanderson was a two-time US Cadet World Team Member, placing third and fourth in 1994 and 1995, respectively.

After redshirting the 1997-98 college wrestling season, Sanderson won all 39 of his matches to win his first NCAA and Big 12 Conference titles at 184 pounds.

He was also the first freshman in NCAA history to be named the Outstanding Wrestler at nationals.

His next three seasons were virtually identical, compiling 40 wins and no losses in each and finishing with the only perfect record in NCAA Division I history at 159-0.

By winning all of his matches, he became only the second wrestler in history to that point to win four NCAA Division I titles.

He was also named the Outstanding Wrestler in all NCAA tournaments he competed in.

Sanderson was a three-time Dan Hodge Trophy winner (collegiate wrestling's equivalent to the Heisman Trophy), being the first to win the award multiple times and the only person to win it three times.

As a wrestler, he won an Olympic gold medal and was undefeated in four years of college wrestling at Iowa State (159–0), becoming a four-time NCAA Division I champion (1999–2002).

Sanderson is the only wrestler in NCAA Division I history to go undefeated in official matches with more than 100 wins.

He was also a US University National Champion in 1999 and a University World Champion in 2000.

He became the US National Champion in 2001, 2002 and 2003.

He was also an original US World Team Member in 2001 and 2002, however, he chose not to participate at the 01' World Championships to focus in folkstyle, and the USA team chose to not compete in 2002.

For his performance as a senior in 2002, he received the Wade Schalles Award for best collegiate pinner.

He holds the longest win-streak across all NCAA divisions.

This makes him the most accomplished collegiate wrestler ever.

In 2003, he won the Manitoba Open in Canada in February, placed second at the World Cup in April, third at the 2003 Pan American Games and second at the World Championships.

! style=background:white colspan=7 |2003 World Championships at 84 kg

! colspan="8"| NCAA Championships Matches

! Res. ! Record

! Opponent

! Score

! Date

In 2004, he once again claimed the Manitoba Open title and won the US Olympic Team Trials.

At the 2004 Summer Olympics, Sanderson claimed wins over Magomed Kurugliyev, Siarhei Borchanka, Majid Khodaei, Yoel Romero and Moon Eui-jae to become an Olympic Gold medalist in Athens, Greece.

While already a full-time coach at Penn State, Sanderson came out of retirement in 2011 and took home an Ion Corneanu Memorial title, won the US World Team Trials and placed fifth at the World Championships.

In 2011, Sanderson was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member.

! colspan="7"| World Championships & Olympics

! Res. ! Record

! Opponent

! Score

! Date

! Event

! Location

! style=background:white colspan=7 |2011 World Championships 5th at 84 kg ! style=background:white colspan=7 |2004 Summer Olympics at 84kg

In 2017, Sanderson was inducted into the Iowa State Hall of Fame.