Cael Sanderson

Cael Sanderson on a Wheaties box (yahoo)

This man is a hero, my hero, he’s an inspiration to me and a lot of wrestlers; and he will be one for a very long time. Cael Sanderson is the man that I am speaking about, because ever since he did the impossible of going 159-0 in college it has affected me greatly. Cael grew up in Heber City, Utah in which he was crowned state champion multiple times. He later moved out of his house in Heber City to attend Iowa State, in order to continue his career as a wrestler. Now, this is where the path began for the heroic Cael Sanderson.

cael winning championship (yahoo)

When Cael first arrived at Iowa State he definitely showed that he would be a contender for the national title. As a true freshman in the 1998-1999 season, Cael finished the year with a 39 wins and no loss record. He also won the 184 pound national championship. But Cael was not finished from keeping his undefeated streak record alive. In Cael’s sophomore and junior seasons he went 40-0 both years and he was awarded the Dan Hodge Award which is like the Heisman Award. Finally, in his senior year, Cael completed his goal of being the first undefeated college wrestler with a record of 159-0. Cael has had the most successful college career in all NCAA wrestling history, and his record won’t be broken for a long time.

Now that Cael was finished with his college career, he was in pursuit of being an Olympic champion. In 2003 Cael won the world team trials and was awarded a chance at becoming a world champion. At the tournament Cael got the silver medal which was his first loss since his high school career. The loss definitely sent him a warning that he must prepare for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games. In 2004 Cael was finally in the Olympics for which he had worked so hard. Cael won the gold medal beating Moon Eui Jae, and then people could finally say that Cael has been the greatest American wrestler. After that, Cael went on to be the Iowa State head coach until recently. He was let go from Iowa and is now at Penn State. Well, now that you know a lot of Cael's athletic accomplishments, he also won a few media like awards. In the 2002 ESPY awards Cael was crowned the male Athlete of the year. In 2001 Cael was in the top 50 sexiest male athletes according to a Sports Illustrated for women article.

Cael winning olympics (yahoo)

The first time I saw or even knew of Cael Sanderson was in his final collegiate match when he hit magic number 159. Ever since his first national championship he was being told that it was impossible, but putting it all aside, Cael kept to his dream and he won those four titles. Plus, a lot of athletes would call it quits after that so they could retire unbeaten, but not Cael. Cael gives me and thousands of young wrestlers the goal to beat him, beat his record. You can’t be the best unless you beat someone that was better than you, because nobody is ever born a champion. A big reason kids quit wrestling is because they don’t understand you’re going to lose a few matches. Cael Sanderson never lost in college though, which motivates me to try and do the same. Cael wasn’t making a ton of money as an Olympic wrestler, but he kept with his passion and brought America back a gold medal.

Cael Sanderson is one of the greatest athletes of all time. His accomplishments in wrestling, and life, are truly unimaginable. Watching Cael as a wrestler and a man has made me dream to accomplish what he did. But I don’t want to do what Cael did, I want to do better. Wrestling can really wear a person out, but Cael still worked hard and he won those four national titles, plus a gold medal. Cael won’t ever be forgotten because he did the IMPOSSIBLE.