This season, the ISU wrestling team’s goal is simple: get noticed.

“Realistically, people haven’t paid much mind to us, unless they’re a wrestling fan to begin with,” said redshirt junior Michael Moreno. “People need to wake up. We’re only getting better, but 60 to 70 percent of the campus have no idea, and that’s something that I really want to change.”

Iowa State is ranked No. 8 in the InterMat Wrestling national preseason poll, after finishing last season ranked

No. 20. But ISU coach Kevin Jackson knows that paying too much attention to the rankings won’t do the team any good.

And the high ranking isn’t the only difference Jackson notices from last season. For him, the team has a new feel to it.

“The confidence is higher; the team buying into what we’re doing is at a much higher level,” Jackson said. “All of that comes from experience and us having a little bit of success. You can feel the change in the way that they carry themselves. Now we have athletes that have an expectation of their teammate that wasn’t there a year ago.”

With upperclassmen leaders like senior Boaz Beard, and juniors Moreno and Kyven Gadson, the team is not short on experience. The experience that the upperclassmen bring to the table is one of the biggest reasons for the culture change that Jackson is trying to put the program through.

“My first year here, we had two freshmen on the team. So when we brought in the next wave of guys, they never really had that senior class to look to and follow,” Jackson said. “This young group has been doing what they see our upperclassmen doing. They have the guys to look up to and follow, and that has been the trend so far.”

Something else the wrestlers have noticed is how close the team has gotten. Whether it is going to practice, a class or even to dinner, they are always together.

They believe their team chemistry puts them ahead of where they were in the past as a team.

“We’re all brothers here, especially amongst the starters. We travel together every weekend and just spend so much time together,” Moreno said. “By the end of it, you either want to smack the person, or they’re your brother. And you probably get a little bit of both with everybody.”

With the season starting in less than two weeks, the competition for those final starting spots will only get more intense in Gadson’s opinion. But the fact that there are multiple guys in each position that could win the spot makes the team even better.

“I think it’s special, because when you have that, you have a program that can compete with anyone,” Gadson said. “We have guys that can step in. If someone goes down and gets hurt, we have someone who can come in and be equally sound.”

The team has high hopes for this season. But along with the obvious goals, like winning conference titles, and even national titles, proving that the program is once again elite is important for some members of the team.

The team feels it will finish better than it is now if the work ethic displayed in practice this season continues.

“We’re a wrestling school; we always have been. We’re ranked eighth in the country, and we’re only going to get better,” Moreno said. “Honestly, I think we’re under-ranked. I thought that ranking was a typo. We will be better and finish a lot higher than that, and it’s time for people to notice.”