A year removed from a 9-10 dual record and a 20th-place finish at the NCAA Tournament, Kevin Jackson said he is looking for a ‘breakout’ year.

The third-year coach of the ISU wrestling team lauded the positives of his team’s chances of competing at a higher level than last year’s ‘reloading’ philosophy that was taken in the wake of a wave of departed talent.

“I think we have some real strong pieces in place,” Jackson said at his team’s annual media day, which was held on Tuesday. “That’s going to allow us to perform at a much higher level than we did last year.”

One of the returning leaders for the Cyclones is senior Andrew Sorenson, who went 16-4 at 165 pounds last season.

Sorenson, a native of Woden, Iowa, suffered a season-ending elbow injury just before the Big 12 Championships, which had presented him and the four other 165-pounders in the conference an automatic qualification for the NCAA Championships due to their performances throughout the season.

Because of the injury, Sorenson was unable to compete in the national tournament, which he said caused him a lot of anguish.

“[Jackson] had to take me into the room and tell me after practice that I wasn’t going to go,” Sorenson said. “It hurt. Coach and I had a cry in the room, and I knew that I had to give everything I had this year because this is the last time.”

Jackson said Sorenson is about 90 percent healed from the injury after an operation during the offseason and said it will not affect Sorenson’s ability to compete to begin this season.

“You can always learn from things that happened and what happened last year, I learned a lot from it,” Sorenson said. “Sitting in the stands [at nationals] really made me realize that I deserve to be out there and that I can wrestle with anybody in the country.”

As one of the leaders of the team, Sorenson has some high expectations from the coaching staff as well as himself.

“Andrew Sorenson, I’m expecting him to be an NCAA finalist,” Jackson said. “There’s no way around it.”

Sorenson has garnered a No. 8 ranking in intermat’s preseason poll — the highest among the six Cyclones that are ranked.

Of those six, two of them hail from Jackson’s inaugural recruiting class — most of which redshirted last season to develop skill-wise — which is expected to hit the mat this season.

The expectations are high for the class, which includes Ryak Finch at 125 pounds, Michael Moreno at 157 and Kyven Gadson at 197, among others.

“I’m very excited. It’s been a long road,” Gadson said. “I’ve been injured two or three times in the past three years, so it’s very exciting just to get healthy and just get out there and wrestle.”

Gadson, a two-time Iowa State champion of Waterloo East, is currently ranked 11th at 197 pounds. Finch, the other redshirt freshman from Jackson’s touted recruiting class, is currently ranked 13th at 125 pounds.

The mix of the upperclassman’s leadership and the raw-yet-honed talent of the redshirt freshmen who are emerging after a year in the program is expected to spark Jackson’s desired breakout season.

“Tradition here at Iowa State, it’s a winning tradition,” Finch said. “It’s not many times that you see a season like we had last year. A lot of the guys that are coming in [to compete] this year are coach Jackson [recruited] guys, we’re 100 percent backing him. With his philosophy, style of wrestling — attacking, making sure our defense is sound and always making sure the pressure’s on them — I think a lot of people are going to see that as a change from last year.”