With the 2010 NCAA tournament drawing near, it’s hard to believe that three years have passed since the ISU seniors were heading to their first NCAA tournament as a rag-tag group of redshirt freshmen.

Back then, things were different. Jake Varner was a shaggy-haired 184-pounder, having yet to morph into the dominant wrestler he is today. David Zabriskie was not as big, despite still wrestling at heavyweight. Nick Fanthorpe, Nick Gallick and Mitch Mueller competed at a weight class below their current weight class, as did then-Cyclone Cyler Sanderson.

Fanthorpe, Gallick, Mueller, Sanderson, Varner and Zabriskie all left a mark on the wrestling world, going from the nation’s highest-touted recruiting class of 2005 to being the driving force behind Iowa State’s dominance in the Big 12 and NCAA championships for years to come.

Under the guidance of seniors Kurt Backes and Trent and Travis Paulson, the six freshmen progressed through the season as a mainstay at their respective spots in the lineup, as the Cyclones headed into the Big 12 Championships with a 13-3 record under first-year coach Cael Sanderson.

Zabriskie, who was said to be too small to have a successful collegiate wrestling career as a heavyweight, stunned the wrestling world after defeating a soon-to-be familiar foe in Jared Rosholt, of Oklahoma State, by a 3-2 decision to win the Big 12 title for the Cyclones — the first conference title for the program in 20 years.

“I had kept track as the evening went along,” Zabriskie said after that match. “I concentrated on wrestling my match and keeping the pressure on [Rosholt].”

The Cyclones qualified all 10 of their wrestlers for the NCAA tournament in Auburn Hills, Mich., including the six freshmen, who combined for a 140-51 record heading into the tournament. However, only two freshman wrestlers — Sanderson (149) and Varner (184) — received seeded rankings in their respective weight classes for the tournament.

After day one of the tournament, all the freshmen except Varner had dropped to the consolation bracket, where some found more success than others.

Fanthorpe was the first to lose in the regular competition portion of the tournament, being beaten by Michael Sees of Bloomsburg by a decision of 9-4 to drop to the wrestlebacks early. It was there that he won three consecutive matches before losing to Stanford’s Tyler Gardner by an 8-2 decision to finish his run at 125 pounds.

Gallick, who competed in the preliminary round of the 133-pound bracket, pinned his first two opponents in the morning session of the first round of the tournament. However, he soon lost his swagger after losing his next two matches, giving him an early exit from the action in the morning session of day two.

Mueller and Sanderson met similar fates, dropping to the wrestlebacks at the evening session of the first round after each winning his first match. Mueller lost his next match to finish his stand at 1-2, but Sanderson pushed through to win his next two matches before being eliminated by Wisconsin’s Tyler Turner in an 8-7 decision.

Zabriskie also went 3-2 despite getting pinned in the first period of his first match against Navy’s Ed Pendergast. The “Beast of the East” rode a three-match winning streak in the wrestlebacks until his bout with Sacred Heart’s Payam Zarrinpour, in which he was defeated by a 9-6 decision.

Unlike his fellow freshman teammates, Varner managed to stay afloat throughout the tournament, going 4-0 en route to the championship match at 184 pounds. One of his more memorable victories came in the semifinal round, when he defeated Minnesota’s Roger Kish by a sudden victory decision of 4-2 to advance to the championship match. Prior to that match, Varner was 0-2 against Kish.

“The previous times I have wrestled Kish we locked up,” Varner said after his victory. “This time I wanted to keep space between us and not let him overpower me.”

It was in the championship match that he faced Northwestern’s Jake Herbert, the program’s most storied wrestler and soon-to-be two-time NCAA champion. Herbert rode Varner for 2:14 after an early takedown, persuading Varner to defer his starting position choice at the start of the second period. Herbert escaped from the down position in 24 seconds, taking Varner down four seconds later to go up, 5-0, on the Cyclone freshman.

Varner earned his only point in the match after Herbert was called for a technical violation of fleeing late in the second period.

Varner’s valiant run had finished, as he lost to Herbert by a 6-1 decision to place second at 184 pounds.

The impact the six freshmen had made was evident, as Iowa State went on to place second in the team standings, with 88.5 points, trailing national champion Minnesota by only 9.5 points.

Times have changed since then. The Cyclones welcomed a newcomer, Ryan “Duke” Burk, from Northern Illinois to fill the spot at 174 pounds at the start of the 2008-2009 season, and Sanderson transferred to Penn State after his brother, Cael, took the head coaching job for the Nittany Lions at the conclusion of that same season.

But regardless of the changes these wrestlers have experienced, they’ll always remember the jitters they got walking into the Palace at Auburn Hills as NCAA-qualifying redshirt freshmen.