Editor’s note: Former ISU wrestler and coach at Iowa State Cael Sanderson shared his thoughts on the ISU wrestling program’s recent accomplishment. The Cyclones earned their 1,000th win of the program’s history, becoming the first program to ever do so. Although Sanderson was unable to be reached prior to running the full article on the program’s feat, he spoke with a Daily reporter Shane Lucas on Tuesday.

Among the ISU wrestling team’s 1000 wins, the number 159 seems to stick. As a Cyclone wrestler, Sanderson remained undefeated throughout his career, finishing 159-0.

“It says a lot about the consistency of Iowa State to be the first to 1000 wins,” Sanderson said. “It’s the standard of excellence of Iowa State wrestling. It’s just a special place.”

Despite his iconic status at Iowa State and in the collegiate wrestling world in general, Sanderson reflected on his time as a Cyclone as business-first.

“As a wrestler I just wanted to be remembered as someone who wrestled hard and represented the school with honor,” Sanderson said. “How I go down in history didn’t matter much to me, it was more about taking care of what I was doing at the time.”

Sanderson said that he has too many memories and achievements to really decide on what his most memorable was, but he was able to narrow it down to a few.

“Just being on a team with brothers and my last match stands out quite a bit, but all of my memories are awesome,” Sanderson said. “I had a great experience at Iowa State.”

Although he came to Iowa State to wrestle alongside his older brother, Cody, Sanderson said he was well aware of the success Cyclone wrestling had achieved.

“The history at Iowa State was incredible and hearing coach Douglas say they had more dual wins than anyone just made it better,” Sanderson said. “I’m really glad Cody went there.”

Sanderson now serves as the head coach of the Penn State wrestling team. The Nittany Lions are 12-5-1 on the season and are ranked 11th in the nation.