Minutes after the finish of the NCAA Wrestling Tournament, freshman Mitch Mueller reflected on his performance in the competition with a measure of regret.

“I’m really disappointed in myself,” said Mueller, who won his first match but loss his next two. “I know I shouldn’t say that, but that’s how it seems. I know it’s a team effort, but, I mean, I know I could have done better. A lot better.”

Mueller (141) is one of this year’s Fab Six – the six freshmen NCAA Tournament qualifiers who enabled the ISU wrestling team to finish second last Saturday – but all six ended their seasons without their desired result, providing added off-season motivation for a team expecting to again contend in the national tournament.

Only Jake Varner (184) earned All-American honors in his first season, but also ended disappointed, dropping a 6-1 match in the finals to Northwestern’s Jake Herbert. Meanwhile, Nick Fanthorpe (125), Cyler Sanderson (149) and David Zabriskie (HWT) were each one match away from placing, but came up short.

The six first-year starters will likely compose the core of the Cyclone lineup for years to come, just as seniors Trent Paulson (157), Travis Paulson (165) and Kurt Backes (197) did after having breakout freshmen seasons.

Sanderson said the experience of wrestling on the grand stage and an off-season of preparation should make an even better season personally.

He lost a 4-2 overtime match to Harvard’s sixth-seeded J.P. O’Connor to exit the championship round and an 8-7 decision to Wisconsin’s Tyler Turner. Sanderson intentionally released Turner to try to win the match on his feet, but couldn’t finish a takedown in the final seconds.

“It was so close, you know, I was a finish away, finishing a takedown away from being an All-American,” Sanderson said. “I was in on the shot, I drove him to the edge, and I didn’t finish it. I don’t know. I felt terrible, to be honest, you know.

“I’ve never felt that bad before. And I never want to feel that bad again. I’m going to do whatever I can to make sure it never happens again.”

In late December, the freshman paired with the four senior starters to propel Iowa State to its first Midlands Open title since 1981 – the program’s first tournament win since 2000. Earlier this month, the Cyclones won their first outright conference title in 25 years.

Mueller, who was able to qualify after dislocating his right elbow in early February, said returning starters will come back better from the off-season.

“You can feel bad about [the finish] for right now, but we’re a motivated group – we’ll come back,” he said. “And we’ll be better; we have a lot of experience now. It will be exciting next year, when we come back here, we know what to expect. All of these guys got so much better [this season]. It’s a close group, so it’s fun to work out with all them all the time. I know how hard they work, how hard they want it. We’ll be back even better.”

Fanthorpe expects to be in the hunt for a NCAA team title again next season.

“There is a lot of talent in the room,” Fanthorpe said. “We got a lot of depth on this team. We’re working real hard. The coaches, you know, have high expectations for us, and we all got high expectations for next year, but just with the six freshmen we brought here, we bring a lot of experience back. We’ll definitely be in the run here next year, definitely.”