The second-ranked ISU wrestling team heads to the NCAA Championships next week coming off of the program’s biggest tournament win in 20 years – earning its first outright Big 12 Conference championship since 1982.

The Cyclones (13-3, 4-0) qualified all ten of their wrestlers to compete March 15-17 in Auburn Hills, Mich, and hope to build off the Big 12 Tournament win.

This year’s team has shown great balance with four seniors leading the way and six talented redshirt freshman pulling more than their weight.

“I’ll basically tell them to treat it like every other match,” said two time All-American senior Trent Paulson about what he’s going to tell freshman who will be competing.

“They’ve gotten better with each dual and each tournament.The way we’ve been training, we’re going to feel the best we have all season at this tournament and use that to our advantage.”

Coach Cael Sanderson has been pointing to March and said everything else up to this point was preparation for the NCAA Tournament.

His wrestlers are proving they carry the same mindset as their coaches as they are the only team in the top 25 to qualify all 10 wrestlers, and all 10 are individually ranked in the top 20.

Paulson (26-4) took over the top spot at 157 pounds after successfully defending his Big 12 championship, but is hoping to end his Cyclone wrestling career on a different note than last season’s fourth-place finish in the NCAA Tournament.

“I think with my fourth-pace finish last year, I kind of let the No. 1 seed get to me and it was like I was trying to protect that,” Paulson said.

“I was wrestling a little conservative as opposed to aggressive to get your points and just trying to dominate like you would any other match.”

What will be the difference maker for Paulson if he is going to win his first national title? Getting his offense going early and often.

“This national tournament, I don’t care if I’m ranked first or if I’m ranked last,” Paulson said. “I’m just going to go into each match trying to score as many points as I can and just try to keep my offense going.

“Instead of wrestling not to lose, just wrestling to win the whole time.”

His brother, Travis Paulson, (27-5) takes his No. 4 ranking into the NCAA Tournament and is trying to shake off a tough loss to undefeated and two-time defending national champion, Oklahoma State’s Johny Hendricks.

Their matches seem to get more intense each time they meet, but Travis just wants to keep a calm demeanor and wrestle his match if they meet next week at the NCAA Tournament.

“I feel like he wants me to try to fight him, and I just need to keep a cool head,” Travis said. “I plan on next time I wrestle him to just know that that’s his weakness and I’m just going to stick to my game plan.”

Seniors Kurt Backes (25-6) and Grant Turner (17-14), ranked eighth and 15th respectively, also look to use their experience in leading this team in the NCAA Tournament.

“I’ve wrestled the best in the country,” said Turner. “It’s just a question of going to nationals and just basically wrestling my match.”