Trent Paulson has no excuses and makes no bones about how he thinks things have gone this year.

“I don’t think I have [wrestled to my potential this year],” he said. “There’s been a couple of matches where I didn’t wrestle the way I could, and that’s what’s taken my ranking down from No. 1 to No. 4.”

Paulson (18-4 overall) is coming off a 2-2 National Duals tournament in which he lost two straight dual meet matches for the first time in his Cyclone wrestling career.

But in his senior year, Paulson believes he is a different man.

“In years past I’ve put way too much emphasis on the season about wins and losses and who beat who,” Paulson said. “This year I haven’t looked at any results with other people and how they’ve been doing. When I go out there to wrestle, I don’t care about what they’ve been doing or who they’ve beat.”

The mindset is different for Paulson as he realizes this is his last go-around in a Cyclone singlet, and he has to take things in stride.

“I just want to worry about what I’m going to do,” he said. “I think I put too much pressure on ‘you’ve got to beat this person during the season’ and I looked too much on rankings. Right now I’m just working on improving each match and being ready when it counts [in March].”

That outlook comes from possibly the most level-headed wrestler to ever step on a mat – coach Cael Sanderson.

“[Sanderson has] been real helpful. He’s always real positive regardless of the outcome,” Paulson said. “He tells me the good things that I’ve done, and he tells me the things that I need to work on to get the title.”

Sanderson gave more details on what those things are.

“Trent’s a tough kid. He’s very competitive,” Sanderson said. “He’s doing all the right things now. He’s better now than he was last year. He’s smarter, and his technique is a little better, so he’ll be at his best in March.”

The college wrestling season is long, and to get through it and be at the top of the platform in March takes mental preparation throughout the season for those three days.

Paulson has taken his lumps this year, and part of the reason for that is his lack of offense and pushing the pace.

“I basically have to put everything together at the right time. Push the pace and leave everything out on the mat,” Paulson said. “Just basically go out there and wrestle the way I can. There’s been times where I could have pushed the pace more or won by a couple more points, and I didn’t capitalize, and that’s where I’m going to try to concentrate on in the last matches that I have [before Nationals].”

Sanderson agrees.

“Trent knows that if he wants to score, he can score,” Sanderson said. “As a team, we need him to step up and really go out there and not just win, but try and dominate.”

Paulson said he is not worried about the No. 4 ranking. All he cares about is who is on top in March.

“The only thing I’m worried about is the national tournament, and if the guys in my weight think that I’m still not the No. 1 guy, they’re crazy.”