Sanderson named Big 12 male Athlete of the Year

Iowa State wrestler Cael Sanderson has been named the male Big 12 Conference Athlete of the Year, the league office announced Tuesday.

Sanderson broke virtually every record and won every award he could garner in his four years on the Iowa State wrestling team.

The Heber, Utah, native, coached by Bobby Douglas, is the most decorated and accomplished wrestler in NCAA history.

This past year, Sanderson became the second wrestler in NCAA history to win four national titles and the first to do so with an unblemished record – 159-0.

Sanderson won the Outstanding Wrestler Award at the NCAA Division I Championships all four years at Iowa State and was the first freshman to earn such an honor.

He was warded the Dan Hodge Trophy in his last three seasons, an award given annually to the nation’s best collegiate wrestler. Sanderson is the first and only multiple winner of the award.

Sanderson graduated from Iowa State last December with a bachelor’s degree in Art and Design.

He was a first-team Academic All-American in 1999 and 2000 and two-time first team Academic All-Big 12 selection as well.

Sanderson was known to have signed autographs for as long as three hours after a match this past season.

He also made frequent stops at local elementary schools as well as weekly trips to the local Boys and Girls Club of Ames.

– ISU media relations

ISU wins online season-ticket renewal contest

Iowa State recently won a national contest held by Paciolan, a ticketing software company, to see which school could renew the most football season tickets online.

Cyclone fans took advantage of the new online renewal system with 59.72 percent of season-ticket holders taking advantage of the online option.

“I just want to congratulate our fans, our season-ticket holders and our ticket office staff for all their hard work,” Athletic Director Bruce Van De Velde said. “It’s neat that our fans were so computer- and web-oriented that they got on there and renewed. It saves a tremendous amount of time and probably money when we have our fans purchase over the Internet.”

Iowa State beat several schools with strong athletic programs, including Virginia Tech, which placed second, Ohio State, Colorado, Wisconsin, Michigan State and Oklahoma.

The University of Iowa came in 18th in the contest, with Hawkeye fans renewing just under 25 percent of their season tickets online.

– Jeff Raasch