ALBANY, N.Y. —The ISU Wrestling team sent five

wrestlers to the quarterfinals after one day of the

2002 NCAA Wrestling Championships held at the Pepsi

Arena in Albany, N.Y.

Senior Cael Sanderson led the way Thursday with two

falls and improved his career record to 156-0 as five

of the seven Cyclone wrestlers stayed alive in the

winner’s side of the bracket.

Sanderson had the sellout crowd in awe as he pinned

Eric Mausser of Clarion in 3:32 and Kyle Cerminara of

Buffalo in 6:33.

Joe Heskett stayed on course for his first NCAA

championship with a 7-2 win over John Garriques of

Hofstra and an 11-2 major decision over Nate Baker of

Minnesota. Heskett, in his final year at Iowa State,

has placed third as a freshmen and runner up the last

two years and has one goal in mind, a national title.

“When you get that first match out of the way, the

confidence builds,” Heskett said. “The rest of the

tournament I expect to do well.”

Fellow senior Billy Maldonado, seventh seeded at

149 pounds, gutted out two one-point decisions on his

way to the quarterfinals. He took a 9-8 win over Jason

DeBruin of Hostra and a hard fought 5-4 decision over

Joe Henson of Pennsylvania.

Maldonado executed a double leg takedown to

perfection with 10 seconds left in the third period to

grab the victory.

“It was a case of a Senior finding a way to win,”

ISU assistant coach Chris Bono said. “He didn’t get

the best draw but he is making the most of it.”

Sophomore 133-pounder Zach Roberson won two bouts

setting up a match against top-ranked Ryan Lewis of

Minnesota in the quarterfinals.

Aaron Holker, a junior 141-pounder, gave Iowa State

valuable team bonus points as he won his first match

by technical fall and earned an 8-0 major decision in

the second round. Holker is hitting his stride and is

primed to make a run into the later rounds of the

tournament.

He faces his nemesis Dylan Long of UNI in the

quarterfinals who has beaten Holker twice already this

year.

Senior Heavyweight Mark Knauer suffered an ankle

injury in his first round match to top-ranked Tommy

Rowlands of Ohio State but stayed alive in the

consolations with a decision over Mike Carroll of

Drexel.

Freshmen 174-pounder Nick Passolano rounded out the

scoring for the Cyclones with a first round fall in

2:45 and but then fell to defending champion Josh

Koscheck of Edinboro, 4-2.

Action resumes today.