With Dan Gable watching, Cael Sanderson goes 100-0
January 16, 2001
It was another record setting weekend for ISU wrestler Cael Sanderson, but this time it had more of a special setting Saturday at Hilton Coliseum.Sanderson pinned Hofstra’s Ralph Everett midway through the second period to improve his career record to 100-0 in the Cyclones’ 32-10 victory over the Pride.The 100th victory tied Sanderson with former Cyclone great Dan Gable for the Iowa State record for consecutive victories. Last weekend at the Lone star Duals, Sanderson broke the unofficial national record with his 98th victory.Along the way to 100 wins, Sanderson has won two NCAA titles, as well as a pair of Outstanding Wrestler Awards at the national tournament and the Dan Hodge Award, given annually to the nation’s best collegiate wrestler.After the match, Sanderson was joined on the mat by Gable, ISU coach Bobby Douglas, ISU Interim President Richard Seagrave and ISU Athletics Director Bruce Van De Velde.Sanderson can break the school record next weekend when the Cyclones compete in the National Duals at Penn State University.”It’s nice to get that match over with,” Sanderson said. “It’s time to keep moving on and look forward to next week. During and prior to the match, it was the same as it always is. I wasn’t worried about the setting. … I don’t know what I’ve done anyway, I guess I just tied it, right?”Gable won 100 consecutive matches from 1967-70, before losing in his last collegiate match in the NCAA finals his senior year. Gable went on to become a successful coach at Iowa but was sporting the cardinal and gold Saturday in the form of his Cyclone letterjacket.”I thought it was nice, him being in red where he belongs, I think,” Sanderson said.Van De Velde issued Sanderson congratulations on behalf of the ISU athletic department, wrestling fans around the country and Cyclone alumni. Seagrave added that Sanderson was also a two-time academic All-American.Gable spoke to the crowd, estimated at 1,302, about how special of a person it takes to win that many matches in a row without a slip-up along the way. He also added that maybe Iowa State was just a special institution, which prompted a fist pump to the crowd from Seagrave.Gable was happy to have Sanderson join him in the elite status of 100 straight victories.”He’s a super guy, even talking to him just now, he’s so humble and that’s why he’s so good,” Gable said. “He’s not through making accomplishments, basically he just wants to better and improve and win as much as he can. You can tell by his attitude that he has the ability to do that.”He’s not going to go back and say ‘I just won 100 matches in a row, I’m the best there is’. He’s probably going to be working out somewhere tonight or studying and getting better at academics.”The only trouble Sanderson had in notching his 100th win was that opponent Ralph Everett was on the defensive from the opening whistle.Everett was one stalling warning away from disqualification when Sanderson scored a takedown and used a half-nelson to put Everett’s shoulders flat on the mat for the pin. Sanderson is 21-0 this season with 11 pins.”That’s just part of the game,” Sanderson said. “I can’t get frustrated about it. I just have to stay aggressive and work on different scoring options.” Click Here for more photos.