ST. LOUIS — The ISU wrestling team fell agonizingly short in its quest to knock off interstate rival Iowa and win the NCAA tournament title.

To be exact, 6.5 points short.

The Cyclones finished second with 109 points and one national title from sophomore Cael Sanderson at 184. The Hawkeyes totaled 116 points to win their 20th national title in the last 26 years, while Minnesota placed third with 80 points, and Oklahoma came in fourth with 69.5.

“It was an all-out effort. Every guy gave it everything they had and didn’t leave anything on the table. We’re not ashamed with our performance,”Cyclone coach Bobby Douglas said. “I’m extremely proud of this team. I’ve never had a team work this hard.”

Cael Sanderson repeated as national champ at 184 by handing out an 19-6 defeat to Vertus Jones of West Virginia in the finals and earned the meet’s Outstanding Wrestler Award for the second straight year. Sanderson is now 79-0 at the halfway point in his college career.

“Cael was the class of the tournament. He put together an unbelievable performance. It was total superiority. He’s the second coming of a Dan Gable,” Douglas said.

Sanderson showed once again why he’s considered by many to be the best collegiate wrestler pound-for-pound by winning all five matches in impressive fashion. Sanderson won two technical falls, two major decisions and a fall in his tournament run.

“I don’t like close matches; there’s too much stress involved. I try to make it as easy as I can by working as hard as I can,” Sanderson said.

Entering Saturday night’s championship round, the Cyclones trailed the Hawkeyes by 7.5 points and couldn’t make up ground losing three of four championship matches. Included in those defeats was a head-to-head matchup with Iowa at 133 where Cody Sanderson lost 3-1 in overtime to Hawkeye Eric Juergens.

The three championship match losses were hard to swallow for the Cyclones, as all three came in overtime. Joe Heskett lost 4-2 to Wisconsin’s Don Pritzlaff at 165, and Zach Thompson dropped a 2-1 decision to Nebraska’s Brad Vering at 197.

“Those guys that lost in the finals were going after extra points out there for the team and were forced to wrestle very aggressive but there’s no excuses. They wanted to win for the team as badly as they did for themselves,” Douglas said.

The Cyclones also got an All-American finish from heavyweight Trent Hynek, who placed third. Douglas was proud of Hynek, who battled back from an mid-season injury.

“What people don’t realize is that Trent wasn’t supposed to be on the mat — his career was supposed to be over when he got hurt in December. He’s a warrior of the first class, and he represents the Cyclone tradition of the old school. I’ve never had a heavyweight like Trent, and I probably never will again,” Douglas said.

The Cyclones were in position to knock the Hawkeyes off the top of the mountain as they held a lead as high as 18 points after Friday’s semifinal round.

The Cyclones were helped out Friday by the fact that three top-seeded Hawkeye wrestlers were upset victims.

What originally looked like a blessing in disguise backfired as Jody Stritmatter, Doug Schwab and T.J. Williams all wrestled back to place third, piled up consolation round points in the process and keyed the Hawkeye victory.

The Cyclones were powered by a great showing in the semifinals to open up the lead over the Hawkeyes. The Cyclones won four of five semifinal matches including a 15-6 major decision win from Cael Sanderson.

Oklahoma State came out fast Thursday and took the lead after the first two rounds with the Hawkeyes in second and the Cyclones in third.

The Cowboys fell apart over the next two days and finished a distant fifth with a total of just 66.5 points.

The tournament was the last action for Cyclone seniors Cody Sanderson and Hynek, and Douglas is sad to see his seniors go.

“It was a painful experience, not because we didn’t win the national title, but more because Trent and Cody are done. The rest of the team can come back and go after it again next year, but those two can’t and that’s a heartbreaker,” Douglas said.

With a majority of his squad coming back next year, Douglas can look forward to another successful season and promises the off-season will be focused towards winning the title.

“We’re going to find out how much character we got. Talk is cheap, and I want to see some of that talk translated into hard work. We made some mistakes that should’ve been corrected by now, and the coaching staff and myself take the blame for that,” Douglas said.

“We’re going to get it done next year.”