Blue White Illustrated

BITTERSWEET MOMENT Lions��� championship celebration is muted following David Taylor���s loss at 165 | D ES MOINES, Iowa ��� Cael Sanderson slumped against a wall and slid down to the floor in the bowels of Wells Fargo Arena. He tucked his head between his knees and grasped the back of his head with his right hand. If tears were flowing, he hid them from sight. And he didn���t say a word. His team had already secured its third consecutive NCAA championship, and for that he was grateful, but he was also devastated by the outcome of the tournament���s final bout. ���This one is just tough,��� he said. ���When you have guys who didn���t reach their goal, that���s tough. That���s a typical part of coaching, but when you step back, we have a lot to be proud of.��� Sanderson���s protege, David Taylor ��� the kid whom he had first met as a scrawny youth wrestler in Wyoming, then recruited to Iowa State out of high school in Ohio, and then, once Sanderson took the job at Penn State, guided along to central Pennsylvania to begin their careers in blue and white together ��� had just fallen in the most eagerly awaited bout of the evening. In a matchup of the two most decorated wrestlers of the entire tournament, at any weight class, Cornell���s Kyle Dake defeated Taylor, 5-4, in a 165-pound blockbuster. Taylor, the returning Hodge Trophy winner, scored the bout���s opening takedown with a textbook ankle pick on the edge of the mat ��� ���He���s got great takedowns,��� Dake said ��� but Dake responded with a takedown of his own and controlled almost the entire third period to secure a riding time point and his spot in history as the first wrestler to win four titles at four different weight classes. ���Kyle Dake is obviously a great champion,��� Sanderson said. ���He is a tough kid, just an unbelievable competitor. I���m happy for him. ���But I want my guy to be happy. I want David to be happy. That���s a great story, winning a national title at four different weights. How does that even happen? How do you even wrestle in four different weights?��� Sanderson was happy with his team���s success ��� the championship, the two individual titles ��� and he was pleased to win the NCAA Coach of the Year honor, although he gave most of the credit to his staff. But the tournament���s aftermath was a bittersweet moment for the fourth-year coach. Some of the satisfaction was lost with the 165pound final, not to mention the other seven weight classes at which Penn State wrestlers weren���t able to fulfill their championship dreams. After being called back out to the arena floor to accept the Coach of the Year honor, fans ��� young and old, Penn State and Iowa fans alike ��� descended on Sanderson seeking autographs and pictures. He smiled, graciously filled each request, and then returned back to the dark hallways below the arena for the final time. While it was easy to smile for the crowd, in the tunnel on the way to the locker room, his carefree expression disappeared, replaced by one of concern. He was haunted by coulda-shoulda-woulda possibilities. Had Taylor been too emotionally worked up for the match? Had it affected his performance? Had Dake employed a different strategy from the top position that Taylor and the coaches weren���t prepared for? ���I needed to do a better job of keeping David calm,��� Sanderson said, ���because he was fired up, and that will really take a lot out of you.��� Before heading into the locker room for the final time, Sanderson, who was a four-time undefeated NCAA champion in college, tried his best to put the loss into perspective. ���When you think about a guy like David Taylor, he���s led his team to three out of three national championships, and that���s just amazing,��� he said. ���I had a good college career. But I didn���t lead my team to any championships.��� He has one year remaining at Penn State, and if you think the three-time All-American was motivated in 2013, wait till you see him in 2014.

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