I decided to post excerpts of some of gopsusports.com's NCAA tournament summaries over the years to show what Cael has accomplished since he came to Penn State. Enjoy.
Dan Vallimont National Runner-Up, Sanderson's Nittany Lions Claim Ninth Place at NCAA Championships
- March 20, 2010 OMAHA, Neb- Penn State senior Dan Vallimont (Lake Hopatcong, N.J.) was defeated in the national finals at 165 in the culminating event at the 2010 NCAA Wrestling Championships. Vallimont's run to National Runner-Up status helped head coach Cael Sandersonand the Nittany Lion wrestlers take ninth place at the event. Iowa won the team title with 134.5 points. The Nittany Lions returned to the top ten after falling to 17th a year ago. With only six wrestlers competing, Penn State collected 49 points and took ninth place. The 49 points is the 17th -most in Penn State's long history at nationals and the third most in the last decade.
Quentin Wright Claims 184-Crown as Penn State Wins 2011 NCAA Wrestling National Championship
Wrestling 3/19/2011
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - The Penn State Nittany Lions have won the 2011 NCAA Wrestling national championship in Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center. It is the school's first title since 1953 and becoming the first east coast school to win the crown since that year. Sophomore Quentin Wright (Wingate, Pa.) claimed the individual national crown at 184 as Penn State outdistanced Cornell and Iowa for the championship. Penn State head coach Cael Sanderson, the 2011 Big Ten Coach of the Year, earned his first collegiate national team title as a coach or wrestler as the Nittany Lions won the team race with 107.5 points. Cornell took second place with 93.5 and Iowa was third with 86.5.
Wrestling 3/19/2022
PENN. STATE. PERFECT. – Nittany Lions Cap off Team Title with 5-0 Run in NCAA Finals
Bravo-Young, Lee, Starocci, Brooks, Dean all claim individual crowns to add to team title
DETROIT, Mich. – The Penn State Nittany Lion wrestling team, under the guidance of head coach Cael Sanderson, added five individual champions to its 2022 NCAA Wrestling Championship team title. The Nittany Lions went a perfect 5-0 in the national finals to cap off a dominant weekend in Detroit.
Senior Roman Bravo-Young (Tucson, Ariz.), senior Nick Lee (Evansville, Ind.), sophomore Carter Starocci (Erie, Pa.), junior Aaron Brooks (Hagerstown, Md.) and junior Max Dean (Lowell, Mich.) all claimed individual championships in a Penn State Perfect final session.
Penn State won the team title earlier in the day, clinching during session 5 thanks in large part to All-American Greg Kerkvliet's (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) big win in consolation semifinals. The Nittany Lions amassed 131.5 points, nearly 40 more than second place Michigan's 95.0. Iowa finished third with 74.0. Sanderson was named 2022 NCAA Championship Tournament Coach of the Year by the National Wrestling Coaches Association after the tournament ended.
Penn State entered the finals having already clinched the 2022 NCAA Championship. The title is Penn State's 10th overall and the ninth since Sanderson's arrival in Happy Valley for the 2009-10 season. The Lions have won nine of the last 11 contested NCAA championship tournaments (2020 was cancelled by the NCAA).
Penn State and Michigan will leave Detroit as the only two teams with six All-Americans in 2022. This marks the second time Penn State crowned fully half, five, of a season's national champions, going five-for-five in the NCAA finals. The Nittany Lions were also perfect in 2016 (Zain Retherford, Jason Nolf, Vincenzo Joseph, Mark Hall, Bo Nickal).
The Nittany Lions went 5-0 in the national finals and finished the tournament with a 33-7 mark. Penn State collected 16.5 bonus points off seven majors, one technical fall and four pins. Since 2011, Penn State is 32-13 in the NCAA finals. Penn State has crowned 53 total national champions in its history, 34 under Sanderson. Penn State has had multiple national champions in all but three of Sanderson's years as a head coach. The Nittany Lions have won ten NCAA titles overall, owning a championship from 1953. The Nittany Lions won four-straight titles in 2011, '12, '13 and '14 and again in 2016, '17, '18 and '19. Penn State has won nine of the last 11 contested NCAA Championships (all since Sanderson's arrival at Penn State and he is in his 13th season this year). Sanderson's 13-year head coaching ledger for team finishes at NCAAs since arriving at Penn State is as follows: 2010 (9th), 2011 (1st), 2012 (1st), 2013 (1st), 2014 (1st), 2015 (6th), 2016 (1st), 2017 (1st), 2018 (1st), 2019 (1st), 2020 (no tourn.), 2021 (2nd), 2022 (1st).
