Cael Sanderson never whiffed in earning NCAA qualifiers during his three years as Iowa State’s head coach. Maintaining the perfect percentage during his season at Penn State will be tougher despite some gaudy seedings. The Big Ten released preseeds for this weekend’s tournament in Ann Arbor, Mich., and seven Nittany Lions earned top four seeds in their respective weight classes. The pre-seeds were determined by a vote of conference coaches based on regular-season results. Final brackets will be released Friday. Wrestling begins Saturday and concludes Sunday at Crisler Arena. Penn State seniors Cyler Sanderson and David Erwin received No. 2 seeds. Sanderson is seeded behind Minnesota’s Dustin Schlatter at 157 pounds and Illinois’ John Dergo received the No. 1 seed ahead of Erwin at 184. Schlatter defeated Sanderson 4-0 and Dergo edged Erwin 6-4 during the regular season.

Brad Pataky (No. 4 at 125), Adam Lynch (No. 4 at 141), Frank Molinaro (No. 4 at 149), Dan Vallimont (No. 4 at 165) and Cameron Wade (No. 3 at heavyweight) also received pre-seeds. Penn State‘s seven seeded wrestlers compiled at least five Big Ten wins each during the regular season. Bryan Pearsall (133), Justin Ortega (174) and Clay Steadman (197) are keys to Sanderson keeping his perfect NCAA qualifier mark together. The trio combined for one Big Ten dual meet win and missed the top eight preseeds at their respective weights. The Big Ten receives five NCAA qualifiers at 133, six at 174 and seven 197. It’s unlikely Pearsall, Ortega and Steadman would receive one of the 46 at-large berths for this month’s NCAA Tournament. Steadman earned Penn State’s starting nod at 197 by defeating David Crowell in a wrestle-off last week. Steadman and Crowell shared time in Big Ten duals. Pearsall and Ortega held starting spots the entire conference season.

“Anything is possible and it falls on the individuals,” Cael Sanderson said Tuesday before the pre-seeds were released. “They are ready to go. We have taught them as well as we can. They know how to play the game and they are willing to do it. Any one of those guys can qualify.” Sanderson, who led the Cyclones to three titles in the five-team Big 12 Tournament, said this postseason contrasts his first one at Iowa State. “At Iowa State I was there years before I got the coaching job and I inherited a pretty dang good team,” he said. “I think we can get 10 here, but it’s going to be a challenge. But there aren’t going to be many years where we are not going to get 10. It’s not about just getting 10 qualifiers. We want 10 national champions.”

Penn State hasn’t wrestled since a 26-16 loss at Minnesota on Feb. 19. The Nittany Lions are tapering workouts to prepare for this weekend and the NCAA Championships, March 18-20 in Omaha, Neb. Sanderson entrusts his old brother and associate head coach, Cody, and assistant coach, Casey Cunningham, with establishing late-season workout plans. “Practices have gone great,” Cael Sanderson said. “We feel really good and confident. We’re confident, we’re healthy, we know we are ready, we have prepared well. Now, we need to go out there and attack.” Iowa’s Brent Metcalf (149), Jay Borschel (174) and Chad Beatty, (197) Indiana’s Angel Escobedo (125) and Nate Everhart (heavyweight), Ohio State’s Reece Humphrey (141), Minnesota’s Jayson Ness (133) and Wisconsin’s Andrew Howe (165) also earned No. 1 seeds.

Thanks to Guy Cipriano and the "Centre Daily Times" (State College, Pa.) for the article