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Kevin Jackson said it feels like just yesterday when he landed back in Ames.
The first-year Iowa State coach said the months have flown by since he took over the Cyclones' program.
But just like everyone else who has anything to do with college wrestling, Jackson said Omaha is the only place he wants to be this week. The Olympic gold medalist and two-time world champion will lead the Cyclones into the NCAA championships for the first time, and Jackson sounds like he's planning on savoring every moment.
“This NCAA tournament is the greatest wrestling event — almost the greatest event in the world,” said Jackson, hired as Iowa State's coach in May. “Each round gets better, each round gets more intense, each round gets more exciting — and it builds to the climax on Saturday.”
Jackson ought to know.
He starred at Louisiana State in the 1980s before the school dropped the sport. He transferred to Iowa State for his senior year and was captain on the 1987 squad that earned the Cyclones' last NCAA title.
Now he's back with the program as second-ranked Iowa State goes for its fourth straight top-five national finish. Coming off a third-place showing in 2009, the Cyclones have qualified wrestlers in all 10 weight divisions for the fourth year in a row.
The only other schools to bring their full lineups are Central Michigan, Iowa and Oklahoma.
The Iowa State wrestlers who will hit the mat in Omaha are Andrew Long (125 pounds), Nick Fanthorpe (133), Dalton Jensen (141), Mitch Mueller (149), Andrew Sorenson (157), Jon Reader (165), Duke Burk (174), Jerome Ward (184), Jake Varner (197) and David Zabriskie (heavyweight).
Former western Iowa standouts Long and Jensen get to go after their NCAA dreams near their own back yards.
Long, a redshirt freshman from Creston, Iowa, was a three-time Iowa high school champion. Jensen, a sophomore at ISU, won a pair of titles while wrestling at Missouri Valley.
Fans from across the country definitely will be paying attention this weekend to Varner's exploits. A two-time NCAA runner-up at 184 pounds, and the defending national champion at 197, Varner is looking to join former Iowa State wrestler Cael Sanderson as a four-time NCAA finalist.
It's a feat that only 13 wrestlers have accomplished in NCAA Division I history. But the top-ranked and No. 1-seeded Varner said he's not thinking about his chance to join such elite company.
“I really don't feel any added pressure,” said Varner, a senior from Bakersfield, Calif. “It's just one match at a time.”
In addition to Varner, the Cyclones have three other returning All-America wrestlers on their roster in Fanthorpe, Reader and Zabriskie.
Fanthorpe, who was hindered by an injury last season, finished seventh at the NCAAs in 2008. Reader, ranked and seeded No. 4, is a two-time All-America wrestler coming off a fourth-place finish last spring.
Zabriskie, who came in sixth as a sophomore and fifth as a junior, is ranked No. 2 this year in his division and will be the top-seeded heavyweight.
“We've pointed at this event all year to have our best performance,” Jackson said. “If our guys come to go to war and come to scrap and take care of business in the first round, that is what we're here for. ... We're excited to be here, expectations are high, and it's one match at a time. We'll see how the chips fall.”
Contact the writer:
444-1207, chad.purcell@owh.com
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