I had no clue his first title as a freshman was at the BJC. Just watched him take down Eggum for the 184 crown.
Cael’s First National Title as a Wrestler
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Casey and Cody both finalists that year as well, with Casey winning. Enjoyed seeing those finals in person.
I know several on here that were there, me included. No fanfare for Cael's first, as freshmen had won before. The crescendo continued to build until he was wrestling for his fourth. As far as Casey's win, it came against our very own Clint Musser in a very tight bout, and Cody ended up losing in OT.
I was there, also. Mildly disagree about the fanfare. Cael got OW - I don't know that any freshman has done that before or since. I'm very willing to be corrected on that. But the buzz was already pretty strong.
But when he won his fourth title, fourth OW and completed his career undefeated, the peak of the buzz was achieved. The ovation when he won in Albany in 2002 went on forever.
Btw, another career achievement of Cael's occured in State College at BJC. He broke the record for consecutive wins (previously held by Dan Gable) at the National Duals his junior year (2001). Probably a lot of us were there for that also (I was).
I also saw Cael lose once in person - 2003 Worlds at MSG - which was a lot less common.
I definitely remember there being a buzz about Cael and my “walking around” knowledge of the sport then was pretty much limited to basics about the Penn State team (as informed by The Collegian) and that Iowa was king.
Cael definitely created a buzz as a frosh as he blew thru the field. The next season National Duals were at PSU and in the semis Cael met #2 Brandon Eggum and majored him in spite of Eggum shutting down in the 2nd period. It did work for Minny as they beat Iowa State on the way to winning National Duals that year. Que jammenz to come here and relive the Minny glory days. LOL
I also was at the BJC NCAA's. I don't have the memory and recall that you guys have. I do remember a local boy frim Seneca Valley, Jim Harshaw was able to AA there. He wrestled out of Universty of Virginia. He lost in the 2nd round but made it to the round of 12 only to have to see the 4th seed from Minnesota, Josh Holiday. Unranked vs 4th seed for all the marbles in the blood round. The third period was scramble after scramble but I thought Harshaw was ahead through it all. There was an extremely long conference at the scorer's table when it was over and sure enough Jim was the winner and an All American winning 10-8. Jim later told me that his win basically knocked Minnesota out of the team title. It was iowa with 100.5 and Minnesota with 98.5 then Oky State 84 and Penn State 78.5.
I had the privilege to see live, Cael win three of his four. A couple of months ago I wanted to frame the newspaper of him winning his fourth along with my Albany ticket stub. In my procrastination, and stupidly leaving it out, I believe the wife saw the ticket stubb laying around and pitched it.
I had the privilege to see live, Cael win three of his four. A couple of months ago I wanted to frame the newspaper of him winning his fourth along with my Albany ticket stub. In my procrastination, and stupidly leaving it out, I believe the wife saw the ticket stubb laying around and pitched it.
Life gave him gophers, so we have to watch him make gopherade.That's all he's got.
#notpretty
I had the privilege to see live, Cael win three of his four. A couple of months ago I wanted to frame the newspaper of him winning his fourth along with my Albany ticket stub. In my procrastination, and stupidly leaving it out, I believe the wife saw the ticket stubb laying around and pitched it.
I share your frustration on that one! For 40 years, I kept my ticket stub (actually it was a punched card) to the NCAA tournament at Northwestern in 1970 when Owings beat Gable in the finals. I even showed it once to Darrell Keller who won his first NCAA title that same year. His finals match was right before Gable and Owings wrestled. Sure enough, my wife got it in one of her purges of things around the house that she didn't see any reason to keep.
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D stands for Divorce! Many different things can be purged..
D also stands for Destitute which is what I would be if I I ever even mentioned that other D word!
I actually saw Cael win all 4 of his titles. If I remember correctly, the match preceding his 4th finals win against Jon Trenge of Lehigh was the match when Rob Rohn, also of Lehigh, stole victory from the jaws of defeat and pinned Josh Lambrecht of Oklahoma. Lambrecht was up by a lot. Rohn also pinned the Wisconsin guy in the quarterfinals and the Iowa guy (Jessman Smith, I think) in the semis. Nice tournament for Rohn.
I remember that the arena was already buzzing when Cael took the mat.
Fun times.
I remember that the arena was already buzzing when Cael took the mat.
Fun times.
