UNVERSITY PARK — Cael Sanderson hypothesized that there “could be 50 Sandersons in the stands” by the time his Nittany Lions file out of the locker room and onto the mat for their dual tonight against Utah Valley University.
While that could be the case — Sanderson’s hometown of Heber City is just under an hour’s drive northeast of Orem — there will definitely be more folks on hand to watch Sanderson’s No. 2 Nittany Lions take on the hometown Utah Valley Wolverines than what the Wolverines are used to.
The Wolverines are expecting between 4,000 and 6,000 fans to pack the UCCU Center — a venue with a capacity of 8,500 for the school’s basketball teams — to take in the dual with the Lions.
“Utah is near and dear to my heart,” Sanderson said. “That’s where I grew up wrestling and I care about wrestling out there.”
For Wolverine fans, this weekend will offer them a rare chance to see their team in action against a marquee opponent at home.
Utah Valley (6-8, 1-4 Western Wrestling Conference) has wrestled just eight home dual meets over the last three seasons and have had to travel across the country in order to find competition.
Sanderson defended his decision not to participate in the NWCA National Duals this year, instead opting to travel to Orem to give the Wolverines a notable event. The Wolverines matchup with Penn State will be the main event of for the school’s weekend card that also featured a Friday-night double header with WWC foes North Dakota State and South Dakota State. The Wolverines defeated South Dakota State 21-18 to secure their first WWC win of the season, but then fell to North Dakota State 24-18.
“We’re going out to Utah to help a team that needs help,” Sanderson said. “You’ve got to grow wrestling and that’s what we’re doing. We’re going out to an area that needs help and they’re going to probably sell out their arena, draw more attention to a sport in a place that’s not drawing a lot of attention.”
For Cody Sanderson, the trip to Orem will be special.
The Nittany Lions’ associate head coach started Utah Valley’s wrestling program from scratch as the Wolverine’s first head coach in 2003. When Sanderson left Utah Valley, the Wolverines continued on and continue to build on its once slim program base.
“I’m more proud of the Utah wrestling community,” Sanderson said. “That they were able to come behind this project and get it on the mat, literally. And the coaches there have done a tremendous job of continuing that and putting a great product out there. ... I had hoped that they would be to the point where they had several guys at the NCAA tournament, maybe an All- American or two, and they’re right on track.”
Since current Utah Valley coach Greg Williams took over in 2006, the Wolverines have steadily improved their on-mat product.
Utah Valley has increased its number of wins nearly every season since Williams has been at the helm. Two seasons ago, the Wolverines sent their first group of wrestlers to the NCAA Tournament and last year secured their first All-American when senior Ben Kjar finished fourth at 125 pounds.
While the Wolverines have made progress, Sanderson knows how tough it can be to convince big name schools like Penn State to schedule a trip to Orem.
“I know how challenging it is for those schools to get a lot of dual meets, home dual meets. When I was out there, I was literally begging coaches to wrestle because I couldn’t get the competition dates,” Sanderson said. “There were a couple of Big Ten teams I talked to, they said, ‘Yeah, we can come out. But if you can cover our flights and hotels, we’ll come out.’ For a program that we’re just scraping by trying to get a recruiting budget or travel budget, it just wasn’t really a reality.”
The Nittany Lions are paying their own way to Utah.
“I think he’s very proud, this is where he started coaching and he cares a lot about Utah Valley,” Cael said of Cody’s ties to Utah Valley. “I think most importantly, for him, what we have to do is … we have to put ourselves in their shoes. He’s been in a program there that he knows what they need and what they need are people to come in and give them dual meets. And that’s the best thing we can do to help them.”
