Four of the six have earned All-American honors, including 2009 197-pound champ Jake Varner, and all have built up solid records in a Cyclone singlet. There has also been team success, with second, fifth and third-place finishes at the past three NCAA Div. I National Championships.

But there have also been disappointments. Tough losses at the NCAA Tournament to fall short of All-American honors, a spot in the finals or a National title haunt them all. The team has been good enough to contend for, but hasn't yet won, a title since 1987. Add in the departure of head coach Cael Sanderson after three seasons and it's been an interesting past year, to say the least, for the Cyclones.

All of that appears to be behind the team now and this outstanding senior class is looking to go out with a bang.

"I expect great things. It's now my fifth year and everyone has the capability to be a National Champion. I wouldn't be shocked if any one of the guys were National Champs this year," two-time 141-pound All-American Nick Gallick said. "I think great things can and will happen as long as everyone keeps working and sticks to the plan that the coaches have set out for us."

New Cyclone head coach Kevin Jackson said he has been impressed with the attitude of the seniors after the coaching change.

"We have pretty much an upperclassmen group that we're dealing with. I'm impressed with their attitude as far as buying into the plan. They could very easily say that what they've done in the past they've had some success with and not totally buy into it," he said. "But they didn't win a National Championship from what they were doing. We convinced them that what you've done in the past has not gotten you a title, with the exception of Jake Varner."

Varner, who finished on top last year at 197 after a pair of runner-up finishes at 184 to begin his Cyclone career, said the seniors have heard talk about bringing home that elusive team title ever since they stepped onto campus in Ames and have that on their minds.

"It's important to us. Coming in as freshmen, that's kind of what everyone put upon us and it's our last year to do it. We've been fighting hard every year to do it and we're going to try our best to do it this year," Varner said.

Gallick said that as long as each wrestler on the team takes care of what they can control, the team title is out there for the taking.

"We have our individual goals on our mind and that will take care of the team title. The team title is obviously something we want, but we just wrestle our best and the results will show. We work for both of them, individual and team," he said.

And although there has been plenty of individual honors won by this group of seniors, Jackson said he sees a lot more out there for them.

"I'm excited, because these guys have had success. They've won a bunch of matches, they've become All-Americans," he said. "But when I come into a room and see some flaws that should be corrected and are going to be corrected, it makes me feel more excited as to what our potential could possibly be."

Gallick, who has finished fifth and third the past two seasons, said finishing on top of the podium this March is what is driving him this year.

"That's always my number one goal. It's my fifth year and I haven't got the National Championship. I was kind of close last year, but didn't get it done," he said. "That's definitely my number one goal and priority this year. It's a long season and it's all practice and preparation for the National Championship.

"Being so close, you get a little taste of the feeling, but don't quite get it. You're close enough to kind of feel what it feels like, but you're far enough that you don't actually feel it. That's the whole point of this season for me, to get the National Championship and help the team get the National Championship."

As for the coaching change entering their senior seasons, the group appears to be comfortable with the new staff.

Varner, who wrestled in the World Championships earlier this fall, was extremely close with Sanderson and still is, but sees this as an opportunity to learn from another former ISU All-American and Olympic Freestyle Champion.

"It was kind of hard at first. I still worked out with Cael this summer and he coached me at World Championships," Varner said. "But it's something to look forward to. It's a new mind to pick from and a different kind of wrestling to pick from. You go from Olympic Champion to Olympic Champion."

Gallick said knowing the coaches before the change, including his older brother and former ISU NCAA champ Nate Gallick, made it an easier transition for him.

"It's difficult, because you're used to a coach and then you have a new coaching staff," he said. "But I think this is a perfect coaching staff to take over. I'm familiar with all of them, so it wasn't that big of a transition for me."