A few days from now Cael Sanderson could stand as the personification of perfection, a mantel that would fit the Iowa State wrestler perfectly.

	Cael Sanderson, left, is five victories away from wrapping up a perfect collegiate career.

Simply put, Sanderson, a three-time NCAA champion who has never lost a collegiate match, is a perfectionist. The trait manifests itself in every aspect of his life, but it's rarely more evident than after a match.

Take the Iowa meet this past November. His 197-pound match was over. He had just dominated yet another college wrestling wannabe, this time pinning sophomore Ryan Fulsaas in less than two minutes.

But back in the Iowa State locker room, Sanderson was distraught. Though individually he had embarrassed Fulsaas, the Cyclones had lost the team competition. It was the wrestling power's 28th straight defeat against its archrival, and it meant Sanderson's Iowa State career would end without his Cyclones ever beating the Hawkeyes.

It was not a happy time.

"That was the most I had ever seen him upset," said big brother Cody Sanderson, an Iowa State assistant coach. "You could see the expression in his eyes. Most people couldn't, but I could see that he was boiling inside. He had this look that he wanted to throw everything he could get his hands on. He had destroyed his guy. And he wanted the team to win. He wanted his guys to win."

But they didn't. And Sanderson, who has gone his entire college career without a loss, was aggravated. To those who know him, it wasn't much of a surprise. His perfectionism is well known. An art major, Sanderson has stacks upon stacks of unfinished drawings and paintings -- unfinished because they weren't turning out exactly as planned.

"He is not satisfied with himself unless everything is perfect," Cody said. "There's a couple matches where he's technical-falled his guy before the second period, and I go into the locker room and he's telling me that his hands were out of place, his conditioning wasn't where it should have been, all this stuff. While to any outsider, it looked like he just toyed with the guy."

For Sanderson, winning isn't the only thing -- it's everything.

Since first becoming a Cyclone four years ago, he has stepped onto the mat 154 times. And 154 times he has walked away the winner. Included in that stretch are three Big 12 championships, three national championships and two Dan Hodge trophies, wrestling's equivalent of college football's Heisman.

The Greatest Ever

With a victory in the NCAA Championships this weekend, Iowa State's Cael Sanderson will finish his career 159-0 with four national titles, all but cementing his status as arguably the greatest collegiate wrestler of all time. Here's a look at some other top collegiate wrestlers: Pat Smith, Oklahoma State 1990-1992, '94 Career record: 121-5-2 Only four-time NCAA Champion Won 98 straight matches Four-time All-American Four-time Big Eight Champion Dan Gable, Iowa State 1968-1970* Career record: 118-1 Two-time NCAA Champion Won 117 straight matches Three-time All-American Three-time Big Eight Champion Yojiro Uetake, Oklahoma State 1964-66* Career record: 58-0 Three-time NCAA champion Three-time Big Eight Champion Three-time All-American Dan Hodge, Oklahoma 1955-57* Career record: 46-0 Three-time NCAA champion Three-time Big Eight Champion Three-time All-American Bill Koll, Northern Iowa 1943, '46-48 Career record: 43-0 Three-time NCAA champion Three-time All-American *wrestled when freshman were ineligible

Beginning Thursday in Albany, N.Y., Sanderson will try to become the first collegiate wrestler to finish his career undefeated with four national titles. It's a level of success believed to be unmatched by any college athlete -- ever. It's perfection.

"Forget about being the greatest collegiate wrestler of all time," said four-time Olympic medalist and nine-time World Champion Bruce Baumgartner. "This is a guy who stepped out there 154 times, putting his win streak on the line, and never lost. He never got hurt. He never had a bad day.

"I can't think of one team or individual who went four straight years winning the NCAA Championship and didn't lose. It's incredible. He is one of the greatest collegiate athletes we've ever had, right up there with Tiger Woods, Janet Evans, Michael Jordan, anyone."

Pat Smith, the former Oklahoma State standout, is the only wrestler to win four NCAA titles. But he lost five times in his career. Former Cyclone Dan Gable went 117-0 with two national championships before losing to unknown Larry Owings, 13-11, in the NCAA title match his senior year.

This weekend, Sanderson will try to avoid his own Larry Owings, his own anonymous wrestler looking for a cheap chance at history. It's a tall task with a ton of pressure.

But in typical Sanderson fashion, the quiet, humble 22-year-old shrugs it off, just like he did last year when he was chasing Gable's consecutive wins mark.

"It's a little strange when I stop to think about it," Sanderson said. "So I really don't think about the streak at all. As I look at it, every day I wake up, and I haven't won any matches that day. So I have to prove myself each and every day."

Sanderson's drive has been there since he was a toddler, coming in part from his father, Steve Sanderson, a collegiate wrestler at BYU and a high school coach in Utah. Dad's teachings, combined with the daily whippings from big brothers Cody and Cole, taught Cael about determination. And physicality.

The three kids often played a game called "Top of the Stairs," in which each would try to be the first to kick, claw, bite and elbow his way to the top of the stairs. The winner was king for a day.

"His brothers used to beat him badly," Steve Sanderson said. "And I think, for him, it ended up developing into the ability to survive."

Now Sanderson's opponents are struggling to survive. This season, despite moving up in weight class from 184 pounds to 197 and facing bigger, stronger opponents, Sanderson has maintained his full nelson on the wrestling world. Only two of his 35 matches have gone the full seven minutes. He has scored bonus points in 34 of his 35 matches, including a career-best 20 pins.

Of Sanderson's last 115 career victories, 103 have been by major decision, technical fall or fall. Put simply, since November of 1999, he really has been challenged only 12 times.

"He takes pleasure in dominating his opponent," Iowa assistant Tom Brands said. "He plays with you. I've seen him grab our guy by his foot, and you can just see on his face a complete joy to dominate his opponent."

This year, the only collegian to come even remotely close to beating Sanderson is Jon Trenge of Lehigh. The sophomore, ranked No. 2 in the country, has taken Sanderson the full seven minutes both times they've met, losing 16-5 and 6-1.

The two are likely to meet this weekend. And Trenge is confident about a different outcome.

"I got a gauge for him the first time, so now I know what I need to do," he said.

Good luck. Opponents have been familiarizing themselves with Sanderson's single and double-leg takedowns for the last four years, but none have been able to conquer him. The reason is simple: Speed. Sanderson is a big guy who wrestles like a little guy.

	“	He's scary. Wrestling is a sport of continuous motion, and Cael typifies this more than anybody I've coached. You can't stop what you can't see. ”
		— Iowa State coach Bobby Douglas

"He's scary," Cyclone coach Bobby Douglas said. "Wrestling is a sport of continuous motion, and Cael typifies this more than anybody I've coached. You can't stop what you can't see."

On the mat, he is both cocky and confident. Tenacious. Relentless. Like a perfect storm, he gives ample warning, allowing those in his path time to prepare, then blows through them anyway.

But off the mat, he's entirely different. Soft spoken. Introverted. A tad insecure. Nowhere is that trait more evident than with his artwork, which Cody has to basically steal in order to display in the house they now share. Otherwise, the paintings remain buried in the basement.

"He doesn't like it," Cody said. "Most of his art is in piles. He doesn't want people to see it. He doesn't think he puts time into it. He has a lot of pieces that get 80-90 percent done, and then he doesn't finish it. I've told him it's great stuff, and I've seen his critiques from his teachers. They think he's phenomenal. They love his stuff. But he doesn't like it."

And to Sanderson, his opinion is really the only one that matters. In wrestling, after all, everything is on the individual. When Sanderson takes to the mat, he is alone. No teammates, no coaches and no fans. If he loses, it's no one's fault but his. So he's always looking to the next match.

Even last January, after breaking Gable's consecutive-win streak, Sanderson was antsy about the post-match celebration in which he was given a plaque and was honored alongside Gable. He had other things on his mind. Another match loomed.

"I could see it in his face," Cody said. "He would have much rather been back at the apartment, playing Nintendo, than having to stand through that. That's just the way he is."

The ultimate perfectionist, Sanderson will try this weekend not only to cement his place in history, but to claim permanently a label he was born with.

"For the rest of us, it probably would have been easier to just lose a match," Cody said. "But not for him. He seems to thrive when things get hardest for him."

Wayne Drehs is a staff writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at wayne.drehs@espn.com.