How productive would a team including Cael Sanderson, Aaron Holker, Ryan Lewis and Justin Ruiz have been during the 2001-2002 college wrestling season?    That is the question the Utah Amateur Wrestling Foundation (UAWF) is posing to Mike Jacobsen, the Athletics Director at Utah Valley State College in Orem, Utah.    UVSC  must add one more sport to its program by fall of 2003 in order to compete at the Division I level since the school only fields 13 athletic teams. Jacobsen has narrowed the choice of sport down to five possibilities - wrestling, men's soccer, men's volleyball, women's golf and women's tennis.    According to Jacobsen, the school plans to announce the addition of one more sport before the end of this year. This, he feels, will help the school to gain an advantage for recruiting and getting all of the pieces in place to begin the program.    UVSC is looking to become the first Junior College to make a jump straight to NCAA Division I status. The NCAA has given the school permission to conduct the exploratory year of athletics that precedes a six-year provisional request to become a Division I member.    In this, the exploratory year, UVSC will operate as an active member of the association and will attend an orientation session during the 2003 NCAA Convention.    At the end of the exploratory year, UVSC must submit a formal confirmation of its intent to become an active Division I member. The confirmation must include a basic strategic plan that provides an outline of how the school will raise money.    Currently, 87 schools compete in wrestling at the Division I level. That ranks the sport fourth of the five sports UVSC is considering as far as Division I membership is concerned behind men's soccer (200 Division I programs), women's golf (212 Division I programs) and women's tennis (312 Division I programs) and ahead of men's volleyball (22 Division I programs).    Brigham Young University, the last university in the state of Utah to sponsor the sport of wrestling before dropping it following the 1999-2000 college wrestling season, currently sponsors men's volleyball, women's golf and women's tennis.    Despite the numbers, though, Jacobsen is leaning towards adding the men's volleyball team as the school's 14th athletic team.    "Right now, it seems like men's volleyball has the upper hand, though, because we already have such an active club volleyball program," he stated after the NCAA gave his school permission to conduct the exploratory year.    Funding is also a key issue to the school right now. UVSC's current athletic budget is $1.4 million. At the end of the six-year provisional request, the school's athletic budget must be at least $2 million, possibly higher.    The Utah Amateur Wrestling Foundation has raised over $100,000 towards the development of a wrestling program in Utah, which it aims to use at UVSC. Last year, school President Kerry Romesburg assured members of the UAWF that he would start a wrestling program at the school if the group was able to raise $150,000 in funds.    This school year, Romesburg dealt a major blow to that promise when he resigned his position to accept a higher position at another school.    "I am going to do what my boss tells me to do," Jacobsen said. "But I want a program to have a $2 million endowment. $150,000 is only going to cover one season. I want to make sure that when we start a program, that it will be here for a long time, not just a couple of years."    Ross Brunson, head of the Utah Amateur Wrestling Foundation, feels that his organization will have no problems not only raising the money needed to start the program, but to also keep the program strong for years to come.    "Every year we have run an all-star match between USA Wrestling all-stars and Utah all-stars that brings us between $10-20,000 per year. We have many ideas with the potential to bring another $100,000 per year with proven fundraisers. Obviously, wrestling camps would bring in more money as well," Brunson stated.    Brunson also added that the UAWF has received numerous requests for season tickets already. There have been monetary promises from many wrestling supporters, including one businessman who has promised to give Utah Valley State College between $500,000 to $1 million if the school adds wrestling to its athletics program.    Other possibilities that the UAWF has explored is a large-scale tournament at the school and the group has talked with the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) about bringing the NWCA All-Star Classic and the National Duals to Utah as well.    One factor that may need to be looked at is the NCAA's championship budget. According to the NCAA's 2000-2001 financial report, only four sports championships at the Division I level actually show a profit - football, men's basketball, hockey and wrestling.    But Jacobsen feels that adding wrestling would be the most expensive way for his school to add an athletic program.    "The way things are right now, it is more expensive to add wrestling than any other sport. We do not have a proper facility for practice and I am still not sure the interest is completely there," Jacobsen said. "I go to individual high school dual meets and the attendance is incredibly low. The state tournament naturally has a lot of fans attending, but when it comes time to draw fans in, I think it would be a tough sport to do it for."     Of course, interest within the state is also a key issue. Currently, wrestling is the third highest participation sport and third highest revenue-producing state tournament in Utah according to the Utah High School Activities Association (UHSAA).    In fact, men's volleyball and women's golf are not even sponsored sports in the state of Utah, meaning most recruiting for those two sports would be done outside of the state.    The state of Utah this year produced three NCAA Division I finalists, two NCAA champions, two Junior National champions and two other Junior National All-Americans in wrestling. Utah has grown into one of the top states in the nation for youth and high school wrestling. There are over 1,200 USA Wrestling members in the state, but Jacobsen does not feel that those numbers would ever be a factor in the success of a wrestling program at UVSC.    "What's to say that those guys would come to this school anyways? No matter what, we are not going to compete in recruiting with the Iowas and Iowa States of the wrestling world. That caliber of kid is not going to go to UVSC," he said.    Wrestling star and Utah native Cael Sanderson disagrees.    "Adding wrestling to the state of Utah again would be huge for both the state and college wrestling," stated Sanderson, who grew up in Heber City, Utah. Sanderson recently completed a college wrestling career at Iowa State Univ. that saw him win four NCAA titles and go undefeated (159-0). In June, he earned a spot on the 2002 U.S. Freestyle World Team.    "It is easy to look at all of the talent that comes out of that state on a yearly basis and determine that Utah is starving for a college wrestling program. It would open a lot of doors for a lot of great kids and great wrestlers," Sanderson added.    On December 21, Oklahoma State and Boise State will square off in a dual meet on Utah Valley State College's campus to help show the statewide interest of the sport of wrestling within Utah.    "I don't know what that message will send. I don't know what the attendance will be in this exhibition match, and I am not sure if it matters," stated Jacobsen. "The other sports realize that this is not their decision, so they have not been lobbying me like wrestling has."    According to Brunson, the fact that wrestling supporters have been doing all of the lobbying leaves the answer clear as to which sport should be added.    "He makes it sound as though we are annoying in how excited we have been about getting a wrestling program started again here in Utah," Brunson stated. "Maybe Mr. Jacobsen should look at that and see where the most interest lies in this state."    The UAWF is challenging  all wrestling fans, both within Utah and across the nation, to help it