The University of Northern Iowa will be hosting the event for the third consecutive year.
Undefeated Penn State enters the weekend as the top seed, while Iowa (No. 2), Iowa State (No. 3) and Central Michigan (No. 4) round out the top five. If the Gophers can beat West Virginia early Saturday, it could force a match-up with Central Michigan. The Gophers have not lost to the Chippewas in eight meets all-time, including four National Duals match-ups.
The Mountaineers are the only team National Duals participant unranked in the latest USA Today/NWCA/InterMat poll. West Virginia sports a 3-1 dual meet record thus far in 2007-08 and also finished 12th at the NWCA/Cliff Keen Invitational in Las Vegas last month. WVU also made the same California trip as Minnesota in early January, defeating Cal State-Fullerton and Cal Poly in dual meets on Jan. 2-3 by scores of 27-14 and 24-12, respectively.
The Gophers have only met up with the Mountaineers twice Minnesota's 98-year program history. Both of those meets have come in National Duals competition. The Gophers were 33-3 winners in the quarterfinals at the 1998 National Duals (en route to their first-ever team title) and also emerged a 20-15 victor in the quarterfinals at the 2003 National Duals.
Minnesota is the defending two-time National Duals champion, winning eight straight meets at the annual 16-team event. The Gophers defeated then-No. 1 Oklahoma State 21-14 in the 2006 final and also upset then-No. 1 Missouri 20-14 last year.
The Gophers dropped to No. 6 in the latest USA Today/NWCA/InterMat poll after Oklahoma State defeated top-ranked Iowa over the weekend. Minnesota regained their top ranking in the latest W.I.N. Magazine national poll, and also stayed No. 1 in W.I.N. Magazine's "TPI" (Tournament Power Index) rankings.
A complete preview of the 2008 National Duals will be available Wednesday on gophersports.com.
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