Stevan Micic defeated Luke Pletcher to advance to the NCAA finals (Photo/Tony Rotundo, WrestlersAreWarriors.com)Heading into this weekend, the season record for top-25 duals in a three-day span was nine. This weekend squashes that season record, as there will be 12 matchups that pit top-25 teams against each other. There will be six ranked duals on Friday, four on Saturday and pair on Sunday.
Note: All times Eastern Time (ET).
Friday
No. 5 Michigan at No. 3 Ohio State (7 p.m.)
First-year head coach Sean Bormet brings his undefeated (8-0) fifth-ranked Michigan Wolverines to Columbus to take on the undefeated (7-0) third-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes for one of the biggest rivalries in college wrestling.
There will be four top-20 matchups and will feature a pair of top-ranked wrestlers in Ohio State's Myles Martin (184) and Michigan's Stevan Micic (133).
Martin will not wrestle a ranked opponent, but when undefeated Micic takes on sixth-ranked Luke Pletcher at 133, it'll be the first ranked opponent he's faced this season. Micic and Pletcher met four times last season. Pletcher won the first meeting, but Micic rattled off three straight wins, including a win in the NCAA semifinals, catapulting the Wolverine to the NCAA finals, where he eventually fell short to South Dakota State's Seth Gross (who announced that he'd have season-ending shoulder surgery this week).
At 141, Ohio State's reigning Big Ten champion and second-ranked Joey McKenna will take on fifth-ranked Kanen Storr. McKenna brings a perfect 16-0 record into this match, while Storr has a pair of losses this season. Both of those losses came to opponents who sit inside the top-five. His first loss was to No. 3 Jaydin Eierman (Missouri) and his second loss was to No. 4 Mike Carr (Illinois).
Other ranked matchups:
157: No. 10 Alec Pantaleo (Michigan) vs. No. 6 Ke-Shawn Hayes (Ohio State)
174: No. 3 Myles Amine (Michigan) vs. No. 12 Te'Shan Campbell (Ohio State)
285: No. 8 Mason Parris (Michigan) vs. No. 19 Chase Singletary (Ohio State)
No. 25 Arizona State vs. No. 24 Lock Haven (7 p.m.)
Coach Zeke Jones and the No. 25 Arizona State Sun Devils travel east to take on No. 24 Lock Haven. The most exciting match comes at 165 when fourth-ranked returning All-American Chance Marsteller (Lock Haven) welcomes fifth-ranked returning All-American Josh Shields (Arizona State).
Shields, who is up from 157, brings a 20-3 record into this dual, while Marsteller is 13-1. Though the pair hasn't met in their careers, they do have a common opponent in Penn State's two-time NCAA champion Vincenzo.
Shields fell to Joseph 11-2, while Marsteller lost 6-5.
No. 14 Pittsburgh at No. 12 Virginia Tech (7 p.m.)
The Pitt Panthers are coming off their first loss of the season. Last weekend, they were defeated by the third-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys 33-9.
This weekend, they'll travel to Blacksburg to take on coach Tony Robie's No. 12 Virginia Tech Hokies, who are 7-2 this season.
There will be a trio of ranked matchups in this dual, but the most intriguing matchup comes at 133 when one of colleges wrestling biggest surprises and brightest rising stars Micky Phillippi (Pittsburgh) takes on Virginia Tech's Korbin Myers.
Phillippi climbed all the way to the No. 2 spot in the 133 rankings after knocking off undefeated Daton Fix in last weekend's dual against Oklahoma State. Phillippi is 13-1 this season and is riding a seven-match win streak.
His opponent, Korbin Myers, is ranked No. 14 in the country and is 11-4 on the season, with all of his losses coming to ranked wrestlers.
Other ranked matchups:
184: No. 12 Nino Bonaccorsi (Pittsburgh) vs. No. 8 Zack Zavatsky (Virginia Tech)
285: No. 13 Demetrius Thomas (Pittsburgh) vs. No. 18 Billy Miller (Virginia Tech)
No. 7 Minnesota at No. 16 Wisconsin (8 p.m.)
The seventh-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers continue their road trip for the third straight dual when they head to Madison, Wisconsin to take coach Chris Bono's No. 16 Badgers. The Badgers, who started 6-0, are in danger of dropping their fifth straight dual. They're looking for their first win since November 18th when they beat unranked Utah Valley, 22-17. Before their four-match losing skid, the Badgers averaged 26 points a dual. Since that November 18th win, they've only averaged 15 points a dual.
On the other side, the Gophers are 4-1 in their last five duals and are coming off a 29-12 over a Northwestern Wildcat squad who put up 25 points against the Badgers and knocked them off, 25-18.
Ranked matchups:
125 - No. 6 Sean Russell (Minnesota) vs. No. 14 Connor Brown (Wisconsin)
141: No. 8 Mitchell McKee (Minnesota) vs. No. 16 Tristan Moran (Wisconsin)
174: No. 11 Devin Skatzka (Minnesota) vs. No. 10 Ryan Christensen (Wisconsin)
285 - No. 1 Gable Steveson (Minnesota) vs. No. 11 Trent Hillger (Wisconsin)
No. 4 Iowa at No. 18 Illinois (9 p.m.)
Coach Tom Brands and the Iowa Hawkeyes travel to Champaign with hopes of earning their ninth straight win. This dual against the Illini will be the sixth time the Hawkeyes have wrestled a ranked opponent this season. They've won all five of those ranked matchups.
Their opponents, the Fighting Illini, are looking to get back in the win column after dropping their last two matches to No. 5 Michigan and No. 7 Minnesota.
Ranked matchups:
125: No. 2 Spencer Lee (Iowa) vs. No. 15 Travis Piotrowski (Illinois)
133: No. 4 Austin DeSanto (Iowa) vs. Dylan Duncan (Illinois)
141: No. 15 Max Murin (Iowa) vs. No. 4 Mike Carr (Illinois)
157: No. 5 Kaleb Young (Iowa) vs. No. 12 Eric Barone (Illinois)
184 - No. 13 Cash Wilcke (Iowa) vs. NO. 2 Emery Parker (Illinois)
Other ranked duals on Friday
No. 23 Oklahoma at No. 15 Iowa State (8 p.m.)
Match to watch: No. 11 Dom Demas (Oklahoma) vs. No. 14 Ian Parker (Iowa State)
Saturday
Ranked duals on Saturday
No. 22 Virginia at No. 20 North Carolina (6:30 p.m.)
No. 25 Arizona State at No. 21 Lehigh (7 p.m.)
Match to watch: No. 2 Zahid Valencia (Arizona State) vs. No. 7 Jordan Kutler (Lehigh) at 174 pounds
Sunday
No. 12 Virginia Tech at No. 21 Lehigh (2 p.m.)
There will be a trio of ranked matchups, but the top match to watch when the No. 12 Virginia Tech Hokies take on the No. 21 Lehigh Mountain Hawks comes at 174 pounds.
Virginia Tech's two-time All-American and sixth-ranked David McFadden will wrestle returning All-American and seventh-ranked Jordan Kutler. McFadden, USA's U23 world team member, is 10-1 on the season, with that lone loss coming to Oklahoma State's fifth-ranked Joe Smith.
Kutler has three losses this season, with all of those coming to opponents who are ranked inside the top-five. His losses were to No. 1 Mark Hall (Penn State), No. 3 Myles Amine (Michigan), and No. 4 Daniel Lewis (Missouri).
Other ranked matchups:
184: No. 8 Zack Zavatsky (Virginia Tech) vs. No. 7 Ryan Preisch (Lehigh)
197: No. 7 Tom Sleigh (Virginia Tech) vs. No. 18 Jake Jacobsen (Lehigh)
No. 15 Iowa State at No. 2 Oklahoma State (3 p.m.)
Two of the most storied programs in collegiate wrestling history clash when coach Kevin Dresser's No. 15 Iowa State Cyclones invade Gallagher-Iba Arena to take on coach John Smith's second-ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys.
The visiting Cyclones have rallied off five straight winning after dropping their only match of the season to in-state rivals, the second-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes. Aside from that dual against Iowa, the Cyclones have scored at least 29 points in each of their duals.
The Cowboys hold a perfect 9-0 record this season and are coming off a 33-9 win over a then-undefeated top-15 Pitt Panther squad.
Ranked matches to watch:
133: No. 9 Austin Gomez (Iowa State) vs. No. 3 Daton Fix (Oklahoma State)
141: No. 14 Ian Parker (Iowa State) vs. No. 13 Kaid Brock (Oklahoma State)
149: Jarrett Degen (Iowa State) vs. No. 5 Kaden Gfeller (Oklahoma State)
184: No. 19 Samuel Colbray (Iowa State) vs. No. 11 Jacobe Smith (Oklahoma State)
197: No. 6 Willie Miklus (Iowa State) vs. No. 10 Dakota Geer (Oklahoma State)
Other ranked duals on Sunday
No. 18 Illinois at No. 11 Nebraska (3 p.m.)
Ranked matches to watch:
125: No. 15 Travis Piotrowski (Illinois) vs. No. 13 Zeke Moisey (Nebraska)
141: No. 4 Mike Carr (Illinois) vs. No. 19 Chad Red (Nebraska)
157: No. 12 Eric Barone (Illinois) vs. No. 2 Tyler Berger (Nebraska)
No. 23 Oklahoma at No. 17 Northern Iowa (3 p.m.)
Match to watch: No. 11 Dom Demas (Oklahoma) vs. No. 6 Josh Alber (Northern Iowa) at 141 pounds
No. 4 Iowa at Northwestern (3 p.m.)
Though this is not a ranked matchup, it will feature the No. 1 and No. 2-ranked wrestlers in the nation at 125 pounds.
Northwestern's top-ranked Sebastian Rivera will wrestle Iowa 's second-ranked returning NCAA champion Spencer Lee. Lee was the top-ranked wrestler at this weight, but Rivera knocked him off in the Midlands finals and took control of the top spot.
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