Thomas Gilman defeated Tim Lambert to win a Midlands title (Photo/Mark Lundy, Lutte-Lens.com)In one of the most anticipated dual meets of the season, No. 3 Iowa hosts No. 2 Penn State at Carver-Hawkeye on Friday at 8 p.m. CT. The dual meet will be broadcast live on the Big Ten Network and streamed live on BTN2Go. The Nittany Lions are undefeated at 7-0 and are coming off a 37-6 victory over Rutgers last Friday. The Hawkeyes enter the dual meet with a 7-1 record, and are coming off a 24-11 loss to Oklahoma State on Sunday.
The dual meet will be filled with competitive matchups as 17 ranked wrestlers are expected to compete. Four of the matchups will pit wrestlers ranked in the top five against each other. Below are five matchups to watch in the dual meet.
125: No. 1 Thomas Gilman (Iowa) vs. No. 3 Nick Suriano (Penn State)
This is matchup wrestling fans have been looking forward to since the start of the season. Gilman, who is undefeated and ranked No. 1, has been dominating opponents all season, scoring bonus points in all but one match this season. He rolled to a 13-4 major decision over Nebraska's Tim Lambert in the finals of the Midlands Championships in late December, and since reeled off three bonus point victories to start 2017. The true freshman Suriano, a four-time undefeated New Jersey state champion, has wrestled one of the nation's toughest schedules and is a perfect 11-0 with a pin and five major decisions. Earlier this season he beat returning All-American Connor Schram of Stanford (who has since moved up weight class), and also has wins over the aforementioned Lambert, No. 6 Ethan Lizak of Minnesota, No. 8 Darian Cruz of Lehigh and No. 18 Noah Gonser of Eastern Michigan.
149: No. 3 Brandon Sorensen (Iowa) vs. No. 1 Zain Retherford (Penn State)
This is a rematch of last year's Big Ten and NCAA finals match at 149 pounds. Retherford blanked Sorensen 4-0 in the Big Ten finals, and two weeks later dominated the Hawkeye 10-1 at Madison Square Garden. Retherford has a 12-0 record this season with 10 pins, a technical fall and a major decision. He has not lost a match in college competition since the 2014 NCAAs. Sorensen's only losses last season came to Retherford. After winning a title at the Midlands Championships late December, Sorensen took an undefeated season record into last Sunday's dual meet against Oklahoma State. In that dual he was edged by Anthony Collica 4-3, which dropped him one spot in this week's rankings to No. 3.
157: No. 2 Michael Kemerer (Iowa) vs. No. 1 Jason Nolf (Penn State)
A battle of No. 1 vs. No. 2. Both wrestlers are from the same wrestling club in western Pennsylvania, Young Guns. Nolf, like Retherford, is 12-0 with 12 bonus point victories. His closest match this season was a 15-7 victory over Nebraska's Tyler Berger. Nolf has gone 45-2 in his collegiate wrestling career, with both losses coming in the postseason to two-time NCAA champion Isaiah Martinez of Illinois. Kemerer has established himself as one of the nation's top freshmen. He ascended to No. 2 in the rankings after winning a Midlands title, which included victories over Jason Tsirtsis of Arizona State and Berger. Kemerer improved to 19-0 after defeating All-American Joe Smith of Oklahoma State on Sunday.
184: No. 5 Sammy Brooks (Iowa) vs. No. 2 Bo Nickal (Penn State)
Nickal, last season's NCAA runner-up at 174 pounds, has been crushing his competition this season at 184 pounds. He's 11-0 with nine pins. However, he has only faced one wrestler ranked in the top 10, NCAA runner-up T.J. Dudley of Nebraska. Nickal won that match 10-5, and it remains his only non-bonus point victory this season. Brooks has been wrestling very well of late. In his most recent outing he topped Oklahoma State's Nolan Boyd 10-5. Brooks' lone loss this season came to Indiana's Nathan Jackson in the semifinals of the Midlands, which he avenged the following day for third place in the same event.
285: No. 8 Sam Stoll (Iowa) vs. No. 5 Nick Nevills (Penn State)
Nevills and Stoll have both battled injuries over the last year, which have hindered their performances. Both are skilled big men and All-American contenders when healthy. Nevills has started this season 11-0, with six of those wins coming against ranked wrestlers. Stoll made his season debut at the Midlands Championships where he placed third, losing by a point to Arizona State's Tanner Hall in the semifinals. He took his second loss of the season this past Sunday to Oklahoma State's Austin Schafer.
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