Alex Marinelli defeated Evan Wick in the finals of the Midlands Championships (Photo/Mark Lundy, Lutte-Lens.com)The dual meet season is officially coming to an end. The postseason is less than a month away. But before we get ahead of ourselves, there are eight ranked dual meets that we get the pleasure of enjoying this weekend.
There will be 25 individual ranked matches in those eight duals, with a pair of team meetings having at least six ranked matchups. But without question, this weekend's dual slate is highlighted by Saturday's dual between Oklahoma State and Missouri, who combine for an undefeated 28-0 record.
Friday
No. 10 North Carolina State at No. 13 North Carolina (6 p.m.)
The No. 10 Wolfpack are set to make the short 20-minute journey to Chapel Hill with hopes of winning their sixth consecutive dual and hand their in-state rivals, the No. 13-ranked Tar Heels, their first conference loss of the season.
The Tar Heels are 2-0 in the ACC, while the Wolfpack are 2-1 and are looking to rebound after being upset 18-16 in last weekend's dual against No. 15 Pittsburgh.
There will be a pair of ranked matches in this dual, but the match to watch will be at 149 pounds where fourth-ranked Austin O'Connor (UNC) will clash with former All-American Justin Oliver (NC State) who is ranked eighth in the nation.
This will be the first time both of these wrestlers compete in the in-state rivalry dual and will be the first time that they've met in their college careers.
Another potential matchup of ranked wrestlers could take place at 133 pounds between All-American and seventh-ranked Tariq Wilson (NC State) and No. 20 Gary Wayne Harding (UNC).
Other ranked dual:
No. 7 Cornell at No. 14 Virginia Tech (6 p.m.)
Saturday
No. 2 Oklahoma State at No. 5 Missouri (3:30 p.m.)
The second-ranked Cowboys travel to the Hearnes Center in Columbia (Mo.) looking to hand the fifth-ranked Tigers their first loss of the season. The pair have split their last two duals, but Oklahoma State is trying to exact revenge after the Tigers went into Stillwater and knocked off the Cowboys 21-19 a season ago.
The Cowboys and Tigers both carry undefeated records into this rivalry and combine for a 28-0 record.
Coach John's Smith's Cowboys picked up their 13th consecutive victory last weekend, shutting out Air Force 39-0. Coach Brian Smith's Tigers grabbed their 15th win of the season and 35th straight dual meet win with a 30-12 thumping of the Arizona State Sun Devils.
There will six ranked matchups, highlighted by a trio of top-10 matches. The three top-10 showdowns come at 133 pounds, 141 pounds, and 174 pounds respectively.
Of the three star-studded matches, the most intriguing matchup comes at 174 pounds, where second-ranked Daniel Lewis (Missouri) will try to keep his hot streak rolling and keep sixth-ranked Joe Smith (Oklahoma State) from getting back to his winning ways.
Lewis is coming off arguably the biggest win of his storied career. Last weekend, the three-time All-American pinned Arizona State's reigning NCAA champion Zahid Valencia and improved to 19-1 on the season. His lone loss came to Michigan's fourth-ranked Myles Amine at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational.
His opponent, Joe Smith, is 14-3 on the season and is squaring off against his third straight top-10 opponent. Smith is riding a two-match losing streak after dropping his last two matches to No. 5 Jordan Kutler (Lehigh) and No. 8 Taylor Lujan (Northern Iowa).
Other ranked matchups:
133: No. 2 Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) vs. No. 10 John Erneste (Missouri)
141: No. 13 Kaid Brock (Oklahoma State) vs. No. 4 Jaydin Eierman (Missouri)
149: No. 5 Kaden Gfeller (Oklahoma State) vs. No. 7 Brock Mauller (Missouri)
165: No. 10 Chandler Rogers (Oklahoma State) vs. No. 14 Connor Flynn (Missouri)
184: No. 8 Jacobe Smith (Oklahoma State) vs. No. 16 Dylan Wisman (Missouri)
No. 7 Cornell at No. 13 North Carolina (6 p.m.)
The Tar Heels welcome their second top-10 opponent of the weekend when Coach Koll's seventh-ranked Big Red head south to Chapel Hill.
Cornell is riding a six-match winning streak after dropping back-to-back matches against No. 5 Missouri and No. 20 Lehigh.
Depending on how UNC's Friday night plays out against the NC State Wolf Pack, the Tar Heels could be on a five-match streak.
There will be a pair of top-20 matches in this dual.
At 133 pounds, No. 13 Chas Tucker (Cornell) vs. No. 20 Gary Wayne Harding (UNC), and at 184 pounds, returning All-Americans No. 13-ranked Max Dean (Cornell) will take on No. 14 Chip Ness (UNC).
Other ranked dual:
No. 21 Virginia at No. 14 Virginia Tech (7 p.m.)
Sunday
No. 4 Michigan at No. 16 Rutgers (12 p.m.)
This dual meet will feature two No. 1-ranked wrestlers in Stevan Micic (Michigan) and Anthony Ashnault (Rutgers), but only the Wolverine will take on another ranked opponent.
Micic, the top-ranked 133-pounder in the nation, will go toe-to-toe against fellow NCAA runner-up from a season ago, No. 4-ranked Nick Suriano (Rutgers).
Micic, who is 11-0 this season, is coming off a 10-4 win against the top-ranked 125-pounder in the nation Sebastian Rivera (Northwestern).
Suriano, last year's NCAA finalist at 125 pounds, has tallied five consecutive wins after dropping back-to-back matches to No. 2 Daton Fix (Oklahoma State) and No. 3 Austin DeSanto (Iowa).
The only other ranked matchup in this dual comes at 157 where fifth-ranked Alec Pantaleo (Michigan) will wrestle No. 14 John Van Brill (Rutgers).
No. 8 Nebraska at No. 6 Ohio State (2 p.m.)
The Ohio State Buckeyes welcome the second straight top-10 team to St. John Arena when coach Manning's eighth-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers invade Columbus for a top-10 Big Ten clash.
Of the weekend-leading eight top-20 matches in one dual, the 184-pound match between top-ranked Myles Martin (Ohio State) and sixth-ranked Taylor Venz (Nebraska) will be a battle to keep an eye on.
Sunday's match will be the pairs third overall meeting. The previous two matches were both won by Martin, including an 11-5 victory for the Buckeyes at this season's Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational.
Martin has won 14 straight matches since dropping last year's NCAA finals to Bo Nickal (Penn State). Most recently, Martin picked up an 18-6 major decision over Penn State's Mason Manville.
On the other side of the line will be Nebraska's returning NCAA All-American, Venz, who is 17-4 on the season. Venz jumped back on the winning train last weekend after losing to Iowa's Cash Wilcke, 5-2 two weeks ago.
Other ranked matches:
125: No. 18 Zeke Moisey (Nebraska) vs. No. 16 Malik Heinselman (Ohio State)
141: No. 20 Chad Red (Nebraska) vs, No. 3 Joey McKenna (Ohio State)
157: No. 2 Tyler Berger (Nebraska) vs. No. 6 Ke-Shawn Hayes (Ohio State)
165: No. 6 Isaiah White (Nebraska) vs. No. 12 Te'Shan Campbell (Ohio State)
174: No. 9 Mikey Labriola (Nebraska) vs. No. 18 Ethan Smith (Ohio State)
197: No. 13 Eric Schultz (Nebraska) vs. No. 2 Kollin Moore (Ohio State)
285: N0.10 David Jensen (Nebraska) vs. No. 19 Chase Singletary (Ohio State)
No. 3 Iowa at No. 17 Wisconsin (3 p.m.)
Coach Bono's Badgers won back-to-back matches for the first time since mid-November when they defeated Princeton and Utah Valley. The Badgers, who lost five consecutive matches, grabbed wins over Maryland and Illinois, bringing their conference record to 3-5.
This weekend, they'll welcome the third-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes. There will be a trio of ranked matches, but the 165-pound match between second-ranked Alex Marinelli (Iowa) and third-ranked Evan Wick (Wisconsin) is the match to pay attention to.
This will be the third time these two returning All-Americans have faced each other. Marinelli won their last meeting 4-3, which came at the Midlands Championships in December, but Wick won the consolation semifinals match at last year's NCAA Championships, which ultimately helped catapult him to a third-place finish.
Other ranked matches:
141: No. 14 Max Murin (Iowa) vs. No. 9 Tristan Moran (Wisconsin)
149: No. 12 Pat Lugo (Iowa) vs. No. 19 Cole Martin (Wisconsin)
285: No. 6 Sam Stoll (Iowa) vs No. 8 Trent Hillger (Wisconsin)
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