NCAA Wrestling: No. 1 Minnesota vs. No. 2 Iowa Meet For Historic 100th Dual
NCAA Wrestling: No. 1 Minnesota vs. No. 2 Iowa Meet For Historic 100th Dual
This biggest wrestling match this season reinvigorates an old rivalry. The #1 Minnesota Golden Gophers host the second ranked team in the nation, the Iowa Hawkeyes. This dual-meet is the first dual back in the Twin-cities since the Gophers knocked off Penn State in Happy Valley since January 2011. This reborn rivalry will take place Friday night at 6 p.m. CT at the Williams Arena. Minnesota vs. Iowa Friday will mark the 100th installment between these two historic programs.
The Hawkeyes and Gophers both enter Friday’s dual owning a 10-0 record. These two Big Ten teams are battling not only for conference supremacy, but the nation’s top rank. Both teams have reached ten wins with victories over mutual opponents such as Rutgers, Northwestern, Michigan State, Illinois, and Oklahoma State. The Gophers also have wins over Penn State, Michigan, Wyoming, Grand Canyon, and Air force. The Hawkeyes also has wins over Baker, Iowa Central C.C., Cornell College, Ohio State, and their instate rival Iowa State.
The Hawkeyes lead the all-time series against the Gophers with a 70-28-1 advantage. In recent years though, Iowa’s northern rival has taken three out of the four duals between the two teams. On Friday, the Iowa will show up with a team that has seven Top 5 ranked wrestlers in the nation. Their other three wrestlers are also ranked in the nation as they are ranked 15, 8, and 7. Minnesota brings five Top 6 ranked wrestlers and two outside the Top 10 ranked 11, and 17.
Eight of the ten match-ups are expected to be ranked verses ranked wrestler. Three of the matches will involve Top 5 ranked wrestlers. The Gophers #1 ranked wrestler at 133-pounds, Chris Dardanes will square off against Iowa’s No. 5 ranked redshirt sophomore, Cory Clark. At 141-pounds No. 4 Nick Dardanes is set to battle Hawkeyes’ No. 5 Josh Dziewa. The third Top 5 ranked matchup includes two seniors at 174-pounds as Gophers No. 4 Logan Storley will wrestler Hawkeyes’ No. 2 Mike Evans.
This Big Ten Conference matchup has some familiar foes in three expected bouts. Two-time NCAA runner-up No. 1 Dylan Ness, at 157, has a 3-0 all-time lead over No. 15 Michael Kelly. At 174, No. 4 Logan Storley and No. 2 Mike Evans are set to meet for a fourth time. They are split with two wins a piece entering Friday’s dual. At 197, Iowa’s No. 3 Nathan Burak is 0-4 against Gophers No. 6 Scott Schiller, including a major decision in last year’s dual-meet.
Below is the expected match-ups between Minnesota and Iowa:
(Minnesota vs. Iowa)
125- Ethan Lizak vs. No. 5 Thomas Gilman
133- No. 1 Chris Dardanes vs. No. 5 Cory Clark
141- No. 4 Nick Dardanes vs. No. 5 Josh Dziewa
149- Jake Short -or- Seth Lange vs. No. 2 Brandon Sorensen
157- No. 1 Dylan Ness vs. No. 15 Michael Kelly
165- No. 17 Nick Wanzek -or- Brandon Kingsley vs. No. 7 Nick Moore
174- No. 4 Logan Storley vs. No. 2 Mike Evans -or- Alex Meyer
184- No. 11 Brett Pfarr vs. No. 8 Sammy Brooks
197- No.6 Scott Schiller vs. No. 3 Nathan Burak
HWT- No. 13 Michael Kroells vs. No. 2 Bobby Telford
Entering Friday these two teams are holding a combined 57-3 record in their last 30 duals. Minnesota has a chance as the slight favorites to start tipping the scales back in their favor. Iowa is presented with an opportunity to regain national supremacy by upsetting their border rivals and climbing back to the No. 1 ranked team in the nation.
The historic 100th meeting between the No. 1 Minnesota Golden Gophers and No.2 Iowa Hawkeyes will be broadcasted live on the Big Ten Network starting at 6 p.m. CT. It will also be streamed online via the BTN2GO app.
Results will also be posted here on MyMMANews.com as well as on our Twitter account @MyMMANews for the latest results.
