Two tough duals await No. 3 Minnesota

The Gophers wrestling team surrendered only three points in its last two duals. With stiffer competition on the horizon, it’s safe to say the weekend’s matchups will be more interesting.

Minnesota (8-2, 5-0 Big Ten) will face No. 11 Michigan (5-2, 3-1 Big Ten) at the Sports Pavilion and then travel south to face No. 6 Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

“We’ve just got to do the same things we’ve been doing the last couple duals,” sophomore captain Kevin Steinhaus said. “Everybody’s really been performing really well.”

The Hawkeyes (9-3, 4-2 Big Ten) were ranked No. 2 last week but fell in the rankings after back-to-back losses to Ohio State and Penn State. Minnesota beat both the Buckeyes and Nittany Lions earlier this season.

When asked to pick out a couple of key matches for the Iowa dual specifically, head assistant coach Brandon Eggum named about six before giving up.

“I apologize a little bit, just to try to pick out one match in a dual like this is impossible,” Eggum said. “I can’t pick one. I know in the country everyone’s excited to see the [Zach] Sanders [versus Matt] McDonough match. But as far as the team as a whole, all 10 matches are equally important.”

Minnesota’s only top-ranked wrestler, Sanders (125 pounds), will face off against No. 2 McDonough on Sunday in one of the season’s most anticipated matchups.

“I know Sanders is really excited about that,” Eggum said. “Two of the top ranked guys in the country, so that’s a great opportunity for us to get a chance to compete against him.”

Both duals feature a bevy of individually ranked wrestlers. No. 7 Chris Dardanes (133), his twin brother No. 12 Nick Dardanes (141), Cody Yohn (165), Logan Storley (174) and Tony Nelson (heavyweight) will face ranked wrestlers from both Michigan and Iowa.

Nick Dardanes will face No. 1 Kellen Russell on Friday.

The 157-pound match will not have a ranked wrestler Friday or Sunday. In terms of having higher ranked wrestlers, Minnesota holds a 6-3 advantage against both Michigan and Iowa.

“On paper [Michigan’s] a strong team,” Eggum said. “So we’re going to have to wrestle well. I think they’re favored in four of the 10 matches, and there’s a couple matches that they have good competitors where we’re going to have to wrestle well.

“There’s a string of tight matches in [the Iowa dual], I think on paper you could see it’s pretty even,” he added.

The Gophers hold a distinct advantage at the upper weights in both duals, which, depending on what weight opens the dual, could play a key role.

“If any of us can get bonus points it would really help us out,” Steinhaus said. “Usually our lower guys get us started off really well and most of the time get bonus points down low but if it comes down to us up top, I’m pretty confident that we can get wins, but bonus points are huge.”

Steinhaus (184) and Sonny Yohn (197) will face unranked opponents Friday and Sunday.

Coaches have worked with Nelson on being more aggressive and shooting more — something that could help the No. 4 ranked heavyweight against No. 11 Ben Apland from Michigan and No. 10 Bobby Telford from Iowa.

“At the heavyweight weight class you don’t see a lot of shooting very often,” Nelson said. “With my size and speed compared to the other guys, I’ve got to use that to my advantage. I want to be more offensive and put more points on the board.”

Minnesota figures to face a hostile crowd when it travels to Iowa, which has led the nation in attendance each of the past five seasons. The Hawkeyes are drawing more than 9,000 people per home dual this year.

“The Iowa crowd and the fan support down there are excellent,” Eggum said. “It’s a great environment to wrestle in so we’re looking forward to that, and I think it will be a big weekend for us.”

Minnesota is alone in first place in the Big Ten Conference and is the only team remaining with a perfect conference record.