COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Like most wrestlers, Mike Zadick and Nate Gallick have battled their share of injuries and ailments over the years.

But when it's time to compete and the stakes are high, both wrestlers have proven their mettle on the mat.

Expect that to be the case again on Thursday afternoon when past Iowa Hawkeye standout Zadick meets past Iowa State Cyclone star Gallick in a Special Wrestle-Off for the final spot on the U.S. World Freestyle Team.

The best-of-3 match series at 60 kg/132 lbs. is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. Mountain Time, 1:30 p.m. and, if necessary, at 2:15 p.m. Thursday at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. The matches will be held at the Sports Center II, in the upstairs gymnasium above the OTC wrestling room.

The winner of Thursday's series will represent the U.S. at next month's World Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan. The two wrestlers made weight Wednesday afternoon at the Olympic Training Center.

"I'm feeling really good," Zadick said Wednesday afternoon. "I'm looking forward to getting this finalized and moving on toward the World Championships. I'm by no means taking this Wrestle-Off lightly, but the big picture for me is the World Championships."

The Special Wrestle-Off was needed after Gallick suffered a foot injury following his win over Zadick in the finals of April's U.S. Nationals. Zadick, a 2006 World silver medalist, won June's U.S. World Team Trials to earn a shot at Gallick in the Special Wrestle-Off.

"I made some mistakes the last time I wrestled him and I've worked hard on correcting those," Zadick said. "I'm very confident I've improved since the last time we wrestled."

Zadick (Solon, Iowa/Gator WC) won a silver medal at the Pan American Games last month in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Gallick (Chattanooga, Tenn./Sunkist Kids) has not competed in more than four months. Gallick won a World University Games gold medal in 2005.

Gallick just returned to the mat in the past couple of weeks. He recently took a job as an assistant coach to past U.S. World Team member Chris Bono at Tennessee-Chattanooga. Shortly after moving to Tennessee in late July, Gallick went to the hospital after having stomach problems and the ailment was diagnosed as pancreatitis.

He ended up being in the hospital for six days.

"All things considered, I feel good," Gallick said after weighing in Wednesday. "I feel a lot better than I thought I was going to feel and that says a lot. Two weeks ago, when I first started getting back into training again I was being a little pessimistic and just kind of thinking this wasn't enough time to get ready."

Gallick has spent the past couple of weeks training in Colorado Springs.

"A week into my training, I started realizing I wasn't that far behind," Gallick said. "I was feeling a lot better than I thought I was going to. The last couple of days, I've felt real good. I might not be 100 percent, but I'm definitely ready to wrestle."

How close is Gallick to 100 percent?

"Mentally, I'm over 100 percent," he said. "My physical strength and my conditioning, I'm probably over 80 percent right now. I don't know if I've ever been 100 percent more than maybe a few matches in my life, so being in the 80s is still pretty good."

Gallick, who is trying to make his first U.S. World Team, said he fought some stomach issues for about a month before going in the hospital late last month.

"Pancreatitis is inflammation of the pancreas," he said. "Any time you eat you are irritating it - it would cause a lot of pain and bloating where you can't eat right. I was losing weight. When I went to the hospital they said the only way to heal it was basically no food and no water. For five of the six days I was there in the hospital, I basically starved. Just being in the hospital, I lost about 12 pounds.

"I normally weigh about 150 or 152, and I've been weighing in the low 140s the last couple of weeks. I put about half of the weight back on, but I feel like my strength is pretty darn close to where it was."

Zadick said he expects Gallick to be as strong as ever.

"I'm ready to go," Zadick said, "and I know he will be too."

Zadick said his close loss to Iran's Seyed Mourad Mohammadi in the finals of the 2006 World Championships continues to drive him.

"None of us are in this sport to take second - even if it's a silver medal at the World Championships," Zadick said. "I'm a lot better than I was at this time last year - I've worked hard and I've improved a lot."