Preview of this week's Division I college wrestling events

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Craig Sesker (USA Wrestling)
12/12/2001


The second-ranked Oklahoma State wrestling team, fresh off a big home win over No. 3 Oklahoma, will hit the road for a pair of dual meets on Sunday.    The Cowboys will wrestle at No. 25 Oregon State on Sunday afternoon in Corvallis, Ore., before traveling to Eugene, Ore., to face the Oregon Ducks on Sunday night.    Oklahoma State edged Oklahoma 18-15 on Sunday in Stillwater, Okla.    OSU will then wrestle at the Reno Tournament on Dec. 20 in Reno, Nevada.    Top-ranked Minnesota is off until competing at the Midlands Tournament on Dec. 29 and 30 in Evanston, Ill.    Oklahoma and fourth-ranked Michigan are off until January.    Fifth-ranked Iowa, which extended its dual-meet winning streak over No. 6 Iowa State to a whopping 28 matches with a 21-16 win Sunday in Ames, meets in-state rival Northern Iowa on Friday at home.    The home opener for the Hawkeyes will start at 7 p.m. at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City.    Northern Iowa is ranked 10th.    The Hawkeyes are 4-0 while the Panthers are 2-0. Iowa has won the last 25 meetings between the two schools.    "Northern Iowa has a very balanced team," Iowa coach Jim Zalesky said. "There will be some hard-fought matches like there were at Ames. One thing our guys need to work on is opening up and going for bonus-point wins. We won seven matches against Iowa State, but we didn't score any team bonus points."    Some of the best matchups in the Iowa-UNI meet will come in a pair of rematches at 184 pounds and heavyweight. No. 8 Jessman Smith of Iowa will face No. 9 Kyle Hansen of Northern Iowa at 184 while No. 7 Steve Mocco of Iowa will meet No. 12 Paul Hynek of UNI at heavyweight.    Smith beat Hansen 5-2 last month at the Kaufman-Brand Open in Omaha while Mocco downed Hynek 9-2 in the finals of the same event.    Iowa State is off until the Midlands.    ISU senior Cael Sanderson is now 133-0. Sanderson, a three-time NCAA champion at 184 pounds, is 14-0 this season at 197.    Sanderson is seeking to become the first wrestler in NCAA history to go unbeaten over a four-year career. Oklahoma State's Pat Smith is the only four-time NCAA champion.