The much anticipated Border Brawl underway from Minneapolis; No. 1 Minnesota vs. No. 2 Iowa
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Craig Sesker (USA Wrestling)
02/01/2002
Live Results History could be made on the mat Friday night in Minneapolis. The Border Brawl, Friday's much-anticipated Big Ten dual meet between No. 1 Minnesota and No. 2 Iowa, matches college wrestling's last two national champions. More than 9,300 tickets have already been sold for the meet, scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Target Center. Minnesota is hoping to break the NCAA dual meet attendance record of 15,291, set on Feb. 22, 1992 when Iowa defeated Iowa State 29-8 at Iowa City's Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Border Brawl will include an appearance by Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura, who will present the winning team a traveling trophy. Minnesota halted the Hawkeyes' string of six straight national championships by winning their first-ever NCAA crown last March at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Gophers, who breezed to the title at the National Duals on Jan. 20, are 13-0 overall and 2-0 in the Big Ten. Iowa, which finished third at the National Duals but did not face the Gophers, are 12-2, 2-0. Minnesota returns eight of their record-setting 10 All-Americans from last season. The matchups in the meet include: 125 - Iowa's Luke Eustice, ranked ninth, vs. Minnesota's Leroy Vega, ranked second. Vega beat Eustice 5-3 at the Midlands. 133 - Iowa's Cliff Moore, ranked fifth, vs. Minnesota's Ryan Lewis, ranked first. They split two matches last season. 141 - Iowa's Marc Juergens, ranked 18th, vs. Minnesota's Chad Erikson, ranked sixth. 149 - Iowa's Mike Zadick, ranked first, vs. Minnesota's Jared Lawrence, ranked second. Zadick is 3-2 vs. Lawrence, winning 5-2 at the Midlands. 157 - Iowa's Matt Anderson, ranked ninth, vs. Minnesota's Luke Becker, ranked third. 165 - Iowa's Cory Connell or Ben Shirk, ranked 14th, vs. Minnesota's John Hardy, ranked 12th. 174 - Iowa's Tyler Nixt, ranked ninth, vs. Minnesota's Jacob Volkmann, ranked seventh. Volkmann beat Nixt in 2000. 184 - Iowa's Jessman Smith, ranked fourth, vs. Minnesota's Damion Hahn, ranked third. Smith is just 1-6 vs. Hahn, but won the most recent meeting 5-3 at the Midlands. 197 - Iowa's Trey Clark vs. Minnesota's Owen Elzen, ranked third. 285 - Iowa's Steve Mocco, ranked second, vs. Minnesota's Garrett Lowney, ranked sixth. Iowa leads the series 58-20-1, but Minnesota has won the last two duals, including a 17-16 win in Iowa City last season. The Hawkeyes' last win in the series was 20-13 in Minneapolis in 2000. Iowa will wrestle at No. 20 Wisconsin on Sunday. Third-ranked Ohio State, coming off a 21-16 home loss to Iowa, will wrestle at Indiana on Friday and travel to Purdue on Saturday. Fourth-ranked Iowa State is scheduled to wrestle at No. 5 Oklahoma State on Friday and at No. 7 Oklahoma on Sunday. Oklahoma State is at home against No. 14 Northern Iowa on Sunday. Oklahoma will meet Northern Iowa on Friday in Norman. Iowa State's Cael Sanderson is now 146-0 in his career, including 27-0 this season. Sixth-ranked Michigan meets No. 13 Illinois on Friday in Ann Arbor.