The Michigan wrestling team will compete for intrastate bragging rights and national respect this weekend when they travel to No. 15 Michigan State tomorrow night and No. 3 Iowa on Sunday.
The Spartans look to exact revenge for their 21-9 loss to Michigan in December at Crisler Arena.
The ninth-ranked Wolverines hope for a repeat of that performance on Friday.
"We're going up there to put another knock on them," Michigan coach Dale Bahr said. "But we can't think it's in the bag."
The key matchup of the evening will pit Michigan's sixth-ranked Joe Warren against Michigan State's third-ranked Pat McNamara in the 133-pound class. Warren's loss to McNamara, 8-6 in their first meeting was the only blemish on his dual-meet record this year.
Other matches to watch include Michigan's sixth-ranked wrestler Otto Olson's with Michigan State's No. 12 Will Hill, and 20th-ranked Frank Lodeserto battles sixth-ranked Nick Muzashvili.
Olson has yet to lose in dual competition and will try to climb over Hill for the third straight time.
Still trying to recover from an ankle sprain which has hampered him for the last couple of matches, Lodeserto will wrestle at less than his normal level.
"Frank hasn't been wrestling at full strength lately," Bahr said. "He's probably only at about 70 percent."
As with all Michigan-Michigan State matchups, there is a little more at stake this Friday than at the average Big Ten meet.
"It's always exciting to go up against Michigan State," Michigan coach Dale Bahr said. "No matter what the sport, when you're going up against Spartans it's all about bragging rights."
Things get a little more difficult for the Wolverines on Sunday when they travel to Iowa City for their first meet against the Hawkeyes since 1992.
Iowa has eight wrestlers in the top 25, a stat which is even more impressive when you consider that seven of them are in the top ten, including No. 1 T. J. Williams at 149 pounds.
Despite all this, Iowa, the proud owner of the last 25 Big Ten conference titles, may have their hands full with this group of Wolverines.
"We're going to ding them as much as we can," Bahr said. "We can definitely get half the matches, and if we can get some extra points in a couple of matches anything can happen.
"If you had told me at the beginning of the season that we could go into Carver-Hawkeye and win I would have called you crazy. But the thing is now we can."
Bahr, who was born in Iowa Falls, Iowa, will have a chance to experience a homecoming of sorts. Bahr earned a NCAA wrestling Championship for state-rival Iowa State in 1968.
"Iowa is a fun place to wrestle," Bahr said. "Wrestling is a major sport there. The fans really appreciate good wrestling, they may even give some of our guys an ovation for a good match."
02-04-99
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