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Following a 30-3 win over Central Michigan on Thursday the 3-0 ISU wrestling team remains on the road this weekend to take on the Michigan State Spartans in a final tune up before next weekend's tangle against Iowa in Carver-Hawkeye. This dual will feature at least two excellent individual match ups and be the first time this season that one of our ranked wrestlers takes on a ranked opponent.
Where: East Lansing, Michigan
Live Blog: Available Here
When: November 23rd, 12:00PM CST
Projected Lineups
| Iowa State Cyclones | Michigan State Spartans | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight | Wrestler | Record | Wrestler | Record | |
| 125 | Kyle Larson | 6-1 | vs. | Mitch Rogaliner | 7-2 |
| 133 | #12 Earl Hall | 7-0 | vs. | #16 Javier Gasca | 7-2 |
| 141 | John Meeks | 1-2 | vs. | Garth Yenter | 4-4 |
| 149 | Gabe Moreno | 8-0 | vs. | Nick Trimble | 5-3 |
| 157 | Luke Goettl | 7-1 | vs. | Roger Wildmo | 6-3 |
| 165 | #3 Mike Moreno | 7-0 | vs. | Ryan Watts | 6-3 |
| 174 | #6 Tanner Weatherman | 7-0 | vs. | Nick Proctor | 3-6 |
| 184 | #18 Lelund Weatherspoon | 7-0 | vs. | John Rizqallah | 5-2 |
| 197 | #3 Kyven Gadson | 7-0 | vs. | Nick McDiarmid | 5-2 |
| HWT | Quean Smith | 7-0 | vs. | Luke Jones | 2-3 |
(Rankings from Intermat)
Key Matchups
125, 141, 149, 157, HWT: I'm lumping all these together because one of the biggest changes so far this year compared to last is that our non-elite guys are consistently winning when faced with average competition. And that's what we'll have in these matchups. If ISU is going to move up in the dual rankings, and keep things at all respectable against Iowa and Oklahoma State, they need guys like Larson and Smith to continue to rack up wins when they are up against unranked opponents. And if the wrestlers at these weights keep it up they might find their own names starting to show up in the rankings.
133: Javier Gasca has had a great start to his career as a Spartan. His only losses so far this season are decisions to #8 Rossi Bruno of Michigan and #3 Chris Dardanes of Minnesota. And he picked up wins over #17 Nick Soto of Chattanooga and #18 Mackenzie McGuire of Kent State last weekend at the EMU Duals to pull himself into the rankings. That makes this a big match for Hall. A win here would validate Hall's preseason ranking and give him a nice shot of confidence going into his matchup with #4 Cory Clark next weekend. This is easily the marque match of the dual.
184: I'm actually quite surprised that Rizqallah isn't ranked for Michigan State. He's a 2 time NCAA qualifier and went 2-2 at NCAAs last season. In this match we'll get the chance to see how Weatherspoon's offense can work against a quality opponent who is also a very good defensive wrestler. If Weatherspoon can pick up a convincing win here I'll really start to think he has a shot to make some noise at 184 this season.
Prediction
This should be another solid win for the Cyclones. Michigan State will be able to keep most of the individual matches respectable and probably steal a few wins, but the strength of their lineup at 133 and 184 matches up against two of our ranked wrestlers, and outside of that they just don't have the guns they'd need to knock us off. In prior years I would have been nervous about this meet. But not this season. I think we win at least seven of the matches for a 23-9 or better victory.
Next up
The Cylones will be back on the road on Saturday, November 29th to take on the #1 Hawkeyes in Iowa City