The Gophers were the consensus No. 1 pick inall thenational preseason team ratings, but have slipped since then.

But Minnesota has the chance to reassert itself this weekend. The Gophers are in the NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals on Saturday and Sunday, trying to win the tournament for the third year in a row.

In the field are 11 of the nation’s top 12 teams. Only No. 3 Oklahoma State is missing.

The Gophers are seeded fifth, behind four teams ahead of them in the national rankings.

Undefeated and No. 1-rated Penn State is the top seed. The Gophers meet West Virginia at 9 a.m. Saturday in the first round. And, if they win, could face fourth seed Central Michigan in the quarterfinals at 1 p.m. Saturday and Penn State in the semifinals at 11 a.m. Sunday.

Jayson Ness, a 125-pound sophomore for the Gophers, takes a streak of six pins in a row into the tournament. The team record is eight by Tim Hartung set in 1997.

The Gophers beat then No. 1 Oklahoma State 21-14 in the finals of this meet in 2006 and last last year upset then-No. 1 Missouri 20-14.

Minnesota has won the National Duals five times in recent years; the earlier titles came in 1998, 2001 and 2002.

The five top seeds are Penn State, Iowa, Iowa State, Central Michigan and Minnesota. Do you think the Gophers can threepeat? If not, who will win this meet to claim the No. 1 spot?

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 10th, 2008 at 9:40 pm and is filed under Gophers wrestling. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.