Some of the most grueling wrestling of the season will be featured today and tomorrow when No. 9 Penn State battles for the the National Team Championship with seven other Top 10 teams in Hampton, Va.

Joining the Lions at the Virginia Duals will be a who's who in collegiate wrestling. The four best teams in the nation, as ranked by Amateur Wrestling News, and 23 All-Americans will compete in the 16-team tournament.

"This is a competition where, if you keep winning, you wrestle all the top teams in the country," Coach Rich Lorenzo said. "It really measures the internal fortitude of an individual."

Penn State is making its fourth straight appearance in the Duals. The team placed third last year and shared the title with Oklahoma State in 1987.

"There's no one below you (at the duals)," assistant coach John Fritz said. "They're going to be there, the best competition in the country."

Penn State (4-1) opens the tournament with No. 19 North Carolina (4-2) at 9:30 this morning. If the Lions win, they will most likely meet top-ranked Arizona State (7-0), which wrestles Lock Haven (7-3) in the first round.

Arizona State boasts All-Americans Zeke Jones (16-0) at 118, Thom Ortiz (14-1) at 142 and NCAA champion Dan St. John (16-0-1) at 167. Although the Sun Devils have placed second at the team championships the past two years, Penn State knows it must concentrate on North Carolina.

"You can't look beyond your next match," Lorenzo explained. "The wrestler's focus has to be on attaining perfection each time he steps on the mat."

One of the teams the Lions hope to face is No. 6 Oklahoma. Penn State was scheduled to wrestle the Sooners Tuesday at Rec Hall, but fog grounded Oklahoma in Washington, D.C., and -- due to what Fritz called "bad scheduling" -- were never able to make the match.

"We'll just get them down at the Duals," 142-pounder Peter Horst said after the cancellation.

"When you're ready to wrestle and don't wrestle it just makes you more hungry," Fritz added. "So they get to grab somebody down in Virginia."

Besides Penn State, the Eastern Wrestling League sends Bloomsburg and Lock Haven to the championship. Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin will represent the Big 10 and the Big Eight sends Iowa State, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.

North Carolina and N.C. State will represent the Atlantic Coast Conference, and Arizona State is the sole representative of the Pac-10. NCAA Division II champ Portland State and Division III champ Ithaca are also competing. Division II school Central Oklahoma State, last year's NAIA champion, was the wildcard selection.

The probable line-up for the Lions: Shawn Nelson (10-7) at 118; Jeff Prescott (3-0) at 126; Bob Truby (7-2) at 134; Horst (18-3) at 142; Mike Bevilacqua (17-1-2) at 150; Tim Wittman (0-0) at 158; Jason Suter (13-2) at 167; Adam Mariano (8-3) or John Yankanich (5-4) at 177; Frank Buchman (4-4) at 190; and Greg Haladay (13-2-1) at heavyweight.