This weekend's Cliff Keen/National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) National Duals in The Bryce Jordan Center will be the ultimate in midseason tests for all teams involved.

The meet begins with the preliminary rounds at 9 a.m. tomorrow. The semifinals will begin at 8 p.m. tomorrow. The consolation rounds will begin at 11 a.m. Sunday, and the meet will conclude with the finals at 2 p.m. The brackets will be released today at 1 p.m.

Though the format is much different from the NCAA tournament, with dual meets determining the champion instead of individual competition, all competitors will get to see how they rate among the nation's best.

Of the 16 teams that compete in the tournament, 12 are nationally ranked in Div. I, and seven are ranked in the top 10. This includes Oklahoma State, Iowa, Minnesota and Iowa State, the top four teams in the country according to Intermat.

Also included are Nebraska-Omaha, the defending Division II champion, and Montclair State, N.J., the current top rated team in that division according to Amateur Wrestling News. The defending Division III champion ranked No. 3 in that division, and Montana State Northern, the defending NAIA champion, also currently ranked No. 3. These squads include a total of six wrestlers ranked No. 1 in their weight class, and 58 ranked in the top 10.

All of this means one thing — the Penn State wrestling team has its work cut out for it. The Nittany Lions, that lone squad without any type of national ranking, are also working without a single top 10 wrestler.

What the Lions do have, however, is some momentum. The win last weekend against Lehigh, then ranked No. 10 in the Intermat rankings before falling to No. 18 this week, proved to the Lions that they could hang with tough competition.

"We proved we're capable of surprising some people," coach Troy Sunderland said. "We have that renewed sense that we're a better team than we showed against Pittsburgh and West Virginia and that we're good enough to compete with high caliber competition."

"The best thing we can do is get our 10 best wrestlers out there, battle every match, and try to win every dual," he said.

Though the Lions will be shooting for more easily reachable goals such as beating a ranked team or placing in the meet, they have not given up the possibility of coming away as tournament champions.

"We've been preparing all season to go out and show everyone what we're made of," said redshirt sophomore Mark Becks. "We want everyone to know we're a lot better than they think we are."

"We'd be happy to just knock off a couple ranked teams, but we're definitely shooting to win the tournament. We know it's going to be very difficult, but not impossible if everyone comes out with the same attitude we had last week and wrestles up to their potential," he added.

No. 1 Oklahoma State is the favorite to win the meet, already holding substantial dual meet wins over No. 2 Iowa (21-14) and No. 3 Minnesota (25-12). The Cowboys have a wrestler ranked in the top 20 in every weight but heavyweight, and have seven wrestlers in the top 10.

No. 2 Iowa already has a 23-17 win over No. 4 Iowa State, the defending National Duals champions. The Hawkeyes, the defending NCAA champions, have ranked wrestlers everywhere but 197 pounds and heavyweight, including top ranked wrestlers Eric Juergens at 133 pounds, Doug Schwab at 141 pounds and T.J. Williams at 157 pounds.

Iowa State defeated Minnesota 17-16 in last year's final to win their first National Dual championship, but they realize a repeat will be hard to accomplish.

"This will be very tough," coach Bobby Douglas said. "What happened last year is over, and we have to go out and try to win every match."