A huge upswing and a two-week rest period make for a promising weekend for the No. 11 Penn State wrestling team.

The Nittany Lions (12-5, 3-3 Big Ten) will close out their dual meet season on the road against No. 22 Michigan tonight at 7 and No. 23 Michigan State at 1 p.m. Sunday.

At the end of a grueling five-week stretch, the Lions upset both No. 10 Northwestern and No. 6 Iowa two weeks ago. The grapplers transferred the motivation and excitement from that weekend to extra time in the training room.

"We're looking pretty good," Penn State coach Troy Sunderland said. "We've accomplished what we wanted to accomplish this week. We're obviously starting to focus on guys that are wrestling at Big Tens in this final home stretch for dual meets and then the final push for the Big Tens."

These final duals are the last chance for the starters to improve their seeding for the Big Ten tournaments, which will begin in two weeks. In the Big Ten, however, nothing comes easy.

Michigan has accumulated a three-match winning streak against the Lions, and will bring five ranked wrestlers to the mat. The highlight of that match should be in the 174-pound bout, where No. 5 James Yonushonis will take on No. 6 Steve Luke. Yonushonis is one of only two Lions to be undefeated in Big Ten action.

The other half of that duo is 197-pounder Phil Davis, ranked No. 1 in the nation. Davis has yet to be on a Lions team that has beaten Michigan, and he's planning on that number changing by the end of this weekend.

"They're always a tough team to beat," Davis said. "I definitely would be happy, having lost to Michigan so I'm definitely looking forward to beating them."

Sunday afternoon will provide an opportunity for revenge for one Lions' wrestler and a chance for a comeback for another.

At the 125-pound weight class, No. 10 Mark McKnight has been struggling as of late and is currently on a three-match skid. Against Michigan State, he will wrestle No. 7 Franklin Gomez, who McKnight beat in 5-3 sudden victory at this season's Nit-

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Michigan

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tany Lion Open. This could be the match that he needs to gain back some confidence and go back to putting up some big points for the Lions.

"Mark tends to raise his level of competition for better wrestlers rather than guys who aren't that well-known or aren't ranked that high," Sunderland said. "He just doesn't get up for it as much as he would against Gomez. Hopefully he'll raise his level and wrestle the way he's capable of."

133-pounder Jake Strayer also was matched up with a Spartan in the final bout of the Nittany Lion Open. Then-No. 1 Nick Simmons scored a point late in the third period to pull out a 4-3 victory, taking the title. Simmons is now ranked No. 2 while Strayer comes in at No. 11, but he has been wrestling well and has a chance to get the upset.

For McKnight, Strayer, and all of the Lions, the mission is to wrestle a smart, complete match, and Sunderland has been seeing those improvements in the training room.

"We're starting to have more of what we want them to have with that sense of urgency when they're on the mat and that seven minutes, critical time...," he said. "Wrestling with a purpose, training with a purpose. As more of the team gets that attitude, we're going to get better and better."