IU grapplers rested and ready for weekend's Hoosier Duals

A week off usually lets a team rest up and get physically healthy. In the case of the IU wrestling team, it also helps to keep the mood loose in the locker room.\nBefore a practice earlier this week, coach Duane Goldman found out that Cumberland University, one of the teams set to come to this weekend's Hoosier Duals, was not planning to come after all. \n"Is there any way that we can force Cumberland to come?" joked one of the student managers.\nEven though the Bulldogs, ranked No. 13 among National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics teams, are not making it to Bloomington this weekend, the No. 16 Hoosiers will still play host to the 3-5 Gardner-Webb University and Eastern Illinois University in the Hoosier Duals. The Duals will be the first match of the season for both the Hoosiers and Panthers and will take place at 10 a.m. Saturday in Assembly Hall.\nThe week off came at an opportune time for the Hoosiers, who didn't send any wrestlers to last weekend's University of Northern Iowa Open. This weekend they will have a full line-up for Duals.\n"We had some injuries and some guys we needed to get healthy," Goldman said about the week off. "It was an opportunity for us to get healthy both physically and mentally and address some situations, so it was productive."\nSenior Brady Richardson said while the week off was a much-needed break, he is ready to get back on the mat.\n"Personally I needed (the week off) a lot, because I had a few injuries here and there," Richardson said. "It was a long week really. It seems like you don't have much to work for so I'm glad that we're competing again."\nAfter first- and second-place finishes in the Hoosiers' first two tournaments of the season, Richardson holds a 9-2 individual record and is ranked No. 8 in the 197-pound division. He said the second place finish in the Nov. 26 Mat Town Invitational left some room for improvement. \n"You want to build for first places all the time," he said. "You've just got to learn from your mistakes and go from there. If you lose, as long as you learn something from it, it's OK."\nThe Duals will be the first time the Hoosiers compete in Bloomington this season.\n"It's always an important meet, especially to get the crowd involved to get them out there and see us wrestling and see us competing," senior defending national champion Joe Dubuque said. "But I think it's going to be more important because we're wrestling in Assembly Hall and it's our first home meet since last year when we had probably our best year in a long time."\nDubuque enters the Duals with a 4-0 record following a first place finish at Mat Town, an effort that helped him retain his No. 1 ranking in the 125-pound division.\n"We try to focus more on our guys and what we're doing as opposed to our opponents," he said. "I think in this situation, we're trying to get the most of our athletes individually in their efforts. As the season goes on, we'll look more at specific match-ups, but right now our big concern is to make sure the guys we put on the mat are wrestling to the best of their ability."\nThe Hoosier Duals is the first of a stretch of duals for IU during winter break before starting the Big Ten season Jan. 20 against Ohio State.