Hoosiers travel north to meet conference rivals

The IU Wrestling team will travel to Michigan this weekend for the third time
this season.

The Hoosiers will face off against Michigan at 7 p.m. Friday and will wrestle against Michigan State at 2 p.m. Sunday.

After coming off of a loss against Iowa last Friday, the team is looking to improve its team record to 8-2 while gaining more experience with highly ranked competitors.

“We’ve had a couple of Big Ten matches so far with some pretty tough teams,” IU Coach Duane Goldman said. “And this will be no different.”

The team has continued to work hard in practice this week to prepare for the weekend and to overcome the lack of experience that many of the wrestlers face.

“We’ve been struggling a little bit with the youth of our team and with the learning experience,” Goldman said. “But we’ve had a good week of practice working really hard and focusing on technical and training issues with individuals.”

Michigan remains in the top ten after coming off of a loss against then-No. 7
Illinois.

IU has split the past four meets against Michigan with a history record of 23-57-2 since their first meet in 1924.

“Michigan has a really strong team with a lot of experience and a lot of talent,” Goldman said. “They always have a very vocal crowd. It will be an interesting experience.”

Michigan currently is 2-1 in the conference with an overall team record of 3-2 for the season.

The Hoosiers will continue to face their concerns with inexperience as they compete against Michigan State.

“Michigan State is on the road, and they also have a couple veteran wrestlers on their team as well,” Goldman said. “One of the biggest things we’re going to face is their experience and our lack of experience.”

Michigan State currently has an overall team record of 2-3 after coming off of a 36-6 loss against No. 4 Penn State.

IU has won the last five meets against Michigan State with a history record of 22-44-3 since 1924.

This weekend, No. 4 Matt Powless is looking to earn his next win, which will place him alongside Kevin Stanley (1997-2001) for the 10th-most career wins in IU history.

If Powless proceeds to win both of his matches this weekend, he will have the ninth-most career victories behind Sam Komar (1975-78) and Joe Dubuque (2002-06), who both earned 114 wins within their careers at IU.

This weekend will also provide experience for sophomore Adam Chalfant. Chalfant appeared in his first match with IU last Friday after recently transferring from Harper College.

“We’re glad to have him in the lineup,” said Goldman. “He definitely adds a spark to our team.”

Last Friday, Chalfant suffered a close loss of 6-4 against the 2011 Big Ten Heavyweight Champion, Blake Rasing of Iowa.

“He is also on the younger side, but he’s a kid with a lot of potential and a lot of talent,” Goldman said.