One war, ten battles and Big 12 title implications on the line. That’s the best way to sum up what is expected to be one of the best duals of the conference season when the ISU wrestlers travel to Columbia to grapple with the fifth-ranked Missouri Tigers at the Hearnes Center.

With the dual season winding down, the Cyclones (12-2, 2-0 Big 12) find themselves in a spot to get a few statement wins, wrestling three of the top 11 teams in the country in the next two weeks. The meet with the Tigers (17-3, 2-1 Big 12) proves to have much more importance than just a simple dual.

“[Missouri] has some very good wrestlers in their line up,” coach Cael Sanderson said. “It will be key for some of the seeding obviously in the Big 12 tournament, so this is a big weekend for us.”

Seeding for the Big 12 tournament is done by the coaches before the event, and conference dual records and an overall resume of each wrestler determines the seeding of each individual.

Several key individual matches makeup a microcosm of the whole dual, and will ultimately determine the fate of both teams.

Five of the ten matches feature both wrestlers ranked in the top ten and two of them involve top-ranked individuals.

In one of the most highly anticipated matches of the year, junior and current No. 1 Jake Varner will face off against Missouri’s fourth-ranked Max Askren at 197 pounds.

Both wrestlers’ styles contrast, making the match even more intriguing. Varner uses precision and great technique to master his opponent, while Askren wrestles with a lot of energy and quickness.

“It will be fun you know. I’ve wrestled that style in the room, you know, with coach Cael and coach [Casey] Cunningham and stuff,” Varner said. “Funking around and wrestling around and scrambling and all that, I know how to do all that stuff. So it’s not like its something new. I wrestle that every day. It’s just going to be like any match.”

Varner and Askren aren’t completely unfamiliar with wrestling each other. The two met when they were in high school.

“He beat me our junior year in freestyle at Fargo, then I beat him at senior nationals in folkstyle and then beat him in freestyle our senior year,” said Varner.

Should the meet come down to the heavyweight match, there might not be any other way a wrestling fan would want to decide the outcome other than having the top two individuals in the country go toe-to-toe.

Cyclone junior, and second-ranked David Zabriskie, will have the opportunity to take over the top ranking in the nation when he squares off against Missouri’s Mark Ellis, the No. 1 ranked heavyweight in the country.

Zabriskie has a commanding edge in the series, defeating Ellis in all three of their previous meetings. A victory over Ellis would give Zabriskie two wins over top-ranked foes this season.

Even though it’s just another conference dual, the Cyclones realize what a great opportunity it is to wrestle a meet like this before tournament time.

“I think everybody’s excited about wrestling them,” junior Cyler Sanderson said. “Yeah, they don’t really have a definite style I think.

“A lot of em try to wrestle like Askren did, and try to funk around a lot, so you know you’re always going to get into some fun scrambles and stuff when you’re wrestling guys like that, so its enjoyable, but you know just stay solid and basic with guys like that and those guys have a hard time doing that stuff to you.”

Should the Cyclones prevail, it will set up the biggest dual of the year when the team travels to Lincoln, Neb. next for a date with Nebraska to determine the dual season champions.