The ISU wrestling team hopes to maintain its high level of performance at the National Duals in Cedar Falls on Saturday and Sunday.

With momentum building since its dominating Midlands Open showing, the sixth-ranked Cyclones (3-2) will test their strength as a dual team less than a week before the start of the Big 12 season.

Iowa State, the sixth seed in the tournament, will take on 11th ranked Michigan (1-1-1) in the opening round. The dual will begin at 11 a.m. on mat four in the UNI-Dome.

Second-ranked Travis Paulson (165) is coming off consecutive victories over Iowa’s third-ranked Mark Perry and Northern Iowa’s sixth-ranked Nick Baima. On Saturday he will likely face two more top competitors at his weight.

He said getting a chance to wrestle non-conference opponents is part of what makes the tournament so important.

“It’s huge,” said Paulson, whose 16-1 record this season is a team best. “This basically shows who the best dual team is. At the end of the season, it’s the best tournament team . It’s also a great opportunity to wrestle guys you wouldn’t see until Nationals.”

The opening two rounds of the tournament will be held Saturday, and the semifinal and final rounds will be wrestled Sunday.

Coach Cael Sanderson and the Cyclones are hoping to make a weekend out of the tournament after going 1-2 and bowing out early in 2006.

Iowa State hasn’t won the tournament since 2000, when Cael and his brothers Cody and Cole were on the team. The Cyclones haven’t placed better than fourth since then, and skipped the tournament in 2005.

Every top-10 team except 10th-ranked Penn State will be in competition in the two-day tournament, including Iowa, Minnesota and Oklahoma State.

“It’s just a great weekend, the wrestling outside the national championship doesn’t get much better than this,” Sanderson said. “We’re looking for experience. We want to get in and get as many matches as we can and do as well as we can just to keep making progress.

“I know our guys are working hard and we are getting better. And now it’s just an opportunity to get out there and demonstrate that.”

Paulson’s first match will be against fourth-ranked Eric Tannenbaum (11-0), who is one of four top-10 ranked Wolverines.

If they beat Michigan, the Cyclones would face the third-ranked Hofstra Pride, a team that is ranked at all weight classes except heavyweight.

At 165 pounds, the Pride (7-0-2) feature fifth-ranked Mike Patrovich (13-1).

“I couldn’t have, for myself, done a better job picking the draw,” Paulson said. “Because first round against that Michigan kid- I mean, he’s ranked fourth and he’s undefeated and he beat [Missouri’s seventh ranked Matt] Pell, who is a tough competitor for me.

“I’ve also never wrestled him, and now I get that chance. And the round after that will be the fifth guy, Patrovich, I’ve never wrestled him either, so these are guys I wanted to get a chance to meet, and I’m thankful for the opportunity.”

Sanderson isn’t looking past the Cyclones first-round matchup.

“Michigan is extremely, extremely well-coached. I’ve got a lot of respect for coach [Joe] McFarland and his team,” Sanderson said. “We’ve got to go out and wrestle hard and do what we do. It’s going to be a great tournament.”

Hofstra and Michigan tied in their dual earlier this season, tying 18-18 and splitting the 10 matches.