Beauty and the Beast is an Iowa State Athletics staple.

It puts two of the biggest Olympic sports — wrestling and gymnastics — on the floor of Hilton Coliseum at the same time.

Friday’s competition pits the Oklahoma gymnastics and wrestling teams against Iowa State’s at 6:30 p.m.

“It’s my favorite event by far,” Kyle Larson said. “I just love the environment, all of the fans that come out. They’re playing music while you’re wrestling and I just love that. It’s not like when you’re in Hilton and there’s a dual and you can hear a freaking pin drop. There’s music going on, there’s action, it’s fun. You can be more relaxed and have fun.”

The 125-pound Larson has seen the mat on a more consistent basis recently because of Markus Simmons’ weight issues.

The senior plans to make the most out of his opportunity.

“It’s definitely tough coming in every day knowing you’re not the guy,” Larson said. “You just have to stay focused, and that’s what you have to do. It’s my senior year and it’s been a little bit frustrating, but I’ve been doing everything I can in the room — everything I can possibly do to earn that spot back.

“I feel good, I’m ready to go and it’s just getting that feel back at a competition level.”

The event against Oklahoma is actually the second Beauty and the Beast of the season. The first came against Arizona State on Jan. 6.

Redshirt freshman Colston DiBlasi loves gladiator-like environments. Wrestling in front of hostile crowds motivates him to wrestle that much better.

“It was different,” the 157-pounder said. “It was my first home dual ever and it happened to be a beauty and the beast. It’s just different because you don’t have the same atmosphere and the same crowd. Everyone doesn’t get on their feet and freak out like they did at the UNI dual.”

He went on to say that it’s a great event for both the wrestling and gymnastics teams because they both get to compete in front of more fans than usual, even if they might not be as passionate as he likes.

DiBlasi is wrestling Oklahoma’s No. 13 Clark Glass. Glass is strong on top, but DiBlasi hasn’t seen a lot from the Sooner senior on his feet.

“He’s kind of lackadaisical with his motion and doesn’t do a whole lot,” DiBlasi said. “With that being said, I know Mike [Moreno] beat him five or six times and Tanner [Weatherman] beat him twice. I don’t want to be the first Iowa State wrestler to lose to him.”

Iowa State coach Kevin Jackson thinks the Oklahoma dual will give his squad a good opportunity to pick up its first win since Nov. 26.

“I think we’re going to have a chance to compete real well against this team,” Jackson said. “I think the matchups are really, really strong when you look at record-to-record and ranking-to-ranking. I expect us to compete at a real high level and give us a chance to win.

“But that only comes with your guys walking off of the mat knowing they fought as hard as they possibly could. If that happens, I think we’ll feel pretty good about the end result.”

Iowa State’s 133-pound wrestler Earl Hall said a win would go a long way for the team.

“It’s very important to lift the spirits of our coaches, to lift the spirits of our fans, our family,” No. 12 Hall said. “Just to give everybody a chance to relax because Oklahoma actually had a big win over Missouri, so that’d definitely be good for us. [The win] will let the coaches and the team know that we’re still in this.

“There’s a lot of season left, so let’s continue to compete and practice hard every day.”