Paulsons could meet on day one of World Team Trials

Wrestlers from all three of Iowa's Division I schools will be on Mid-America Center mats today when competition begins at the World Team Trials in Council Bluffs.

Former Cyclones Trent Paulson and Jake Varner are shooting for their second straight berth on the U.S. freestyle team that will compete in September's World Championships in Moscow, Russia.

Both will have to do it the hard way.

Paulson made the U.S. team at 145 ½ pounds last summer, but has moved up to 163 and will need to get through the challenge tournament as well, with a possible match against brother, Travis.

The twins – who are wrestling in their hometown for the second straight year -- have never faced one another in a senior-level tournament.

“It's very possible,” Trent Paulson said. “I can't view it like any other match, because it isn't. We've been wrestling each other our whole lives. We are going to go out there and battle and see what happens.”

The two have been training at ISU with coach Kevin Jackson and at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., for the past year.

One time-saver is that they don't need to scout one another.

“It's going to come down to who is better than day,” Travis Paulson said. “We are going to lay it on the line and no hard feelings afterwards.”

Wisconsin NCAA champion Andrew Howe beat both Paulsons at April's U.S. Open in Cleveland. He receives a bye to the finals and will meet the challenge tournament winner in a best-of-three match.

Northern Iowa's Moza Fay is a contender at this weight class, too.

Varner lost to J.D. Bergman in the 211 ½-pound finals of the U.S. Open and will have to get through the challenge tournament for a shot at Bergman and another title.

Varner has left the state and is training with former Iowa State coach Cael Sanderson in State College, Pa.

Former Iowa NCAA champion Mike Zadick is looking to reclaim the top spot in the 132.5-pound weight class from Shawn Bunch.

Bunch upset Zadick, a 2006 World silver medalist and '08 Olympian, at the Trials last year. He beat him again at the U.S. Open and is the top seed.

Former ISU national champion Nate Gallick also will vie for the chance to wrestle Bunch.

Saturday's lineup will feature former Iowa assistant and new UNI head coach Doug Schwab in what could be the final matches of his career.

Schwab, a '08 Olympian and '07 World team member, plans to devote all his attention to coaching the Panthers. He'll be among a loaded weight class that includes two-time Hawkeye NCAA champion Brent Metcalf and former Iowa and current Wisconsin assistant Jared Frayer.