With the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships coming up this week in Iowa City, Iowa, much of the focus has been on a newfound parity in the sport of wrestling.

	Eric Juergens and the Hawkeyes seek their seventh straight team title.

Iowa has basically dominated the NCAA Tournament over the last quarter of a century, winning the last six team titles and 20 of the last 26. The Hawkeyes were runners-up in three of those other six seasons.

"People have been chasing Iowa for so long. They are the national champions and they are the icons in wrestling," said Minnesota head coach J Robinson, whose squad lost to Iowa by two team points in 1999. "Parity is something fans love to talk about."

And as Oklahoma coach Jack Spates quickly added, "It wasn't too long ago that Oklahoma was down, Illinois was virtually nonexistent and Minnesota wasn't a major factor."

In order to keep up with and perhaps catch Iowa, someone is going to need a total team effort. And things could get messy this season with a new scoring system in place this season that rewards a wrestler's efforts in the consolation rounds.

"You've got to have a balanced team of all ten guys wrestling through the consolations," Robinson said. "You have a guy like Jacob Volkmann, who a month ago, nobody knew. If those guys go in there like seasoned veterans, it makes a difference."

Oklahoma State head coach John Smith, who was a runner-up to Iowa in 1997, agrees that the new scoring system could make a difference in the team race.

"We'll find out. Four or five All-Americans in the consolations should outweigh one national champion," he said. "The finals are still where it's going to be at. You are going to need to put guys in the finals to win the championship."

Spates added that the new scoring system will "reward the teams with good balance."

TEAM QUALIFIERS

Minnesota, Ohio State and Oklahoma State lead the way with 10 individual qualifiers for the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships. A look at how many wrestlers some of the country's other top programs will be sending to Iowa City: 10: Minnesota, Ohio State, Oklahoma State 9: Edinboro, Illinois, Iowa State, Oklahoma 8: Arizona State, Iowa, Michigan, Northern Iowa 7: Boise State, George Mason, Hofstra, Lehigh, Lock Haven, Oregon, Oregon State 6: Harvard, Michigan State, Nebraska, Penn State, Pittsburgh 5: Appalachian State, Central Michigan, Clarion, Fresno State, Indiana, N.C. State, Penn, Purdue, Wisconsin

Iowa coach Jim Zalesky knows that balance will be the key this season, and he knows exactly where he needs to look to get it.

"We've got four guys who will be seeded pretty high and we've got four guys who won't be seeded pretty high. I think our success depends on those other four guys," he said. "Guys who aren't seeded that high have to step up and you've got to get them to wrestle higher than their seeds."

Iowa has four wrestlers who are all ranked in the top two of their respective weight classes; 133-pound Eric Juergens, 141-pound Doug Schwab and 157-pound T.J. Williams are all ranked No. 1, while 125-pound Jody Strittmatter is ranked No. 2.

To help with the balance, Minnesota and Oklahoma State will both rely heavily on youth wrestlers who are inexperienced in a national-championship setting.

Johnny Thompson, 133 pounds, has led Oklahoma State throughout the season, and has moved up to No. 2 in the nation. Chris Pendleton (165 pounds) is currently ranked No. 12 after he was pulled out of redshirt on Jan. 26, and 174-pound Tyrone Lewis, ranked No. 4, also has a solid chance at winning a national title.

Thompson and Lewis were Big 12 champions.

"(The freshmen) have made the difference in our team," Smith said. "We really couldn't afford to have them wrestling like freshmen. In tournament competition last week, they made the difference. They are going to need to make the difference again for us to win the national title."

Minnesota also boasts a youthful crop, with three freshmen (174-pound Jacob Volkmann, 184-pound Damion Hahn and 285-pound Garrett Lowney), as well as two sophomores (149-pound Jared Lawrence and 157-pound Luke Becker) who are all expected to place high.

"I don't think a lot of people expected us to be in the mix this year," Robinson said. "We have a pretty young team. It will be very important for our young guys to come through, but they've seasoned themselves."

Most of the coaches do agree that the team championship is almost already narrowed to a three-team race.

"I see three teams with distinct advantages in Minnesota, Iowa and Oklahoma State, not necessarily in that order," said Spates, whose Sooner squad is ranked seventh in the country. We are hoping it becomes a six-team race."

Contact John Fuller at fuller@intermatwrestle.com. For more information, check out InterMat at www.intermatwrestle.com.