Jan. 29—Oklahoma State wrestling is hitting the road this week for arguably its toughest day of duals this season.

The Cowboys will travel to face Northern Iowa and Iowa State on Saturday. The Cyclones — ranked No. 11 in InterMat Wrestling rankings — are the highest ranked opponent OSU has on its schedule.

“They’re tough programs,” Cowboy wrestling coach John Smith said. “... Northern Iowa is as good as anyone in the conference, and they have a good coach — he’s done a great job. There’s no question that these matches on the road, back-to-back two years in-a-row, makes it a little bit different for us.”

While the Panthers are not ranked as a team, they do boast three ranked wrestlers in the top 20 of their respective weights. The highest-ranked UNI wrestler is heavyweight Carter Isley, who comes in at No. 11.

For the Cyclones, they have five ranked wrestlers — including three ranked in the top 10. Ian Parker, at 141 pounds, is ranked seventh and David Carr is ranked No. 3 at 157 pounds. OSU’s heavyweight Austin Harris will get a second ranked opponent of the weekend with Iowa State’s Gannon Gremmel being ranked No. 9.

It will be the first road trip for the Cowboys this year in which they will have to travel between dual opponents. In their first trip to Little Rock, the Trojans hosted both OSU and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. Last weekend, a doubleheader was scheduled to be wrestled at Northern Colorado, but the Bears had to cancel due to COVID-19 protocols and the Cowboys’ lone road dual was at Air Force.

But packing into a bus between duals in a single day is no new object for many of the Cowboys.

Just last year, Oklahoma State drove more than three hours from Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Laramie, Wyoming, for a one-day trip of duals to Air Force and Wyoming. Saturday’s bus drive between Cedar Rapids and Ames will cover just 95 miles.

“I don’t ever necessarily look at it as a disadvantage for us,” Smith said. “... You warm up, you wrestle a match, get on a sleeper bus and take a nap — it’s no different than going back to a hotel. You come back at night and wrestle another match. So we’re getting ready to do that at the end of the season in the Big 12 and NCAA championships.”

Oklahoma State will be without the services of Stillwater native Kaid Brock for a second-straight weekend.

OSU’s 141-pounder missed the dual at Air Force last weekend, and Smith said Brock would not travel with the team again — and was unwilling, for now, to dive into the details for Brock’s absence from the mat.

“We’ll probably address that a little bit more next week,” Smith said. “He won’t be traveling with us this weekend.”

Brock’s replacement will be Dusty Hone, who is 3-1 on the season with his only loss being in his first dual appearance last weekend at Air Force. In that matchup, Hone lost by 5-4 decision.

Smith also confirmed that Wyatt Sheets, who is ranked No. 12 at 157 pounds and is coming off an injury, will travel with the team but there is no certainty if he’s ready to get back into the starting lineup. His replacement, Jalin Harper, has won his past four matches — after losing by fall in his first dual match of the season — which included a 6-0 decision over the No. 18-ranked wrestler, Justin Ruffin of SIU-Edwardsville.