Since starting up a wrestling team a few short years ago, the long-range goal of Utah Valley University has been to lift that program to a level where it is counted among the nationally elite at the NCAA Division I level.

The Wolverines have a golden opportunity to take a giant leap forward in pursuit of that aspiration when they host not one, but two, top 10 teams this weekend.

UVU will host 8th ranked Boise State in a dual meet at Orem on Friday. Then the Wolverines will travel to Vernal on Saturday and face top ranked Iowa in a neutral site dual meet at Uintah High School.

Before the season started, UVU coach Greg Williams worked to get as many ranked teams on the schedule as possible. The reasoning for him was simple: If the Wolverines hope to join the nationally elite, they need to compete against them first.

"We want those opportunities," Williams told me in an interview last month. "In order for our program to get where we expect it to be — which is to be where Boise State is now, a top 10 team — our guys have to wrestle that level of competition. So we try to go to as tough of tournaments as we can get in. We try to get any ranked teams that will wrestle us."