Like all nostalgic second-semester seniors, fifth-year senior Mike Poeta doesn’t know where the last few years went.

“It seems like I just blinked my eyes, and now it’s all over,” Poeta said.

Poeta and the No. 9 Illinois wrestling team will finish off its regular season with two weekend dual meets at home. The Illini (11-2, 4-2 Big Ten) first welcome the No. 17 Michigan Wolverines (9-7-1, 4-1-1) on Friday and the Michigan State Spartans (6-8, 1-5) on Sunday.

The weekend duals will mark the last time the team’s four seniors will appear at Huff Hall, with the team heading to the Big Ten Championships and the NCAA Tournament after the end of the regular season.

“I still remember the first time I went out there to wrestle,” Poeta said. “We’ve been all around, and there’s no place to wrestle like Huff Hall.”

Poeta has developed into a two-time All-American in front of the Huff Hall faithful, compiling a 96-13 career record. He stands at 68-6 in his last 74 matches and has only lost one match at Huff Hall.

Joining No. 2 Poeta are fellow fifth-year seniors Roger Smith-Bergsrud, ranked No. 15, John Wise, ranked No. 8, and Troy Tirapelle, all of whom are past NCAA qualifiers. After starting 12-0 and winning the Missouri Open, Smith-Bergsrud stands at 16-6 on the season, including a 9-4 record in dual meets. Wise, who holds a 15-6 record, is second on the team with five pins and has won four of his last five bouts.

Tirapelle, who qualified for the national tournament his freshman year, suffered injury-plagued seasons the last two years, with a December shoulder surgery ending his season and career.

The weekend duals will be a final tuneup for the Illini before heading to the Big Ten Championships in State College, Penn., on March 6. A weekend sweep will likely put Illinois in a third-place tie in the Big Ten standings with Michigan. With eyes on the postseason, the regular season standings are not of concern for Illinois head coach Mark Johnson.

“With college wrestling, the standings and really the regular season is not all that important,” Johnson said. “Everything you work for is toward the Big Ten Tournament, and it all comes down to that.”

The Illini will jockey themselves into position to succeed at the Big Ten Championships, with key weekend matchups having postseason implications.

No. 12 Jordan Blanton will take on Michigan’s No. 13 Anthony Biondo at 184 pounds. With both of the grapplers standing at 4-2 in Big Ten play, the matchup will decide who is seeded No. 4 in the Big Ten Tournament. In the Big Ten’s most competitive weight class, the tournament will boast the three top wrestlers in the nation at 184 pounds, with Northwestern’s No. 1 Jake Herbert, Ohio State’s No. 2 Mike Pucillo and Iowa’s No. 3 Phil Keddy.

“As far as big matchups go, this is it,” Blanton said. “Getting in position for the tournament is what it’s all about, and I know that I can hold my own against the best of the best, and that’s what makes this weekend so important.”