Eastern head wrestling coach Ralph McCausland said consistency is and always has been the key to a successful season. The Panthers have showed consistency from last week as five Panthers placed at the Central Missouri invite on Sunday.

Last week four people placed and McCausland said that there was room for improvement. However, this weekend, despite not having all weight classes represented the Eastern grapplers managed to have five team members take places in the tournament against competition from the Big 12.

The competition at the invite varied from some big establishments such as Nebraska, Iowa, Oklahoma and Missouri.

“We had good results,” McCausland said. “It was a stiffer tournament competition wise. It was a lot tougher than our previous tournament.”

Eastern had two wrestlers at 125 pounds Sunday. Freshman Dexter Wright went 2-2 for the day and sophomore Mike Stanley took third place finishing 4-1.

“Stanley had a nice tournament,” McCausland said. “He wrestled extremely well.”

Sophomore Pat Dowty had a great day as well as he went 3-2 at 133 pounds and finished in fifth place overall.

Chris Stevens, a 141-pound sophomore ended the day 2-2, and in the next weight division freshman Andy Coyle was one match away from placing for a second time when he finished 3-2 on the mats Sunday.

Tim Loeffel, another contender at 149 pounds had a record of 2-2. Frank DeFilippis was 2-1 for the day, however, he was pulled out of competition early after suffering a pulled neck muscle.

“Frank couldn’t turn his head,” McCausland recalled. “You can’t wrestle if you can’t move your neck, so we had to take him out.”

Junior Sam Smith also finished in fifth place with a record of 4-2 for the day at 165 pounds, Craig Tacket took a 2-2 finish at the same weight.

With Louis Taylor and Kyle Bracey out for injuries the Panthers didn’t have anyone represent the 174- and 184-pound weight classes at the tournament.

Eastern had four wrestlers competing in the heavyweights and two of them placed. Junior Ross Bracey as well as freshman Pete Ziminski both wrestled to split their matches at 2-2 for the day.

Freshman Jim Kassner took sixth in the division after finishing with a 4-3 standing, while teammate Joe Gleissner ended the day in fourth place at 3-2 on the day.

“Everyone showed nice composure,” McCausland said.

“We made a few tactical mistakes that cost us some matches, but the guys got a lot of good matches in.”

McCausland is sure that the competition will intensify as the weeks pass by, but McCausland is confident that his team will know what lies ahead of them and will continue to improve for the challenges.

“It is a progression,” McCausland said. “It will continue to progress and that’s good because next week will be tougher. Only the top four wrestlers will place next week. The guys know it will be difficult to place.”