With two meets left before a long semester break, Eastern head wrestling coach Ralph McCausland and his troopers are on a mission for victory.

The Panthers will be competing in a vigorous University of Northern Iowa Open on Saturday.

Eastern will be facing some extremely tough competition this time around as it will face Purdue, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Minnesota and a host of others.

“There will be tremendous talent at this tournament,” McCausland said. “We will face the No.1 team in the country, Minnesota, and Iowa who has been No.1 the last couple of years.”

There will be many of the best wrestlers in the nation attending this tournament, and McCausland is expecting a good showing from his team.

“There is a opportunity for the guys to wrestle four to five of the top 20 ranked wrestlers,” McCausland said. “This will be a great tournament. We’re looking for a number of guys to place. We are expecting results, and if the guys release their abilities, we will have good results.”

During the last few weeks the Panthers have had some problems with minor injuries and sickness, however McCausland said everyone is back, healthy and ready to wrestle.

“Joe Gleissner and Clay French are questionable because of injuries,” McCausland said. “But, everybody is back and healthy. This will be Louis Taylor’s first meet back, and this will also be Kyle Bracey’s second meet back in the lineup.”

McCausland is looking to get matches lined up for the team members that have missed action in the past weeks from injuries to get them back into the swing of things, especially Taylor who went to the NCAA national tournament last season.

“These guys need matches,” McCausland said. “It gets old just being in the training room. Taylor is the one with the vision. He knows what the big show is all about.”

With the tough competition facing Eastern and the season moving quickly McCausland is expecting everyone to pick things up especially before the break.

“The guys know the time is dwindling,” McCausland said. “They have to come out firing right away. We plan to make a push at this tournament and then finish off against Illinois.”

McCausland expects his team to capitalize on the experience they have and will use this week to improve form the second part of the season.

“The more experience we have the more consistent we will be,” McCausland said. “Like any team, some guys progress better than others, and they have to elevate the guys around them. That is what we are trying to do now – get the guys to elevate each other.”

With that in mind, McCausland is hoping for his grapplers to give it their all for the six minutes matches they compete in.

“This will be a tough tournament,” McCausland said. “It will be a tough six minutes mentally and physically. We are looking for the guys to give the full six minutes.”