Eastern had its most successful tournament of the year when they placed four wrestlers at the Great Plains Open in Lincoln, Neb., on Saturday.

No. 19 ranked Kenny Robertson (26-9) took the top spot of the day for the Panthers with a first place finish at 174 pounds Robertson, a sophomore, went 2-0 on the day, but didn’t have a match in the finals because the other wrestler forfeited with out giving a reason, Eastern head coach Ralph McCausland said.

“Kenny’s game to wrestle anytime, anywhere,” McCausland said. “It’s a little disappointing to go all that way expecting to wrestle three or four matches and only getting two.”

Two Panthers took second place at the tournament, senior Pete Ziminski (9-6), at heavyweight and sophomore Greg Perz, at 184 pounds. Perz lost in 4-2 in overtime and even though this was his best finish of the season Perz wasn’t completely satisfied.

“I could have taken first,” Perz said. “I was in a slump for a while, but I won two matches last week (against Ohio and McKendree) and am wrestling pretty well now.”

Outside of his best finish of the season, Perz got another positive out of the tournament. Perz was able to wrestle against an opponent from Wyoming, who is in the same regional tournament as Eastern, and watch a wrestler from Air Force, who is also in Eastern’s regional.

Ziminski lost in his championship match after giving up points early when he got caught out of position, McCausland said.

“He knew what was going to happen if he let that happen but he just relaxed for a minute,” McCausland said. “We have to hold position for the whole match because if you give it up that could be the only score of the match.”

Sophomore Jason Sherko (9-13) took third place at 197 pounds going 3-1 on the day.

Overall McCausland said he was pleased with Eastern’s performance although the tournament wasn’t as tough as he originally thought it would be. One thing that McCausland picked up on that whole team can adapt to came from Perz.

“It’s a good scenario because he’s putting himself in situations where he can be successful,” McCausland said. “I think it will catch on with the younger kids.”