Having faced regional opponents already can help when making or breaking a wrestlers postseason chance.

With the NCAA Championships coming near, the Panthers will travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa, this weekend to compete in the West Regional against Air Force, North Dakota State, Northern Colorado, Northern Iowa, South Dakota State and Wyoming.

“We haven’t seen Air Force, Wyoming, or Northern Colorado much, but we did see the other teams,” head coach Ralph McCausland said. “Northern Iowa, we only went head to head with once. It’s always good to see them in the tournaments to be able to compete against them and see how you match up.”

Eastern faced North and South Dakota State, along with Northern Iowa, on a three-day road trip four weeks ago.

The Panthers have also faced some of the individual wrestlers in tournaments before the dual meets.

Junior Greg Perz, at 184 pounds, expects to get back to the Championships again this year. He and senior Kenny Robertson qualified last year for the tournament.

Robertson, at 174 pounds, also qualified his sophomore year.

With many freshmen wrestling in their first NCAA regional, McCausland thinks they will get the experience of a lifetime this weekend.

“The freshmen are just making tremendous gains,” he said. “I can’t say enough. They’ve stepped up and done everything Coach French and I have asked them to do. It’s remarkable. They’re finishing the year strong, and after the year’s over with we’ll sit down and evaluate on areas they need to focus on next year. I just see this as a tremendous core. They’re very cohesive; they’re what a coach would hope for.”

Three freshmen that could make it as a qualifier are A.J. Ciccarelli (125 pounds), Tommy Reamer (149 pounds) and Joe Trinka (heavyweight). Each of them has at least 10 wins this season.

With the time in between meets, Perz said he has been doing the same preparation as always for this weekend.

“I’m not making any extreme changes, just sticking with what we’ve been doing and increasing my cardio a bit,” he said.

McCausland said the regionals should be interesting to watch with the teams involved.

“I think there are ranked kids at a number of weight classes,” he said. “Wins and losses will determine seeds at the national tournament even. It’s going to be an outstanding tournament.”