Northwestern wrestling coach Tim Cysewski has seen plenty of unpredictable results in the high-profile Big Ten championships.

He has seen unaccomplished and unseeded wrestlers become Big Ten champions, and he has seen No. 1 wrestlers struggle with the pressure and miss the cut for the NCAA tournament.

Regular-season records don’t count and aches get ignored when the wrestlers take the mat in a packed Welsh-Ryan Arena for the biggest competition of the season. If the mere presence of family and friends isn’t enough, NU has plenty of other reasons to compete its hardest in its toughest challenge to date.

And after year-round preparation, Cysewski will receive an accurate measurement of NU’s abilities at the conclusion of the two-day tournament, which begins Saturday.

“We’ve been preparing all year for this, and it is about keeping them healthy and fresh,” he said. “I’m excited to see how the whole team responds. I want to see how they compete.”

The young Wildcats (4-13-1, 0-8 Big Ten) have dealt with growing pains against top-notch conference competition. All other Big Ten teams are currently ranked in the Top 25, with five teams ranked in the top eight.

But at this juncture, the name of the game is individual accomplishments.

NU has five wrestlers – Josh Ballard, Ryan Cumbee, Jason Erwinski, Ryan Kane and Josh Saul – who have at least two conference wins. All five wrestlers have a good chance to finish in the top seven of their respective weight classes and earn an invitation to the NCAAs.

Leading the way all year for the Cats has been Erwinski, a sophomore, and Saul, a junior. At 157 pounds, Erwinski received a No. 4 seed, and the heavyweight Saul is seeded No. 6. In the recent poll from Amateur Wrestling News, Erwinski and Saul are each ranked No. 18 nationally.

“For (Saul) and I, our goals are to win the Big Ten championship, and we know we can,” said Erwinski, who had not been ranked until the most recent poll.

A year ago, Erwinski, Cumbee and Kane watched the Big Ten tournament from the stands after each redshirted the season. But they still learned something from their time away from the mat.

Erwinski was heavily involved in preparing his teammates, and Cumbee considered last year’s tournament instrumental in his performance this season.

“I saw how (Cysewski) prepared the starters for the tournament,” Cumbee said. “Watching from the stands was hard, but I knew what needed to be done.”

Still, the pressure supercedes whatever preparations the wrestlers make – two individual losses signify the end of the season altogether. The media and fans that will converge on Evanston make it the largest crowd of the season for the Cats.

And the competition isn’t bad either.

The road to a Big Ten title for any of NU’s five best wrestlers goes through a No. 1 wrestler in that weight class.

Ballard has Iowa’s Doug Schwab, Cumbee has Illinois’ Adam Tirapelle, Erwinski has Iowa’s T.J. Williams, Kane has Wisconsin’s Donny Pritzlaff and Saul has Ohio State’s Tommy Rowlands.

“It is a dense field, and the quality is really great,” Saul said. “The Big Ten is phenomenal.”

After enduring a rough schedule that Erwinski labeled the “meat grinder,” the wrestlers acquired plenty of pains and injuries. However, they tend to forget their hindrances come time for Big Tens.

“Things hurt, but not that bad,” Saul said. “You have to overlook it right now. You make it through the weekend and then get two days off from practice.”

And inspiration can come from something as simple as a walk through the wrestling room.

The wall is adorned with the accomplishments of NU wrestlers past and potentially future.

Former NU champions have plaques on the wall that honor Midlands champions, Big Ten champions, All-Americans and an NCAA champion. In addition, Cysewski has mounted plaques with the inscription “Be The Man” and “Your Name Here” to catch his wrestlers’ attention.

“It gets inside your head, and you absorb it,” Cumbee said. “It is definitely good motivation.”

Said Cysewski: “It is motivation to get your name up on that wall. That’s why you came to NU, so it is an honor.”