After finishing their best Big Ten season in 16 years, the No. 13 Wildcats will move to the next phase of their season at this weekend’s Big Ten championships in Bloomington, Ind.

The Cats finished ninth at last season’s event, won by Illinois. This season, NU is ranked sixth in the conference and features seven ranked wrestlers, putting it in position to cause trouble for the top Big Ten teams.

Since their last match on Feb. 17 against Indiana, the Cats have had plenty of time to prepare.

“We’ve been keeping practices intense but short,” coach Tim Cysewski said. “We have guys working on their best stuff but not learning new stuff, just trying to hone the skills they already have.”

These skills will be put to the test against a tough field of competitors, from which 72 will move on to participate in the NCAA championships. The top seven finishers in each weight class move on automatically, and the remaining two positions are chosen in a vote by the conference’s coaches.

Sophomore Jake Herbert, seeded first at 174 pounds, appears to be in the best position to earn a title. Herbert is riding a 34-match winning streak and has already beaten the next two highest-ranked wrestlers in his class this season.

Seniors Matt Delguyd and John Velez are both seeded third and have the ability to earn titles. Last season, Delguyd was the only NU wrestler to accomplish the feat and the first since 2000. But he’ll be challenged by two wrestlers who went undefeated this season in the Big Ten.

The other seeded Cats are sophomores Dustin Fox (4th at heavyweight), Ryan Lang (5th at 141) and Mike Tamillow (6th at 184), and senior Will Durkee (7th at 165).

“I think we can get four or five guys into the finals,” Cysewski said. “But we just want to make sure we qualify as many as we can for nationals.”

Reach Andrew Simon at [email protected].