Right about now everyone is preparing to go home for the long awaited Christmas vacation.

Except for the NIU wrestling squad.

The Huskie grapplers will remain on campus for a good part of the break, practicing and participating in tournaments.

“Keeping two and three-a-days is good for training, but it gets kind of old on campus,” coach Ed Vatch said. “There aren’t many people here during break. The place seems kind of empty.”

The team will open its dual-meet season this Saturday (Dec. 10) against Northwestern in Evanston. The Wildcats are ranked in the top 15 in the country as a team and have four wrestlers ranked in the preseason top 10 in the country at their weight. Joei Bales (134 pounds) is ranked No. 4, Mike Funk (177) is No. 5, Mark Whitehead (190) is No. 7, and Jack Griffin (118) is No. 9.

“We’re sort of like the Packers and the Bears,” Vatch said. “It doesn’t matter what our records are, we’ll still go down to the wire. We feel we can beat them and they feel that, too.”

The squad gets almost a three-week break from competition following the NU meet. On Dec. 29-30, the team will travel to Tampa, Fla., for the Sunshine Open. The tourney will be hosted by Pinella’s Grapplers Wrestling Club and will be held at the Curtis-Hixson Convention Center.

“It will be a nice break from the cold,” Vatch said. “There should be about 30-35 teams there, including all the Big 10 teams. Plus, there will be some individuals. They’re expecting anywhere from 300-400 wrestlers.”

NIU’s next competition will be on Friday, Jan. 6, for the eight-team Illinois State Redbird Invitational.

“Last year Eastern Illinois, ISU, Southwest Missouri State, Nebraska-Omaha, and Central Missouri were there. We expect some good competition.”

Ann Arbor, Mich., will be the Huskies’ next stop as they face the Wolverines of Michigan and possibly an east coast school.

“We’ll find out where we’re at,” Vatch said. “That’s when we’ll start really getting our act together and get ready for some big meets.”

When the NIU student body begins second semester, the squad will be in Oshkosh, Wis., to take on Wisconsin-Oshkosh and Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

“We expect to win that one,” Vatch said. “We’ll get a chance to get some of our younger guys in.”

Right now, the team is concentrating on tomorrow’s match at Northwestern. Freshman Jim Kossakowski will go at 150 pounds against the Wildcats after his championship at the Illinois Open.

“I’m surprised I broke the lineup,” Kossakowski said. “There were a lot of guys I knew on the team before I came here and figured they’d be at my weight, but most of them aren’t.”

Asked what he thought about working out over break, Kossakowski said, “It won’t be anything different. I’ve been wrestling non-stop for so long, summers and everything, that it won’t be anything new.”