North Idaho College has been the top-ranked wrestling team in the NJCAA the entire season.

Having success this weekend at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City will go a long way in determining if the Cardinals stay that way at the end of the season.

"Being the top-ranked team always comes with some added pressure," NIC coach Pat Whitcomb said. "But you've got to handle it with maturity. If you're ranked No. 1, you better act like it and it puts a little strut in your step and you act like it."

The Region 18 tournament will be held Saturday, with the top four in each weight class advancing to the NJCAA tournament Feb. 22-23 in Des Moines, Iowa.

Joining NIC will be Clackamas, Northwest College of Powell, Wyo., Western Wyoming, Highline College of Des Moines, Wash., and Southwestern Oregon of Coos Bay.

Clackamas has won the last two tournament titles.

“We’re kind of hungry to get back there and capture it,” Whitcomb said. “If they’re not there (at nationals), they can score points for us. You can’t win a national title, but you sure can lose one. If one guy stumbles this weekend, it could be the national tournament.”

Competing this weekend for NIC will be: Brock Banta (125 pounds), Michael Carreon (133), Jarrett Morrill (141), Jeremy Golding (149), Nico Moreno (157), Jake Mason (165), Kyle Sweedman (174), Caleb Rivera (184), V.J. Guilio (197) and Curtis Berger (285).

MEN’S BASKETBALL: Free of the injury bug, the ninth-ranked Cardinal men are dealing with another bug as they prepare to host the Utah State-Eastern Golden Eagles tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Rolly Williams Court.

Michael Middlebrooks and James Webb, who were held out of the starting lineup last Saturday against Southern Idaho due to ankle injuries, are practicing and expected to play tonight.

“They’re both close to 100 percent,” Phay said. “Kaj Sherman had really bad food poisoning, so he’s battling that a little bit and won’t be 100 percent.”

Sherman went to the emergency room on Monday night, but is also expected to play.

“We’re going to need him, so he’ll play some,” Phay said. “In a perfect world, we’d probably try to sit him. He really hasn’t eaten all week and that’s obviously a concern.”

NIC beat Utah State-Eastern 71-44 on Jan. 17 in Coeur d’Alene and won 65-52 on Dec. 15.

“I’m more worried about this game than any of the other games,” Phay said. “We need to have the same fire and passion we’ve been playing with.”

NIC hosts Colorado Northwestern on Saturday.

“It’s kind of a scary game,” Phay said of Colorado Northwestern. “They’re playing better and only lost to Salt Lake by nine points at Salt Lake. They had a few guys injured earlier this year, but are starting to play a lot better.”

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: After falling 70-68 to CSI last Saturday in Coeur d’Alene, the Cardinals slipped three spots in the NJCAA poll to fifth.

NIC beat Utah State-Eastern 67-49 in their last matchup on Jan. 17 in Coeur d’Alene, as well as a 58-54 win at Price, Utah, in the first weekend of conference play.

Tip-off for the women’s game is set for 5:30 p.m.

Both NIC (8-2) and CSI (8-2) are tied for first place in the Scenic West Athletic Conference, with three games separating them and Salt Lake — which is third with a 5-5 record.

“Coming off that last loss (to CSI last Saturday), it was time to get back to fundamentals,” NIC women’s coach Chris Carlson said. “What’s important in the next two games is getting back to our style of basketball. We built everything up for the rematch against Salt Lake, and we let off after that. We’ve just been focusing on getting back to playing our style and playing Cardinal basketball. Practices have been very competitive and intense this week. I really think the girls have worked harder than they’ve worked all year this week.”