Chances are, the North Idaho College wrestling team won’t go through another season like that of 2015-16 again this season.

Injuries piling up to point where the team had to cancel duals in 2015-16 due to a lack of healthy bodies.

“It’s hard to limit injuries,” said NIC coach Pat Whitcomb, who begins his 19th season as head coach tonight when the Cardinals travel to Havre, Mont., to face Montana State-Northern at 6 in the season opener for both schools. “We trained the same way as we did in the previous 15 years, but just had some injuries come up during the season. We made sure to go out this summer and make sure we’ve got a deeper roster. If someone goes down, we want and have the ability to put someone in there. And this year, we can do that.”

Whitcomb pointed to the team’s annual preseason wrestle-offs — the Red/Gray match on Oct. 21 — as a turning point for the team’s depth.

“Some of those (weights) had to go to three or four rounds,” Whitcomb said. “There were some other close matches as well. I think we’re deeper than we’ve been in a while.”

Starting tonight for NIC at Montana State-Northern will be sophomore Garrett White (125 pounds), freshman Bryson Beard (133), freshman Carlos Quinones (141), freshman Thomas Stevenson (149), redshirt freshman Tony Evans (157), freshman Trey Meyer (165), sophomore Alex Aguilar (174), freshman Levi Perry (184), freshman Boony Merryweather (197) and redshirt sophomore Cooper Thomas (285).

Beard (Central Valley) and Perry (Kuna) are no strangers to the spotlight at NIC, both winning titles at the annual high school Tri-State Invitational in recent years.

“There’s a lot of new faces in the lineup,” Whitcomb said. “Both Aguilar and Cooper have been in the program, and Garrett has been a starter. We’ve got a young, but pretty talented team. This weekend will be the first time they’ll scratch weight and travel that far for a match. Facing Northern, that’s a test in itself. It’s a good first match, on the road, and the challenge will be to make weight and compete in what could be our toughest dual of the year.”

Chase Campbell of Lakeland High, who wrestled for the Cardinals as a freshman last season, will redshirt this season due to the team’s depth at 174.

“Most of the local flavor for this year will come from the Spokane area,” Whitcomb said. “They’re not a long way from home, and we’re going to have a good mix of guys in the lineup.”

Whitcomb added the strength of the program will come from the middle weights.

“We’re going to count on Beard at 133, and Stevenson at 149 is a talent,” Whitcomb said. “We’re going to have to count on a few different guys and talent rather than experience. Right now, they’re all talented, but once the spotlights come on, they’ll raise their level. And that’s what we don’t know right now is, who is going to do what.”

NIC will also wrestle home-and-home matches with NAIA schools Eastern Oregon and Simon Fraser. Great Falls visits in the home opener on Nov. 12. They’ll wrestle again on Jan. 14 at Sentinel High in Missoula, just before the finals of the Mountain West Classic high school tournament.

“We’re going to find out just how good we are from the start of the season,” Whitcomb said. “Whenever you can face a quality program just a few hours from home, you want to wrestle as many as you can.”

The West District Championships — formerly the Region 18 tournament — will be in Coos Bay, Ore., on Feb. 11, with the NJCAA tournament in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Feb. 24-25.