When the Cyclone wrestling team heads to Cleveland for the National Wrestling Coaches Association/Cliff Keen National Duals, it might be without some of its top competitors.

All season the Cyclones have been plagued with injuries.

* Heavyweight Scott Coleman started the season recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament tear.

* Nick Passolano, the Cyclones’ best at 165 pounds, also started the season slowly because of an injury.

A busy schedule during semester break left a few wrestlers at less than full strength.

* Nate Gallick injured his ankle in the 141-pound championship match of the Midlands Championships and has not been 100 percent since.

*Grant Nakamura, the Cyclones’ 125-pounder, was also banged up during the break. The sophomore injured his elbow, which forced the Cyclones to forfeit at 125 pounds during matches against San Francisco State and Fresno State.

“We’ve had more than our fair share of injuries this year,” head coach Bobby Douglas said. “We need to get everyone healthy before the end of the season. It’s very difficult to train when you have injuries. We’re losing valuable time.”

Douglas said getting healthy is vital to the team’s success since tough duals against No. 19 Northern Iowa, No. 13 Oklahoma, No. 1 Oklahoma State, No. 2 Nebraska and No. 5 Missouri are still on the schedule.

“Passolano and Coleman will wrestle this weekend,” he said. “I doubt Nakamura and Gallick will. Hopefully we’ll get [Nakamura and Gallick] back for the conference matches.”

If Nakamura and Gallick are out of the lineup for the Cyclones, the team will turn to sophomore Jesse Sundell at 141 pounds. A replacement at 125 pounds has not been announced.

“If we don’t have our starters, we all know we need to step up and score bonus points,” freshman Kurt Backes said.

Passolano’s return to the lineup has been impressive. Currently ranked ninth, the 165-pounder is 12-2 and has three victories by fall, including one against Iowa that gave the Cyclones a 21-13 victory on Dec. 7.

Coleman, a junior, has only wrestled one match this year, losing 6-3 to Clint Walbeck of Fresno State. Coleman said a lack of conditioning hurt him in the match.

“Having the injury made my workouts really limited,” Coleman said. “Now I’ve been able to practice, run and work out so it’s all coming back.

“I think the team showed they can be successful without me. Wrestling at my best will definitely help, though.”

Douglas said the National Duals will serve as another step for the Cyclones to judge their progress.

“We’ll use this as another part of our evaluation before we get into the conference tournament,” Douglas said. “This will tell us a lot about our conference competition and it will tell us a lot about ourselves.”

Even with starters out of the lineup, 184-pounder Backes said the team will continue to get better.

“Coming back from a long break [makes it] hard to get back [going],” Backes said. “The team is ready to go for the second half of the season. We’re ready for [the National Duals].”

The fourth-ranked Cyclones open the tournament Saturday against No. 20 Pennsylvania. The Quakers have five wrestlers ranked in the top 15, including No. 3 Matthew Feast at heavyweight and No. 7 Matt Valenti at 125 pounds.

The Cyclones have their own array of highly-ranked starters. Eight Cyclones are ranked in the top 15, led by senior two-time All-American Zach Roberson, who recently earned the No. 1 ranking at 133 pounds.

Matches at the National Duals start 10 a.m. Saturday.