ISU wrestlers have turned their focus to Saturday’s tournament in Omaha, Neb., after an important win last weekend at Lehigh.

The fifth-ranked Cyclones will be one of six Division I teams from the Midwest competing in the Kaufman-Brand Open. Thirty-one teams will compete this weekend, but Iowa State’s main focus is on two of the higher ranked teams competing — Minnesota and Iowa.

“Iowa, of course, is one of the biggest college rivalries,” redshirt freshman Travis Paulson said. “And whenever we get a chance to wrestle them, I just try to dominate them.”

With three victories in a row, Iowa State has begun a slow climb up the Intermat national rankings. The Cyclones began the season ranked sixth nationally, but have moved into fifth after last week’s win. Iowa is ranked third going into the tournament, and Minnesota is ranked seventh.

“We’re going to do to Minnesota what we did to Lehigh,” redshirt freshman Kurt Backes said. “We compare better to Minnesota than we did to Lehigh; we have a more solid lineup.

“If we just go in there, and everyone competes as they did at Lehigh, we’ll come out on top again.”

Backes said this weekend’s tournament will be a good way for Iowa State to take a look at Iowa early in the season before the two teams compete again Dec. 7 in Ames.

ISU heavyweight and redshirt freshman Richard Schopf sealed the win over Lehigh with a pin in the last match of the meet, but said that it was a team effort to get the victory for Iowa State.

“It was the last match, everybody remembers the last match,” Schopf said. “I have to just keep working and make sure I don’t get ahead of myself. It’s still early in the season.”

Although Iowa State knows what teams will be attending the tournament, it doesn’t know who the individuals will be competing against.

“I just like to go out and wrestle, I try not to think ahead to who I’m going to wrestle,” Schopf said. “I make myself more nervous than I have to.”

The Kaufman-Brand Open has enough teams participating that the format for the tournament is different from other meets the Cyclones have attended so far this season.

Paulson said most wrestlers will wrestle in three to five matches during the tournament. Because of the additional matches, Iowa State has spent this week working to build up its endurance.

“We’ve been doing more sprints and bike workouts, more cardio workouts,” Paulson said.

The Kaufman-Brand Open is the nation’s largest, single-day tournament.

“We’ve been training hard all season, and I think if we keep working like we have, we could go all the way,” Paulson said.