Las Vegas is more than 2,000 miles away, but the Illini have been quite comfortable there over the last five years.

The No. 2 Illini will try to continue their success at the Las Vegas Invitational this weekend, in what appears to be a stacked field.

The team has placed in the top five each time it has been in the tournament, which included the team title in 2000.

“I don’t think there’s really a reason for our success, but we’re just a hard working team,” said redshirt-freshman Mike Poeta. “The coaches know how to prepare us well for every meet.”

The Illini will be facing a formidable field, as they are the highest of the eight ranked teams out of more than 30 Division-1 teams in the tournament. A whopping 41 percent of the current ranked wrestlers in the nation will be participating in this event, 83 in all.

“It’s always a great event early in the year,” said head coach Mark Johnson. “There’s a bunch of teams from the Top 25 here, and there’s also a lot of good individuals here.”

There are two wrestlers ranked No.1 in their respective weight classes, including All-American senior Alex Tirapelle, who comes in as No. 1 at 157 lbs. Tirapelle will not only be defending his ranking this weekend, but he is only one win away from career win No. 100. The win would also leave him 27 wins away from tying his older brother, Adam, for the school record in career wins. Tirapelle won the 157-pound class at this tournament in 2003.

The other ranked wrestlers for the Illini that will be participating include No. 3 senior Pete Friedl (184), No.6 junior Cassio Pero (141), No. 11 senior Tyrone Bird (197) and No. 15 Poeta (165).

Pero will most likely receive the No. 2 seed in the tournament for his weight class setting up a rematch against probable No. 3 seed Josh Chirella of Michigan, from last year’s NCAA tournament.

The Illini will also be sending redshirt-freshmen Joe Gomez at 125 pounds, Dan Manzella at 133 pounds, Troy Tirapelle at 149 pounds, as well as junior Donny Reynolds at 174 pounds and junior Matt Weight at heavyweight.

The team has had four individual champions in this tournament, including Tirapelle, and will be looking for more – in hopes of putting them in position to take home the team crown on Sunday night.

“This time of the year we’re just looking to see how each of our individuals are doing,” Johnson said. “We left some starters at home, so we won’t be as strong, but that’s okay, since it’s early in the year and we just want to see how the individuals perform.”