Eight of the Illini’s 10 starting grapplers are headed to the Palace at Auburn Hills in Auburn Hills, Mich., today to compete in the NCAA Championships.

The eight qualified for the event after placing at least seventh place or better in their individual weight classes at the Big Ten Championships two weeks ago.

Senior Cassio Pero (141) is making his third consecutive appearance at the championships and Gabe Flores (125) and Mike Poeta (157) are appearing for the second straight year.

Roger Smith-Bergsrud (165), Patrick Bond (197) and John Wise (heavyweight) will join true-freshmen Jimmy Kennedy (133) and John Dergo (184) as the Illini’s first-time qualifiers.

“We’re all anxious to go out and wrestle,” Flores said. “This is what we’ve been training all year for.”

This will be Pero’s last tournament as a collegian. The 2005 All-American is the No. 12 seed, the lowest seed in his weight class, but his teammate, Flores still has confidence in him.

“Cassio is going to go out with a bang,” Flores said. “He’s been wrestling so good lately.”

The Illini are coming off a disappointing showing at the Big Ten Championships. They entered the meet 7-1 in conference and in sole position of second place behind top-ranked Minnesota, but managed just a seventh-place tournament finish.

Since the Big Tens, Flores said head coach Mark Johnson has been stressing the mental toughness of the team.

“Right now it starts a new season,” Flores said. “If you start looking ahead you’re going to get knocked out. It’s a crazy tournament; anybody can get knocked out at any time.”

Poeta, 20-2 on the season, lost for the first time this season at the Big Ten tournament, falling to Minnesota’s C.P. Schlatter and Wisconsin’s Brian Henning.

After being the top-ranked 157-pound wrestler for much of the season, Poeta will enter tomorrow’s tournament as the No. 5 seed.

“Mike has the potential to beat anyone in the weight class,” Flores said. “If Mike wants it bad enough, like he does, I think he’s going to be on top this year.”

The wrestling will begin Thursday morning and will continue through Saturday.