One week removed from a second place finish at the Mat-Town Classic, the No. 17 Penn State wrestling team will switch gears for Sunday's Nittany Lion Open.

The tournament, which has been run by the Nittany Lion Wrestling Club for the past four years, will be a showcase for collegiate wrestling, as entrants from all over the region will travel to Rec Hall.

Wrestlers from the University of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Navy and others will be on hand.

"It's an open format, so we're not sure who or how many people will be here," Sunderland said. "We can expect anywhere from 300-400 wrestlers."

The hundreds of grapplers expected will face off on ten different mats, one for each weight class. In the open format, no team scores will be kept, allowing for the young wrestlers to gain even more experience at the collegiate level.

With one match to go before the winter break, the Lions will hold out some of their starters to rest some of their injuries.

"We're actually going to be holding some of the guys that are a little banged up and some guys who could use the off-week," Sunderland said. "That means we will have to hold out some of the starters."

Although Sunderland would not say who would sit out, he did say there shouldn't be a drastic shake-up in the starting lineup for the team once the dual matches start, the Nittany Lion Open could give a chance for the freshman and redshirts to show what they can do.

Sunderland gave the team a hard practice Wednesday, including a lot of bike sprints for the younger guys so they could "learn how to push through some things" in order to prepare for the open. There are two weight classes with questions for the dual matches -- 133-pounds and 197-pounds. Sunderland was undecided between redshirt freshmen Tim Haas and Bryan Heller at 133-pounds.

At 197-pounds, junior Joel Edwards struggled last week at Mat-Town, finishing seventh, while redshirt freshman Philip Davis, took third.

"Davis had done better in competition," Sunderland said. "Edwards has been in kind of a funk, but he is working hard to get out of it."

While no spot is necessarily on the line Sunday, the tournament will give every participating wrestler a few more matches before entering the semester break. The open also will bring in hundreds of collegiate wrestlers to Happy Valley, for an entire day of wrestling.