Defending champion and consistent competitor Brother Martin was forced to withdraw from the meet this week due to some lingering injury concerns, opening the door for more schools to fight for the 2014 title.

"(Brother Martin) had some health issues and had to pull out of the tournament, so that changes things up a little bit,” said Catholic-Baton Rouge Coach Tommy Prochaska, who will play host for the two-day event held at Exerfit in Baton Rouge. “For a lot of people, it’ll be the first time getting to see some of the New Orleans guys, so it’ll be one heck of a tournament.”

Prochaska, whose Bears finished in second place last year by 89.7 points, added that the competition should still be as strong as ever despite the Crusaders’ absence, with other tradition powerhouses still slated to be make their mark on the tournament.

“This is always a big tournament,” said Prochaska, who pegged Holy Cross as one of the frontrunners. “(Holy Cross) is bringing a full squad and a very talented squad. Jesuit, of course, is always consistent with what they do. Coach Harris does a fantastic job over there. Brusly is going to have a pretty good showing. They dropped some guys in their weight classes. They’re going to be really, really competitive, so that’ll be interesting.”

Prochaska also pegged the 120-pound weight class as “one of the craziest”, simply because of the number of talented wrestlers in that class and the sheer depth of competition.

Friday will include the first three rounds of the championship bracket and first round of consolation.

Wrestling will resume Sunday morning, with the finals slated for 4:00 p.m.