SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Southern Conference’s eight wrestling coaches have picked defending regular-season and tournament champion Chattanooga to win the league title again in 2015-16. The coaches also selected a 10-member preseason all-conference team.
The coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams or student-athletes.
Chattanooga earned 45 points in the poll and five first-place votes. In addition to seeking their 11th tournament title in the last 12 years, the Mocs will be looking for their 11th regular-season title in that span. Since 2004-05, UTC has won the tournament every year but 2010 and the regular season every year but 2011-12.
Sean Mappes, who won his first SoCon title at 174 pounds last season, is the preseason all-conference pick at that weight.
Appalachian State was second in the preseason poll with 40 points and one first-place vote. The Mountaineers put a league-best three student-athletes on the preseason all-conference team. 2015 SoCon champions Mike Longo (141 pounds) and Denzel Dejournette (heavyweight) were preseason all-conference selections at those weights, while Vito Pasone, who wrestled at 133 last season, was the preseason pick at 125, where he wrestled for the majority of his redshirt freshman campaign.
The Citadel earned 35 points to edge Gardner-Webb for third in the preseason poll and saw Matt Frisch and Aaron Walker earn preseason recognition at 149 pounds and 157 pounds, respectively. Frisch has won SoCon titles at 149 (2015) and 157 (2013), while Walker has taken the title at 157 in each of the last two seasons.
Gardner-Webb was slotted fourth in the preseason poll with 34 points and the remaining two first-place votes. Campbell, which was ineligible for the 2015 tournament due to APR penalties, will return to the tournament this season and was picked fifth in the preseason poll with 28 points. The Camels saw Nathan Kraisser (133) and Ville Heino (184 pounds) earn spots on the preseason all-conference team.
SIUE finished sixth in the preseason voting with 22 points and put defending SoCon champions Connor McMahon (165) and Jake Tindle (197) on the preseason squad. McMahon was named the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the 2015 tournament after topping the Nos. 1, 3 and 4 seeds en route to winning the 165-pound title.
VMI (13 points) and Davidson (seven) round out the poll.
Five of the 10 preseason all-conference selections – Appalachian State’s Longo and Dejournette, The Citadel’s Walker, SIUE’s Tindle and Chattanooga’s Mappes – earned the maximum number of points possible in the voting process.
The 2015-16 wrestling season gets under way on Nov. 1. The Arby’s Southern Conference Wrestling Championship returns to Asheville, N.C., this season, and will be contested March 5, 2016, at Kimmel Arena on the campus of UNC Asheville.
2015-16 SoCon Wrestling Preseason Coaches Poll
School (First-place votes) Points
1. Chattanooga (5) 45
2. Appalachian State (1) 40
3. The Citadel 35
4. Gardner-Webb (2) 34
5. Campbell 28
6. SIUE 22
7. VMI 13
8. Davidson 7
2015-16 SoCon Wrestling Preseason All-Conference Team
125 Vito Pasone, Appalachian State
133 Nathan Kraisser, Campbell
141 Mike Longo, Appalachian State*
149 Matt Frisch, The Citadel*^
157 Aaron Walker, The Citadel*+
165 Connor McMahon, SIUE*
174 Sean Mappes, Chattanooga*
184 Ville Heino, Campbell
197 Jake Tindle, SIUE*
HWT Denzel Dejournette, Appalachian State*
* - 2015 SoCon champion at that weight class
^ - 2013 SoCon champion at 157
+ - 2014 SoCon champion at 157
-www.SoConSports.com-