SPARTANBURG, S.C. – For the second straight year, the App State Mountaineers clinched the top spot in the Southern Conference wrestling preseason poll that was voted on by the conference’s nine head coaches, who also selected a 10-member preseason all-conference team. 
 
Coaches were not allowed to vote for their own teams or student-athletes. Three wrestlers maxed out with the number of points possible to be selected to the preseason all-conference team. All of the wrestlers on the preseason all-conference team were individual title winners at the 2021 SoCon Championship.
 
App State, the 2021 SoCon Championship runner-up, earned 62 points in the 2021-22 preseason poll and finished with six first-place votes. The Mountaineers went 7-1 in conference matchups last season and held a 7-2 record overall.
 
Not only is this App State’s second consecutive appearance in the top spot on the poll, but this is the second straight year that the Mountaineers saw a league-best five wrestlers selected to the preseason All-SoCon team, with Codi Russell (125 pounds), Sean Carter (133 pounds), Anthony Brito (141 pounds), Jonathan Millner (149 pounds), and Cody Bond (157 pounds) all earning a spot. After taking the 125-pound title at the 2020-21 SoCon Wrestling Championship, Russell enters his sixth year as a Mountaineer on the preseason all-conference team with a 14-3 overall record from last season and a career record of 75-38. He secured the title and the NCAA Championship bid as the SoCon’s No. 1 seed after picking up a major decision against Presbyterian’s Benny Gomez in the semifinals, before defeating Campbell’s Zurich Storm 11-4 in the finals. Carter, who clinched the SoCon title at 133 pounds in his first year at that weight, enters his junior season on the preseason all-conference team with a 13-8 overall record from last season and a career record of 41-22. Brito is the returning 141-pound champion, after going 14-5 overall and 7-1 in conference action last season with four total pins. He earned an automatic NCAA Championships berth in 2021 as the SoCon’s No. 2 seed at 141 pounds, winning a 7-3 decision in the final against Campbell’s Shannon Hanna to finish the season with a 49-23 career record. Millner, who is a back-to-back Southern Conference champion and 2021 All-American, went undefeated in conference play (8-0) last season and earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, finishing eighth at the tournament in the 149-pound weight class to conclude the season with a 68-17 career record. Bond went 3-0 at the SoCon Championship to claim the title in the 157-pound weight class and enters his redshirt senior season with 22-15 career record. Russell and Millner each maxed out with eight first-place votes in the preseason balloting.
 
Last year’s SoCon regular-season and tournament champion, Campbell, came in a close second with 59 points and three first-place votes in the preseason poll. The Camels enter their second season under Southern Conference Coach of the Year Scotti Sentes and have three wrestlers selected to the preseason team. Austin Murphy enters his senior season for Campbell securing a spot on the preseason all-conference team following his title victory in the 174-pound weight class at the SoCon Championship last season. His performance earned him a trip to the NCAA Championships, where he took a top-12 finish at 174 pounds to end the 2020-21 campaign at 15-2 overall and a perfect 7-0 in SoCon bouts. Campbell’s second wrestler on the preseason team is redshirt junior Caleb Hopkins (184 pounds). Hopkins finished the season 12-3 and went undefeated (7-0) in SoCon duals. He went on to earn the Pinnacle Award, which is awarded to the student-athlete with the highest-grade point average (GPA) on the tournament-winning squad. Chris Kober, who earned the maximum amount of votes possible, is the final Campbell wrestler to earn a spot on the preseason poll, with the grad student taking the 197-pound position following his second consecutive SoCon title win last season. He was named All-SoCon at 197 pounds and logged a 4-0 record during the regular season against conference opponents to finish the 2020-21 season with a 7-2 overall record.
 
Chattanooga rounds out the top three with 50 points, with one wrestler voted to the preseason all-conference team. The Mocs went 6-2 against SoCon teams during last season’s campaign and 8-4 overall. Drew Nicholson is the solo wrestler from Chattanooga selected to the preseason team following his title win at 165 pounds at the 2021 SoCon Championship. Nicholson’s performance at the SoCon Championship earned him the Socon Tournament Most Outstanding Wrestler honor following his victory as a third seed. He went 9-3 in dual action, 6-2 in SoCon, and enters his junior year on the preseason all-conference team with a 13-5 overall record from last season.
 
Gardner-Webb was selected to finish fourth, receiving 39 points, while The Citadel came in fifth with 38 points. The Bulldogs have one wrestler who was selected to the preseason team in heavyweight Michael McAleavey. McAleavey led The Citadel with an individual title at the 2021 SoCon Championship, upholding his No. 1 seed and becoming the first Bulldog to capture a SoCon championship since 2015. He went 15-3 overall and undefeated in SoCon play last season (8-0) and he enters his graduate season with a 59-63 overall record. The Bulldogs finished fifth last season with a 4-6 record and 3-5 in conference matchups, while the Runnin’ Bulldogs went 4-7 and 4-4 in the conference.
 
VMI (27), Davidson (24), Bellarmine (13) and Presbyterian (12) rounded out the preseason poll, coming in at sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively. The Keydets finished 4-5 overall last season (3-4 SoCon), while the Wildcats finished their season 3-5 overall and 3-5 in conference bouts. The Knights, who enter their second season as a SoCon member, concluded the 2020-21 season 1-9 overall last season (1-7 SoCon), while the Blue Hose went 1-6 on the season and 0-6 in SoCon action.
  
The 2021-22 wrestling season gets underway on Nov. 3. The Southern Conference Wrestling Championship will take place March 5, 2021, at App State’s Holmes Convocation Center, in Boone, North Carolina.
 
2021-22 SoCon Wrestling Preseason Coaches’ Poll
School (First-place votes)         Points
1. App State (6)                                62
2. Campbell (3)                                59
3. Chattanooga                                50
4. Gardner-Webb                            39
5. The Citadel                                   38
6. VMI                                                27
7. Davidson                                      24
8. Bellarmine                                   13
9. Presbyterian                                12
 
 
2021-22 SoCon Wrestling Preseason All-Conference Team 
125       Codi Russell, App State
133       Sean Carter, App State 
141       Anthony Brito, App State 
149       Jonathan Millner, App State 
157       Cody Bond, App State
165       Drew Nicholson, Chattanooga
174       Austin Murphy, Campbell
184       Caleb Hopkins, Campbell 
197       Chris Kober, Campbell
HWT    Michael McAleavey, The Citadel