Complete NWCA Preason Coaches' Poll & Individual Rankings (.pdf)
MANHEIM, Pa. – The defending Ohio Athletic Conference champion Baldwin Wallace University wrestling team begins the 2021-22 season ranked in the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) Division III Preseason Coaches' Poll Top-25 poll while four wrestlers are also tabbed in the top-10 in their weight classes.
BW, who finished the 2021 season ranked sixth, enters the first rankings of 2021-22 season at 13th with 18 points. he Yellow Jackets, the top team in the OAC Coaches Preseason Poll, is one of two league members ranked in the poll as they join crosstown rival John Carroll University at No. 5.
BW also has four wrestlers ranked in senior All-American 157-pounder Stanley Bleich (North Ridgeville/Elyria Catholic), senior All-American 165-pounder Dalton Leightner (Ravenna/Rootstown), junior All-OAC 184-pounder Luke Salmon (Sandusky/Perkins) and junior All-American 197-pounder Doug Byrne (Wickliffe).
Bleich, who enters the season with 105 career wins, comes into the campaign as the highest ranked Yellow Jacket at number three. Leightner starts the season with 78 career wins and is ranked seventh. Salmon lands in the eighth spot and Byrne is picked 10th.
BW opens the 2021-22 season on November 5 and 6 when it travels to Ithaca, New York to compete in the Ithaca College Invitational. Action is slated to begin on Friday at 3:30 p.m. and at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. Fans can follow the action live at https://bit.ly/2Zv7S5z.
The Yellow Jackets open the home and OAC portion of their schedule on Tuesday, November 16 when they host an OAC match against the University Mount Union in the Ursprung Gymnasium inside the Lou Higgins Center at 7 p.m. Fans can watch the action live at https://bit.ly/3wgy2F6.