Complete OAC Coaches Preseason Poll (.pdf)

BEREA, Ohio – The two-time defending Ohio Athletic Conference Champion Baldwin Wallace University wrestling team has been picked to finish first in the OAC Coaches Preseason Poll.

BW, who was picked first for the third consecutive season, received 36 points and six first place votes. Ohio Northern University finished second in the poll with 31 points and one first place vote. Otterbein University barely edged out John Carroll University as the Cardinals finished third in the polling with 22 points while the Blue Streaks had 21 points. Rounding out the top five just one point behind JCU was the University of Mount Union with 20 points.

Seventh-year head coach Jamie Gibbs, who is the reigning two-time OAC Coach of the Year and has a career 70-29 dual match record at BW, returns 12 letterwinners, three national qualifiers and one All-American from last year's team that won its second straight OAC Championship. The Yellow Jackets finished second at the NCAA Mideast Regional and had four wrestlers qualify for the NCAA National Tournament a season ago.  

BW opens up the 2017-18 campaign in grand fashion when the Yellow Jackets host OAC and crosstown rival John Carroll University on Friday, Nov. 10, at 7:30 p.m. in Ursprung Gymnasium.