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Sacred Heart to face three top 25 teams in duals in first month

The National Wrestling Coaches Association released their Division I college preseason top 25 poll and Sacred Heart will be facing three top 25 teams in the first month of the season in dual meets.

Sacred Heart will open the season on Sunday with a match at No. 17 Lehigh, will face No. 22 Rutgers at the Wrangle Mania in Bethlehem, Penn., on Nov. 12 and will see wrestlers from three top 25 schools — No. 3 Arizona State, No. 8 Nebraska, No. 9 North Carolina State – in the Journeyman Classic the next day in Bethlehem, Penn.

Sacred Heart will challenge No. 2 Iowa on Friday, Nov. 18 in Albany, N.Y. in the Arm Bar at the Armory.

No. 5 Michigan, North Carolina State, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 7 Cornell, No. 8 Nebraska and No. 11 Virginia Tech, are expected to have wrestlers at the Cliff Keen Collegiate Wrestling Invitational in Las Vegas on Dec. 2-3.

North Carolina State, featuring three wrestlers from Danbury High on the roster — Jakob Camacho, Ryan Jack and A.J. Kovacs — is ranked No. 9.


NWCA Division I Wrestling Coaches Poll
Preseason – October 28, 2022

Rank Team (First) Record Points Conf. Final
Dual Rank
NCAA
Finish
1 Penn State (13) 17-0 349 Big Ten 1 1
2 Iowa (1) 14-1 328 Big Ten 2 3
3 Arizona State 9-4 295 Pac-12 13 4
4 Missouri 11-4 288 Big 12 9 9
5 Michigan 12-1 268 Big Ten 3 2
6 Ohio State 9-3 267 Big Ten 6 13
7 Cornell 12-3 255 EIWA 11 7
8 Nebraska 6-5 250 Big Ten 10 5
9 N.C. State 13-1 230 ACC 4 10
10 Oklahoma State 13-4 220 Big 12 12 14
11 Virginia Tech 9-5 216 ACC 7 8
12 Wisconsin 12-2 197 Big Ten 8 14
13 Minnesota 4-6 183 Big Ten 18 11
14 Iowa State 15-1 171 Big 12 5 17
15 Northwestern 7-4 159 Big Ten 23 6
16 North Carolina 8-6 99 ACC 22 18
17 Lehigh 9-9 94 EIWA NR 25
18 Pittsburgh 8-6 88 ACC NR 24
19 Oregon State 8-3 85 Pac-12 NR 12
20 Northern Iowa 7-7 83 Big 12 17 20
21 Penn 8-2 80 EIWA 19 27
22 Rutgers 16-5 78 Big Ten 14 20
23 Princeton 6-5 74 EIWA 20 16
24 Cal Poly 4-3 34 Pac-12 NR 22
25 (tie) South Dakota State 13-4 31 Big 12 25 44
25 (tie) Stanford 5-4 31 Pac-12 NR 19

Others Receiving Votes: Wyoming 21, Purdue 18, Central Michigan 11, Illinois 9, Appalachian State 8, North Dakota State 8, West Virginia 7, Michigan State 6, Campbell 5, Oklahoma 2, Navy 2.

Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of Connecticut Wrestling Online. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 40 years. He was inducted into the Connecticut Chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2025 and the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.

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