INDIANAPOLIS – The UIndy wrestling team has been chosen to finish fourth in the Great Lakes Valley Conference in 2019-20, the league office announced Thursday.  The annual GLVC Wrestling Preseason Poll was voted on by the league coaches and ranks all seven teams in predicted order of finish.

McKendree garnered 34 points and four of the seven first-place votes.  Newcomer Lindenwood University finished one point shy of the Bearcats in the poll, accounting for 33 points and the remaining three first-place votes.  Maryville University ranked third at 25 points, followed by the University of Indianapolis (22), Drury University (13), Bellarmine University (12) and associate member Ouachita Baptist University (8).   

A season ago, the Greyhounds finished as the GLVC runner up to McKendree for the second year in a row. The 2018-29 edition of UIndy wrestling featured seven All-GLVC selections, highlighted by then-redshirt senior Dylan Faulkenberg being named the league's Wrestler of the Year. In addition to Faulkenberg, Ana Abduljelil was an All-GLVC First Team member, while Angelo Robles at 141 and Shelden Struble at 165 took spots on the All-GLVC Second Team.. Kyle Barkovich at 149, Brody Conner at 184 and Brian Wagner at 197 all earned Honorable Mention honors. In total, 13 of the 20 All-Conference honorees from last year return to the mat in 2019-20.      

The GLVC Championship will be determined in a new format once again this year as the 2017 and 2018 seasons featured Conference dual matches over a three-week period in late January and early February, while last year all seven teams traveled to UIndy to wrestle their six league duals during a two-day, seven-round competition.  The 2019-20 campaign will be a hybrid of the two models, as teams will compete in four league duals on campus and then wrestle their final two duals at Maryville on Sunday, Feb. 16.  The team with the best winning percentage from its six GLVC dual matches will be crowned GLVC Champion.

Bellarmine and Ouachita Baptist will officially open the GLVC wrestling season on Nov. 2, when the Knights travel to the Patriot Open in Williamsburg, Kentucky, while the Tigers head to Emmanuel College in Franklin Springs, Georgia.  On Nov. 3, Drury begins its year at Central Oklahoma. The remaining four programs will get started the following week as Indianapolis, Lindenwood and McKendree head to St. Louis for Maryville's Kaufman/Brand/Bayly Open on Nov. 9.

The complete 2019-20 GLVC Wrestling Coaches Preseason Poll follows: