Complete MAC Rankings

D1CW Individual Rankings

CLEVELAND - By the narrowest of margins, Central Michigan was picked ahead of Kent State for the top spot in the Mid-American Conference preseason rankings. The Chippewas earned 28 total points from MAC coaches, while the Golden Flashes received 26. Northern Illinois followed in the third spot with 16, followed by Ohio (13), Buffalo (12) and Eastern Michigan (5).

In other recent polls released, Kent State was ranked 22nd by Division 1 College Wrestling and 23rd by Lighthouse Wrestling. D1CW also ranked junior Nic Bedelyon fifth at 125 pounds, senior Danny Mitcheff ninth at 133, junior transfer Matt Cathell 11th at 149 and sophomore Dustin Kilgore ninth at 184.

Bedelyon, a 2009 All-American, was ranked second in the MAC preseason poll behind Central Michigan's Conor Beebe. Bedelyon will need to wait until at least January before returning to action.

Mitcheff, Kilgore and Obie Simpson were all ranked first by conference coaches. Simpson placed second at 165 pounds at last season's MAC Championships, but will be pushed teammate Sli Bostelman for the starting nod. Bostelman recently defeated Simpson in overtime during an intra-squad scrimmage.

Mitcheff and Kilgore were picked to successfully defend their MAC titles. Mitcheff was picked ahead of Central Michigan's Scott Sentes, who won last year's MAC crown at 125 pounds.

Cathell was picked second in the MAC at 149 pounds, behind Buffalo's Desi Green, who won a pair of matches at last year's NCAA Tournament. Also picked to finish second was heavyweight Brendan Barlow. The redshirt sophomore went 20-6 last season.

Junior Chris Estep was picked to finish third at 174 following his third place finish at last year's MAC Championships.

The Golden Flashes were represented in all 10 weight classes of the poll as three redshirt freshmen were all picked to finish fourth in their weight classes. Chase Skonieczny went 8-2 wrestling unattached last season at 141 pounds. Mallie Shuster went 33-9 at open tournaments last season at 157 and recently defeated last year's starter Ross Tice 5-0 at the team's scrimmage. The third redshirt freshman to gain a No. 4 conference ranking was Adam Cogar at 197 pounds. Cogar went 16-2 at open tournaments last season.

Kent State's season gets underway Saturday, Nov. 7 with dual meets against Virginia Tech and Chattanooga in Blacksburg, Va. The host Hokies were recently ranked 21st by both Lighthouse Wrestling and Division 1 College Wrestling.