Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Adams State enters the 2023-24 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Men’s Wrestling season as the league favorite, the conference announced Wednesday. The Grizzlies sit atop the RMAC Men’s Wrestling Preseason Poll with 58 points and four first-place votes. The RMAC Men’s Wrestling Preseason Poll is voted on by the league’s nine head coaches. Coaches are not permitted to vote for their program.
 
Adams State checks into the 2023-24 campaign after claiming two individual national championships at the 2023 NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships. The Grizzlies return a pair of RMAC All-Conference honorees in Aaden Valdez and Hunter Tobiasson after closing the 2022-23 campaign with an 11-2 overall record. Adams State rolled to a 6-1 finish in last year’s conference slate and will look to surpass that mark this year behind veteran head coach Jason Ramstetter. Ramstetter will look to guide his squad once again with a young roster filled with 15 freshmen.
 
Colorado Mesa enters the season tabbed second in RMAC preseason rankings with 52 points and a pair of first-place votes. The Mavs are led by second-year head coach Mike Mendoza, who led his squad to its second consecutive regular-season title last year with a 7-0 mark in conference duals. Ryan Wheeler returns for his redshirt junior campaign after claiming second-team all-conference distinctions last season. Entering the year, the Mavs are riding a wave of success and have not dropped a conference dual over the past two seasons.
 
Western Colorado claims the RMAC’s third-place position with 49 points and two first-place votes in preseason voting. The Mountaineers enter the year after finishing fourth as a team at the 2023 NCAA DII Championships, matching the program’s best team finish since the 2004 season. Western Colorado captured four all-conference honors last season, one first-team and a trio of second-team honorees, and opens its season on the road at Air Force.
 
Chadron State earns the fourth-place spot in preseason voting with 45 points and the league’s final first-place vote. The Eagles return redshirt senior Quentrevion Campbell, who finished as the runner-up in the 133-pound bracket at last year’s NCAA DII Championships. Returning alongside Campbell is the reigning RMAC Freshman of the Year, Keegan Gehlhausen.
 
Colorado School of Mines concludes preseason voting in fifth place with 42 points, just ahead of Colorado State University Pueblo in sixth place with 29 points. San Francisco State checks in at seventh place with 23 points, followed by New Mexico Highlands (14 points) and first-year member Simon Fraser (12 points).