MOORHEAD, Minn. – Concordia will open the 2023-24 season ranked in the Top 20 in the National Wrestling Coaches Association (NWCA) poll.
The Cobbers also have a pair of student-athletes ranked in the Top 15 in Division III.
As a team, Concordia is ranked 18th in the first national rankings of the season. Individually, junior All-American Ty Bisek (New London, Minn./New London-Spicer HS) is ranked third at 133, and senior Gabe Zierden (Albany, Minn.) is 12th at 197.
In addition to the national rankings for Bisek and Zierden, the Cobbers have five other wrestlers ranked in the Top 6 of the Upper Midwest region. Kellen Schauer (Sr., Bovey, Minn./Grand Rapids HS) is third at 149, Tyler Bents (Sr., Glenwood, Minn./Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa HS) is third at 157, Elijah Hunt (Sr., St. Peter, Minn.) is sixth at 165, Alex Rapelje (So., Seattle, Wash./Edmonds-Woodway HS) is third at 174 and Nathaniel Kisgen (Jr., Kensington, Minn./West Central Area HS) is sixth at 184.
Concordia is coming off the 2022-23 season, which saw them finish sixth at the NCAA Upper Midwest Regional meet and go 6-4 in dual meets. The Cobbers had seven place winners at the regional meet, and five athletes finished in the Top 5 of their weight class.
Bisek finished last year with a 33-5 record and placed sixth at the NCAA National Meet. He was the first Cobber to earn All-American honors since the 2016 season.
Zierden went 27-8 during the 2022-23 campaign and led the team in pins with 17. He has won 67 career matches. Zierden narrowly missed out on qualifying for the national meet as he posted a 4th-place finish at the regional meet.
Concordia will kick off the 2023-24 schedule when they compete at the Jamestown Invitational on Saturday, Nov. 4.
NWCA Divsion III Preseason National Rankings
1 Augsburg
2 Wartburg
3 Baldwin Wallace
4 Johnson & Wales
5 UW La Crosse
6 Alvernia
7 North Central
8 UW Eau Claire
9 U.S. Coast Guard Academy
10 Wabash
11 Castleton
12 Stevens Institute of Technology
13 Ohio Northern
14 TCNJ
T15 NYU
T15 Coe
17 Williams
18 Concordia Moorhead
T19 SUNY Oswego
T19 Southern Maine
T21 Millikin
T21 McDaniel
T23 Penn College
T23 Ithaca
T23 Greensboro
Check out Cobber Wrestling at gocobbers.com. Follow on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Cobber Tickets.