Morningside is ranked 19th in the nation in the NAIA Wrestling Coaches Pre-Season Poll released on October 23.

Morningside is ranked 19th in the nation in the NAIA Wrestling Coaches Pre-Season Poll released on October 23.

The Mustangs are coming off a 2012-13 season where they posted an 11-4 dual record, including a perfect 6-0 mark in the Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) to win their third consecutive GPAC championship.

Morningside is one of three teams from the GPAC ranked in the NAIA Top 20. Midland University is ranked ninth and Dakota Wesleyan University is 10th.

The Mustangs have four wrestlers in the individual rankings, led by Tyler Kacmarynski, a senior from Spencer, Iowa, who is fifth in the heavyweight division. Kacmarynski posted a 23-6 record with six falls last season and is a three-time NAIA National qualifier.

Morningside’s other nationally ranked wrestlers are Garret Lambrecht, a junior from Wood River, Neb., who is 10th at 141 lbs.; Nathan Ryan, a sophomore from Moville, Iowa, who is 11th at 133 lbs.; and Rulin Pederson, a junior from Sioux City, who is 13th at 184 lbs.

Ryan led the Mustangs in victories last season when he went 26-14 with six falls. Pederson was also a 20-match winner with a 22-7 record with three falls, while Lambrecht went 18-9 with a team-high nine falls.

Morningside will open the 2013-14 season with duals against NCAA Division I Air Force and NCAA Division II Augustana on Nov. 15 in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Click here for the complete NAIA Pre-Season Top 20.