LANCASTER, Pa. – Muhlenberg has been tabbed as the preseason favorite to take home the conference trophy in the 2022-23 Centennial Conference Wrestling Preseason Poll. In a vote among CC head coaches, the Mules received all five possible first-place votes and tallied 25 points to sit atop the poll. 

Ursinus collected the other first-place vote and secured 20 points as the projected second-place team. Johns Hopkins (15) edged out Merchant Marine (14) for third place, while McDaniel (10) and Gettysburg (6) closed out the voting in fifth and sixth, respectively. 

All six Centennial squads will open their seasons on Saturday, Nov. 5 at invitationals, including four teams at the Messiah Invitational. The Centennial Conference Championship will be hosted by Ursinus on Saturday, Feb. 11. NCAA Regionals are set for Feb. 24-26 while the NCAA National Championships will take place March 10-11 in Roanoke, Va. 

2022-23 Schedule | 2022 Championship Results | 2022 All-Centennial Team | Record Book

For the first time since 2003-04, Centennial Conference wrestling will consist of six teams competing for conference glory. Two-time defending champion Washington and Lee has departed the conference after serving as an associate wrestling member since 1999. The Generals will now compete in the conference in which they are a full-time member - the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) - which is starting wrestling this year. 

The 2022-23 season will mark the seventh year in Centennial history that six teams will vie for a conference championship, with the others occurring in 1994, 1998 and 2001-02-03-04. Previous associate member Stevens and Washington and Lee have combined for every CC title since 2015. 

At the 2022 championship, Johns Hopkins finished second with 87 points to secure a runner-up finish for the first time since 2013. Ursinus placed third with 66.5 points, followed by Gettysburg (44.5), Merchant Marine (37), Muhlenberg (34), and McDaniel (20). This season figures to be another close battle for the title with a number of returning all-conference and all-region performers scattered throughout multiple CC teams. 

A quartet of NCAA qualifiers are back - Muhlenberg's Brandon Bowles (149) and Joey Lamparelli (125), Ursinus' Terry Adams (125) and Gettysburg's Luke Kowalski (133). Bowles and Kowalski each earned one victory at nationals before bowing out at the championship. Lamparelli finished as the runner-up at the NCAA Mideast Regional, while Adams, Kowalski and Bowles each placed third at their respective regional championships last season. 

All-Centennial performers returning to the mat this winter include Ursinus' Adams, the only two-time All-CC returner and Romeo Rodriguez (133), JHU's Brent Lorin (133), Joe Paul (174) and Chris Roybal (157), Merchant Marine's Eddie Pinc (141) and James Cruz (184), Gettysburg's Eric Mougalian (149), and McDaniel's Alex LaVeck (157). Mougalian was named the championship's Most Outstanding Wrestler in 2022, becoming the third overall Gettysburg wrestler and first since 2009 to earn the award. 

2022-23 Centennial Conference Wrestling Preseason Poll