After last season’s SoCon championship win, which included five champions and multiple NCAA tournament appearances by wrestlers, the Mountaineers are ready to get back to the mat and prove they’re ready for a grueling 2024-25 schedule that features matches against three top-20 programs.
“For us, it’s just another match. We feel like we’re equal to those schools and can wrestle with them and we’ve shown that we can beat power five teams,” head coach JohnMark Bentley said. “We just want to give our guys the best opportunity to see the best wrestlers in the country.”
The three matches include a Nov. 15 match against No. 8 N.C. State in Raleigh, before welcoming No. 19 West Virginia to Varsity Gym a week later on Nov. 22. The final ranked foe for the Black and Gold is No. 7 Virginia Tech.
This is the first time App State has faced West Virginia and only the fifth time the Black and Gold have faced off against a Big 12 conference opponent. The matches against N.C. State and Virginia Tech are the 12th and third straight matches against the schools respectively.
The Mountaineers’ SoCon conference matches will kick off on Dec. 12 against VMI in Lexington, Virginia, and end against conference favorite Campbell on Feb. 23 in Boone.
The Camels were the only team to beat App State in conference play last season with a 22-16 decision that eventually led to them winning the regular season title last season after finishing the season undefeated. The Black and Gold finished second.
“They’ve been picked first every year I’ve been here,” said 165-pound senior Will Miller. “It’s kind of expected but we’ll see come March.”
Miller is one of three wrestlers coming back into the lineup with NCAA Championship experience. The other two, 141-pound sixth-year senior Sean Carter and 184-pound sophomore Tomas Brooker, have very different paths to this season as Carter has spent the last 20 months recovering and rehabbing a leg injury sustained in early 2022. Brooker, who burst onto the scene last season, went 6-2 in conference play and 21-15 as a true freshman and capped it off with a win in the 184-pound weight class at last year’s SoCon Championship.
Carter has never been more ready to be back on the mat, echoing a team-wide belief in the team’s psychologist as one of his main reasons for being able to get back on the mat.
“I’ve been meeting with Dr. Cooper a lot since last spring, and he’s helped a lot just with mental training, mental growth and keeping a growing mindset,” Carter said. “He’s a big reason of why I have so much confidence in myself. Sometimes your body fails you but your mind is so powerful; you have to stay strong mentally.”
Brooker was chosen for the preseason all-SoCon team in the 184-pound class but isn’t letting the noise get to his head and is staying focused for the upcoming season.
“I don’t really pay attention to all that,” Brooker said. “I don’t think rankings mean too much. I’m just looking forward to coming out and competing this year.”
The rest of the lineup sees returns of other experienced wrestlers in 174-pound redshirt junior Luke Uliano, 197-pound junior Carson Floyd, 133-pound senior Chad Bellis and 125-pound redshirt sophomore Noah Luna. All wrestlers started for the team last year, minus Luna who only started one conference match.
Uliano and Floyd finished third in their respective weight classes at the SoCon Championships, while Bellis finished fourth.
The SoCon Championship location is currently TBD but will fall on either March 7 or 8.
To purchase season tickets, one can buy them directly online at AppStateSports.com, contact the ticket office at 828-262-7733, or visit the App State Athletics ticket office located in the Holmes Convocation Center.
