With six returning All-Americans, including three NCAA National Champions, Head Coach Pat Pecora's Pitt-Johnstown Mountain Cat wrestlers earned the national No. 1 ranking when the 2019-20 NCAA Division II National Wrestling Coach's Association (NWCA) Preseason Poll was released on Wednesday.

Pitt-Johnstown received 88 points, six more than second-ranked and defending NCAA National Champions St. Cloud State (Minn.).  McKendree (Ill.) was third with 71 points, while Nebraska-Kearney (68 pts.) and Notre Dame (Ohio) (58 pts.) rounded out the Top-5.

All Six Pitt-Johnstown returning All-Americans were individually ranked, led by Eddins, the top-ranked wrestler at 149 lbs., and Tyler Warner, who was ranked first at 133 lbs.  Eddins, a senior two-time NCAA Champion, won the 2018 title at 141 lbs., then moved to 149 lbs. last year and made it back-to-back National Championships with a perfect 24-0 record.  The Super Region I Wrestler of the Year also claimed his second Regional title and ranked second in the NCAA's Most Dominant Wrestler category.  After winning a NCAA Division II National Championship at Wheeling Jesuit (WV) last season, Warner transferred to Pitt-Johnstown for his junior season in 2019-20.  Warner dealt Nebraska-Kearney's Wesley Dawkins a 4-1 loss in last season NCAA title bout at 133 lbs.  He finished his sophomore season at 25-1.

Two-time All-American and four-year starter Devin Austin is ranked second nationally at 165 lbs. Austin placed seventh at the 2018 NCAA Championships, then took the next step in his wrestling career and advanced to the 2019 National Semifinals before placing third.

Connor Craig, who also transferred to Pitt-Johnstown from Wheeling Jesuit following 2018-19 season, is the Mountain Cats' third returning National Champion.  Craig, ranked third nationally, won the 2019 title at 174 lbs. but will move up to 184 lbs. this season.  Craig was 28-1 last season and defeated MeKendree's Nick Foster, in the 2019 NCAA finals.

Two other Mountain Cats are nationally-ranked.  Sophomore Brock Biddle is ranked fourth at 174 lbs. and senior Brendan Howard is ranked seventh at 125 lbs.  Biddle, who placed fourth last season at 184 lbs. will drop to 174 lbs. to make room for Craig at 184 lbs.  Biddle the PSAC and Super Region I Freshman of the year in 2018-19, posted a team-best 29-4 overall record and a perfect 18-0 dual meet record.  Howard enters his senior season as a returning All-American after placing eighth at last year's NCAA National Championships.  Howard, who transferred to Pitt-Johnstown from Division I Clarion University for the 2017-18 season, was 24-8 overall and 16-3 in dual meets in 2018-19 on his way to winning a Super Region I championship.

ACCESS THE NWCA DII RANKINGS AT: HTTP//WWW.UIUPEACOCKS.COM/RANKINGS

RANKING COMMITTEE: SUPER REGION 1 - MIKE WEHLER - MERCYHURST AND DON HENRY - GANNON; SUPER REGION 2 - CY WAINRIGHT - NEWBERRY AND KENN CAUDELL - BELMONT ABBEY; SUPER REGION 3 - JASON WARTHAN - UINDY AND SHAWN NELSON - FINDLAY; SUPER REGION 4 - CHAZ THOMPSON - FORT HAYS AND JAMES KISGEN - MCKENDREE; SUPER REGION 5 - HEATH GRIMM - UPPER IOWA AND ROCKY BURKETT - NORTHERN STATE; SUPER REGION 6 - BRETT HUNTER - CHADRON STATE AND CHARLIE PIPHER - WESTERN STATE COLORADO. NATE SKAAR (ASSOC. WRESTLING COACH - UPPER IOWA) ACTS AS THE CHAIR AND MODERATOR. HOWIE THOMPSON (UPPER IOWA ASSISTANT AD FOR SPORTS COMMUNICATION) IS THE MEDIA COORDINATOR FOR THE NWCA DIVISION II WRESTLING COACHES ASSOCIATION RANKINGS COMMITTEE.
TOURNAMENT POLL METHODOLOGY: THIS IS A TOURNAMENT POWER INDEX RANKING; THE POLL IS NOT BASED ON A TEAM'S DUAL STRENGTH. TPI POINT TOTALS ARE BROKEN DOWN BY THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS: 1ST=20PTS, 2ND=16PTS, 3RD=13PTS, 4TH=12PTS, 5TH=10PTS, 6TH=9PTS, 7TH=7PTS, 8TH=6PTS, 9TH=4PTS, 10TH=3PTS, 11TH=2PTS, 12TH=1PT. THE TPI POINT TOTALS WILL BE LOWER THAN THE FINAL ACTUAL NCAA TOURNAMENT POINTS BECAUSE IT DOES NOT INCLUDE BONUS POINTS.

Pitt-Johnstown opens the 2019-20 season with a PSAC match at East Stroudsburg on Friday, before wrestling at the Rutgers Quad Meet on Saturday where they will take on Centenary, Big 10 and Division I power Rutgers, and Division I Long Island-Post.