BURNSVILLE, Minn. — Minnesota State wrestling enters the 2019-20 season ranked third in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Coaches’ Preseason Poll.

St. Cloud State, which received eight first-place votes, is rated first and followed by Upper Iowa, Minnesota State, Augustana, University of Mary, Northern State, MSU Moorhead, Minot State, and Southwest Minnesota State.

Top returnees for Minnesota State include junior Kyle Rathman (Apple Valley, Minn.) senior Zach Johnston (Waukee, Iowa) and senior Matthew Blome (Mount Horeb, Wis.), who all have a history of earning All-America honors. Rathman posted a seventh-place finish in earning All-America honors at last year’s national tournament at 149 lbs. He finished with a team-high 19 wins and enters 2019-20 owning a 41-15 career record.

The Mavericks will also return a pair of national qualifiers from a year ago in seniors Louie Sanders and Logan Saltou. Sanders, wrestling at 141 lbs., earned a 15-7 overall record last year and placed second at the NCAA DII Super Regionals and made his first NCAA DII Wrestling Championship appearance. Saltou was 18-9 a year ago while wrestling at 165 lbs. He placed third in the NCAA DII Super Regionals and earned a place in the NCAA DII Wrestling Championships.

Head coach Jim Makovsky, who is entering his 27th season in charge of the Mavericks, owns a career mark of 277-117-3 at Minnesota State. His college career record sits at 302-136-4 (he also coached at Valley City State for four years prior to MSU where he posted a 23-19-1 record).

Minnesota State opens its season Saturday, Nov. 2, at the Rochester Community & Technical College Tournament in Rochester, Minn.

Check out Mavericks Wrestling at msumavericks.com and on Twitter.

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