The Wabash wrestling team opens its 2019-20 season Saturday with a slightly different approach.
 
The Little Giants enter the season ranked second in the nation in the preseason National Wrestling Coaches Association poll. Wabash sent six wrestlers to the 2019 NCAA Division III National Tournament with three earning All-America awards. The Little Giants tied for ninth place overall at the tournament marking the first time since 2014 the team finished outside of the top-five places. That has Wabash head coach Brian Anderson and his staff looking at the overall process for this season.
 
"We want to get back in the hunt for a trophy," Anderson said. "The last two years we've kind of been on the outside looking in. It's always better to come away from the national tournament with a big trophy in your hand. I think our guys want that feeling back this year.
 
"To do that our approach needs to change. We need to not be so focused on the end results but more on the process that gets us there. That's what we've been preaching at the start of the season. We want to take everything one day at a time and stay focused on the short-term goals. That will allow us to accomplish our long-term goals. We're attacking the whole season that way."
 
Thirty-four upperclassmen make up the veteran portion of the Wabash roster for the 2019-20 season. Leading the way for the Little Giants is 2019 174-pound national champion Darden Schurg. A two-time All-American and the 2019 DIII Wrestler of the Year, he enters the year as the top-ranked wrestler in the weight class and one of seven Little Giants earning spots in the NWCA preseason individual rankings.
 
 "Having Darden for one more season means we have a national champion in the practice room every single day," Anderson said. "That's always huge for younger wrestlers to know what it takes to get to that level. We're consistently developing national champions in this program. It's always good when other wrestlers are around one every single day and can watch them and see what they're doing and the influence that he has on the younger guys and the veterans. The points he will provide are helpful too. If everything goes as planned that's a huge positive for us to have a guy like him back."
 
All six of the Little Giants' 2019 national tournament qualifiers are back for the 2019-20 season. That includes All-Americans Carlos Champagne and Kyle Hatch. Champagne placed seventh at 125 pounds as a freshman after transferring to Wabash from Northern Illinois University. He enters the season ranked fourth in the 125-pound weight class.
 
"It's never easy to make it to the podium and earn All-America honors as a freshman. Carlos is a very talented guy. We were very fortunate to have him come back to us after the recruiting process. I think what he brings to us is a hammer right out of the gate. If it's a dual meet, we get to come out very strong with Carlos. We've not necessarily lacked that in the past, but he brings a little more power than we've usually had in the lower weights. He just gets things rolling whether it's a dual meet or a tournament."
 
Hatch earned All-America honors with an eighth-place finish in the 157-pound weight class as a freshman. Last season he scored his second All-America award by placing sixth at 165 pounds. He lost in overtime to the top seed and eventual national champion in the bracket after scoring three victories to open the national tournament competition. Hatch begins this season ranked third at 165 pounds.
 
"I think Kyle knows how close he was to winning the national title last year," Anderson said. "He lost an overtime heartbreaker for a chance to go to the finals last year. He knows he was right there. You can see the urgency in him at the start of the season this year. His pace is much higher than it was at this time last year. I think he knows that he can't wait as long as he did last year to turn up the motor. He's doing that now. His goal is to win the whole thing this year. He's more than capable of accomplishing that."
 
Owen Doster and Wade Ripple also represented Wabash at the national tournament in 2019 and are ranked in the preseason poll. Doster, a three-time national qualifier, earned All-America honors with a seventh-place finish at 133 pounds as a freshman in 2017. He looks to return to the podium once again in his senior season. Doster enters his final year ranked ninth at 141 pounds.
 
Ripple earned his first trip to the championship tourney after finishing second at heavyweight at the Central Regional Tournament. He pinned the eighth-seeded wrestler in the opening bout at the championship tournament before being eliminated with consecutive losses.
 
"That first trip to the national tournament is difficult," Anderson said. "You could see some nervousness in Wade when he stepped on the mat last year. The good thing was he got a win over a ranked opponent. He knows he can compete at that level. The confidence Wade gained from that will make it a different experience this season. Owen earned All-America honors as a freshman. I think he's going to let everything hang out this year and really push himself. That's what he did as a freshman."
 
Junior Austin Bethel is back on the mat for the Little Giants after missing much of last season due to injuries. Bethel wrestled to third place at the 149 pounds at the 2018 NCAA National Tournament. He is ranked sixth in the 157-pound weight class list heading into the start of the season.
 
"We're excited that Austin Bethel is back with us," Anderson said. "He went from being one of the top wrestlers in the country as a freshman to having a very injury-plagued season last year. Thank goodness we had Griffin Shermer to finish out after his injury-plagued season his junior year. I'm excited to see what Austin brings to the table this year. He's very driven and wants to get back to the top.
 
We have a lot of veteran wrestlers returning. Even some of our younger guys seem like veterans with their tournament experience and success. It's a good feeling to know we have seven guys that have been to the national tournament and five of them have been on the podium. We've just got to keep them healthy."
 
 
Riley Lomenick enters the preseason rankings at ninth at 133 pounds. He competed at 141 pounds last season and placed fourth at the NCAA Division III Central Regional Tournament, narrowly missing a trip to the national tournament with a 9-6 loss in the third-place bout.
 
Twenty-two freshmen have joined the Wabash squad for the upcoming season. Anderson has been pleased with their early performance, particularly with the number of experienced and accomplished wrestlers already on the roster.
 
"As thick as the roster is from top to bottom, it's going to be a big challenge for our freshmen to break into the lineup this year, even though we've been consistent in getting a freshman to the national tournament and on the podium the past few years," Anderson said. "We really like what we're seeing from Brock Peele early in practices. We may see him at 125 or 133 pounds. He has some stiff competition in front of him but he's answering that challenge in practice. He'll grow a lot from the experience he's gaining in the practice room and that could make a real difference in the back half of the season. Thomas Sell at 174 pounds is, as we say in wrestling, pretty funky in terms of his style. He's doing some very good things early this year.
 
"As a coaching staff we like what the freshmen are bringing to the practice room. They're challenging our older wrestlers. They're not backing down from the veterans. That's really their job this year, to keep hustling to try and move into one of those top spots and keep elevating the entire program."
 
Wabash begins the season this Saturday at the Millikin Open. Competition starts at 9 a.m. (CST). Updated results will be available throughout the event at https://www.trackwrestling.com/tw/opentournaments/VerifyPassword.jsp?tournamentId=487650132.