BOONE, N.C. — Stephan Monchery, the league's heavyweight champion as a true freshman, represents App State Wrestling on the SoCon's preseason all-conference team.
The SoCon on Thursday announced the preseason 2025-26 All-SoCon Team and Coaches Poll.
Head coach
JohnMark Bentley's Mountaineers, who lost four veteran starters but are returning a large group of accomplished wrestlers from a team that won SoCon regular season and tournament titles last season, were picked to finish third in a vote of the league's coaches.
In addition to Monchery, App State's roster includes
Tomas Brooker, who won a SoCon title at 184 pounds as a true freshman in 2024 before suffering a season-ending injury early in the 2024-25 campaign.
Kaden Keiser was a SoCon finalist at 149 pounds last season, while
Jeremiah Price and
Logan Eller took third place at 157 and 184 pounds, respectively.
Four different teams received first-place votes in the preseason coaches' poll, with App State totaling 53 voting points, five fewer than preseason favorite Chattanooga (58 points) and three fewer than The Citadel (56 points).
Chattanooga lost a pair of 2025 NCAA Championships qualifiers to Power Four conference programs but added two-time NCAA qualifiers Cooper Flynn (Minnesota, Virginia Tech) and Cody Chittum (Iowa State) along with four more Division I transfers. The Citadel lost head coach and former App State assistant Ryan LeBlanc to Binghamton last month but returns three SoCon champions and one more SoCon finalist from last season.
App State's 2025-26 season is presented by Hungry Howie's and Penn Station, and season tickets are now available for
renewal or
purchase. The Mountaineers officially begin their schedule Nov. 2 at the Southeast Open in Virginia.
2025-26 Preseason SoCon Wrestling Poll
1. Chattanooga (3) – 58
2. The Citadel (3) – 56
3. App State (2) – 53
4. Bellarmine – 42
5. Gardner-Webb (1) – 37
6. Campbell – 32
7. VMI – 20
8. Davidson – 18
9. Presbyterian – 8
First-place votes in parentheses
2025-26 Preseason All-SoCon Wrestling Team
125 – Gylon Sims, The Citadel*
133 – TK Davis, Gardner-Webb*
141 – AJ Rallo, Bellarmine
149 – Carson DesRosier, The Citadel*
157 – Cody Chittum, Chattanooga
165 – Thomas Snipes, The Citadel*
174 – Kamdyn Munro, Chattanooga
184 – Braxton Lewis, VMI
197 – (Tie) Josh McCutchen, Gardner-Webb & Toby Schoffstall, VMI
HWT –
Stephan Monchery, App State*
* Denotes 2025 SoCon Champion
