KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association has announced the results of its preseason coaches poll for the 2026-27 wrestling season. The back-to-back defending NCAA Division II national champion, Nebraska Kearney, was unanimously picked No. 1 by MIAA head coaches. The six-time defending MIAA champion, Central Oklahoma, finished second in the poll.
 
Nebraska Kearney earned every MIAA head coach’s first-place vote and totaled 36 points for the top spot in the 2026-27 MIAA wrestling preseason coaches poll. The Lopers won their second consecutive national championship and the program’s sixth overall at the 2026 NCAA Division II Wrestling National Championships, hosted March 13-14 in Sioux Falls, S.D. Nebraska Kearney went 14-4 overall last season and 4-1 in the MIAA. The Lopers return their lone defending individual national champ from last season, senior Otgonbayar Batsuuri, at 174 pounds.
 
The Bronchos totaled 31 points in the MIAA coaches preseason poll, earning the No. 2 spot. Central Oklahoma won its sixth straight MIAA title last season after going undefeated against league competition. The Bronchos went 16-1 last season, winning the NWCA Division II National Duals title with a finals victory over the Lopers. Central Oklahoma captured its straight Super Regional IV title before coming in fourth at the 2026 national tournament. Junior Eli Kirk is the Bronchos’ top returner after earning a fourth-place finish at 125 pounds last season.
 
Central Missouri finished third in the coaches preseason poll with 26 points, followed by Fort Hays State and Northeastern State in a tie for fourth with 16 points each. The 2026-27 season is Northeastern State’s first NCAA Division II men’s wrestling season. The RiverHawks are the first new MIAA wrestling member since Ouachita Baptist of the Great American Conference (GAC) joined as an associate member in 2023.
 
MIAA head coaches ranked Ouachita sixth with 13 points, while the Newman Jets finished seventh with nine points.
 
Official competition for the 2026-27 NCAA Division II wrestling season begins November 1, with the 2027 NCAA Division II National Championship scheduled for March 12-13 at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The MIAA has won the last five consecutive NCAA Division II wrestling championships, with the Lopers taking home the title in 2026, 2025 and 2022, and the Bronchos in 2024 and 2023.
 
To view the week-by-week schedules for all seven MIAA wrestling programs, visit theMIAA.com/wrestling.