Cumberland College opens season with top spot in TheMat.com U.S. Women’s College Poll, with Missouri
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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
01/18/2005
The January 18, 2005 TheMat.com U.S. Women's College Wrestling Rankings for teams and individuals have been released. This is the first poll of the 2004-05 season. Cumberland College, a NAIA school in Kentucky, opened the year at No. 1 in the poll, with all three first-place votes. Cumberland , coached by Kip Flanik, has had an active fall season, highlighted by the team title at the Championship Cup of Women's Wrestling, held at Lakehead Univ. in November, a top women's college dual meet competition. Missouri Valley College, a NAIA team coached by Carl Murphree, came in at No. 2 with all three second-place votes. Missouri Valley wrestles a heavy second-semester schedule, and had only limited competition so far this year. Cumberland College and Missouri Valley College are expected to battle this weekend, as they both enter their "A" and "B" teams at NWCA/Cliff Keen National Duals in Cleveland, Ohio, Jan. 22-23. Coming in at No. 3 is Pacific Univ., a Div. III team in Oregon, coached by Scott Miller. The No. 4 team is Lassen College, a junior college program in California, coached by Paul Gomez. Taking the No. 5 spot is Menlo College, a NAIA program from California, coached by Lee Allen. Rounding out the top 10 were two teams tied at No. 6 with MacMurray College and Cal-State Bakersfield, No. 8 Princeton and two clubs tied at No. 9, the Univ of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine WC and the WOW club of Pennsylvania. The poll can be found at: http://themat.com/rankings/default.asp?CategoryID=108&RankingID=740 The team ranking poll is elected by a panel of three U.S. women's college coaches. Eligible for ranking are college varsity and club women's wrestling programs. Cumberland College dominated the individual rankings, with No. 1 ranked individuals in five weight divisions. Among Cumberland's No. 1 athletes are 2004 Olympian Toccara Montgomery at 158.5 pounds and 2004 U.S. Olympic Team Trials runner-up Alaina Berube at 138.75 pounds. Montgomery is a senior and Berube is a junior. The other No. 1 athletes from Cumberland College are sophomore Othella Lucas at 121 pounds, sophomore Suekoilya Shelly at 130 pounds and freshman Heather Martin at 147.5 pounds. The other three No. 1 athletes come from different programs. At 105.5 pounds, sophomore Sara Fulp-Allen of Menlo College holds the top ranking. At 112.25 pounds, sophomore Kapua Torres of Pacific Univ. earned the No. 1 position. At 176 pounds, senior Satrinina Vernon of Missouri Valley College is the top-ranked athlete. The January 18, 2005 TheMat.com U.S. Women's College Individual rankings can be found at: http://themat.com/rankings/default.asp?CategoryID=108&RankingID=739 The individual rankings are selected by TheMat.com. Athletes who are considered for ranking are eligible full-time college students, and are members of their college women's varsity or club program, or a member of their college men's wrestling team.