Notre Dame College remains No. 1 in NAIA Rankings
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Amanda Dahl (NAIA)
12/22/2009
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Notre Dame College (Ohio) remained at No. 1 in the third edition of the NAIA Wrestling Coaches' Top 20 Poll, the NAIA announced Tuesday. The Falcons earned 108 points with 10 wrestlers listed among the top-12 individuals in their respective weight class. California Baptist is ranked second with 91 points and also has 10 ranked grapplers. The top five is rounded out by No. 3 Great Falls (Mont.) with 87 points, No. 4 McKendree (Ill.) with 80.5 points and No. 5 Southern Oregon with 75 points.
Notre Dame boasts two top-ranked wrestlers to California Baptist's one for the edge in the team ranking. Topping the 141-pounders is Notre Dame's Adam Koballa and Thomas Straughn is No. 1 at 157 pounds. Enock Francois of California Baptist is No. 1 at 174 pounds.
Two weight classes feature a pair of ranked Falcons. At 125 pounds, it's Tyler Savage and Dante Rini at second and third, respectively, and 174-pounders Jon Bittenger and Kurt Wolff rank seventh and 10th, respectively. Jeffrey Pelton is listed second at 149 pounds. There are only three weight classes in which a Falcon is not rated: 133, 165 and heavyweight.
California Baptist also has a pair of ranked individuals at two weight classes. No. 5 Samuel Fragoza and No. 7 Chauncey Philipps are listed at 125, while Francois is joined by No. 11 Christopher Knowland at 174 pounds. Joshua Marquez is ranked second for the Lancers at heavyweight. Like Notre Dame, California Baptist is only absent from three weights: 157, 184 and 197.
McKendree, who moved up two spots in the team poll to No. 4, sports two No. 1s with 165-pounder Aaron Winning and Andrew Sanchez at 197 pounds.
Other schools with top-ranked grapplers include No. 5 Southern Oregon's Mitchell Lofstedt (125), Tommy Pretty of No. 11 Campbellsville (Ky.) (133), No. 6 Grand View's (Iowa) Matt Burns (149), Michael French of No. 3 Great Falls (184) and No. 12 Cumberland's (Tenn.) Byron Stewart (HWT).
The poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the groupings. The next poll will be announced on Jan. 19.