Brock Univ. claims No. 1 spot in TheMat.com North American Women’s College Wrestling Poll for March

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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
03/28/2002


TheMat.com, the official web page of the Amateur Wrestling Alliance, has released the North American Women's College Wrestling Rankings for teams and individuals for March 2002.    Brock Univ. of Ontario, Canada, which won the women's team title at the  CIS National Championships in March, claimed the No. 1 spot with 95 points and three first-place points. Brock was tied for the No. 1 position in last month's poll.    Placing second in the poll was Simon Fraser Univ., a NAIA school in British Columbia, Canada, uust one point behind with 94 points and one first-place vote. Simon Fraser won the first NAIA Coaches North American Championships in March. Simon Fraser was in a tie for the No. 3 ranking last month.    The Univ. of Calgary, which placed second in the 2002 CIS National Championships, claimed the No. 3 ranking with 90 points, Calgary was tied at No. 3 in the February poll.    Missouri Valley College, a NAIA school from Marshall, Mo., was ranked No. 4 with one first-place vote and 88 points. Missouri Valley, second at the NAIA Coaches North American Championships, was tied for No. 1 last month.    The Univ. of Minnesota-Morris, a NCAA Div. II school in the United States, held its  fifth ranking with 79 points. Rounding out the Top 10 teams are the Univ. of Alberta, Pacific Univ., Cumberland College, Lakehead Univ. and Lock Haven Univ.    The team ranking poll is elected by a panel of women's college coaches, three from Canada and two from the United States. Eligible for ranking are college varsity and club women's wrestling programs.    Each month, TheMat.com also publishes an individual ranking, with assistance from the panel of coaches. This month's individual rankings will be published on Friday, May 29.    Women's wrestling is a growing sport in Canada and the United States on the college level. The International Olympic Committee has named women's freestyle wrestling as the newest sport added to the Summer Olympic Games program. The United States and Canada are among the most successful women's wrestling nations in the world.    TheMat.com North American College Women's Wrestling rankings will be published monthly on the following dates: Nov. 28; Dec. 26; Jan. 25; Feb. 25; March 25; April 25; May 25    TheMat.com has created a composite schedule for women's college wrestling, which includes events from the U.S. and Canadian programs. Results from these events will be posted on a regular basis throughout the season.    Media outlets may reproduce these rankings only if they identify them as TheMat.com North American College Women's Wrestling individual rankings.