Cumberland College retains No. 1 spot in TheMat.com U.S. Women’s Poll, capturing all first place vot

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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
02/03/2004


The February 2, 2004 TheMat.com U.S. Women's College Wrestling Rankings for teams and individuals have been released.     Cumberland College, a NAIA school in Kentucky, remained as the top U.S. women's college team, receiving all three first-place votes.The team, coached by Kip Flanik, won both of their matches in the recent NWCA National Duals on January 16 in Cleveland..    Missouri Valley College, a NAIA team coached by Carl Murphree, placed second in the poll. Missouri Valley competed in the recent NWCA Duals, the Regina Cup and the Manitoba Open.    Moving back to the No. 3 position was Pacific University, an NCAA Div. III team in Oregon, coached by Scott Miller. Pacific has been active in dual meet competition in recent weeks, both in the U.S. and in Canada.    The No. 4 spot in the polls is NAIA school Menlo College in California, coached by Lee Allen. Holding strong at No. 5 is the Univ. of Minnesota-Morris, an NCAA Div. II school coached by Doug Reese.    Rounding out the Top 10 are No. 6 Lassen College, No. 7 MacMurray College, No. 8 Univ. of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine WC, No. 9 Cal-State Bakersfield and No. 10 Princeton Univ.    The poll can be found at:  http://www.themat.com/rankings/default.asp?CategoryID=108&RankingID=645    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, with some recent strong performances throughout the lineup, has the most No. 1 ranked athletes with five top-ranked individuals.    Retaining their No. 1 individual rankings for Cumberland College are Suekoiyla Shelly at 55 kg/121 lbs. and Alaina Berube at 59 kg/130 lbs. and two-time World silver medalist Toccara Montgomery at 72 kg/158.5 lbs. Claiming the No. 1 position for the first time this year were Lauren Lindsay at 51 kg/112.25 lbs. and Shelly Ruberg at 63 kg/138.5 lbs.    The other top-ranked wrestlers in the nation are Mary Kelly of MacMurray College at 48 kg/105.5 lbs.,  Kelly Branham at 67 kg/147.5 lbs. and Megan Goldsmith of UM-Morris at 80 kg/176 lbs.    The February 2, 2004 TheMat.com U.S. Women's College Individual rankings can be found at:  http://www.themat.com/rankings/default.asp?CategoryID=108&RankingID=646    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.