Cumberland College retains No. 1 spot in TheMat.com U.S. Women’s Poll going into Women’s College Nat
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Gary Abbott (USA Wrestling)
03/16/2004
The March 16, 2004 TheMat.com U.S. Women's College Wrestling Rankings for teams and individuals have been released. The top five teams remained exactly the same as the last poll, taken one month ago. The poll comes out just days before the first U.S. Women's College Nationals, set for Missouri Valley College this weekend. Women wrestlers enrolled in college are eligible to participate in the event. 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, placed second at both the Women's International Duals and the USA Wrestling University Nationals this year. Missouri Valley College, a NAIA team coached by Carl Murphree, placed second in the poll. Missouri Valley was third in the Women's International Duals and won the team title at the USA Wrestling University Nationals. Retaining its No. 3 position was Pacific University, an NCAA Div. III team in Oregon, coached by Scott Miller. Pacific was fourth at the Women's International Duals, last month. The No. 4 spot in the polls is NAIA school Menlo College in California, coached by Lee Allen. Menlo has received its ranking based upon the strength of a few individual stars. Holding strong at No. 5 is the Univ. of Minnesota-Morris, an NCAA Div. II school coached by Doug Reese. Tied at are No. 6 MacMurray College and Lassen College. Last month, MacMurray was sixth and Lassen was seventh. Rounding out the top 10 are 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://themat.com/rankings/default.asp?CategoryID=108&RankingID=677 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. There was only one new No. 1 ranked individuals in TheMat.com rankings this week. Mollie Keith of Missouri Valley College moved up to 67 kg/147.5 lbs. and captured the gold medal at the University Nationals last weekend. All four of Cumberland College's No. 1 ranked athletes from last month retained their top billing: Suekoiyla Shelly at 55 kg/121 lbs. and Alaina Berube at 59 kg/130 lbs. Shelly Ruberg at 63 kg/138.5 lbs. and Toccara Montgomery at 72 kg/158.5 lbs. Berube and Montgomery claimed individual titles at the University Nationals. Berube also added a FILA Junior Nationals title during the weekend. Shelly and Ruberg were both third at University Nationals, with Shelly competing up one weight class. The other top-ranked wrestlers in the nation are Mary Kelly of MacMurray College at 48 kg/105.5 lbs., Kapua Torres of Pacific at 112.25 pounds.and Megan Goldsmith of UM-Morris at 80 kg/176 lbs. Kelly won the University Nationals, competing up a division, and Goldsmith was also an individual University Nationals champion. A few wrestlers moved up in the rankings with quality performances at the University Nationals and FILA Junior Nationals: Laura Felix of Cal-State Bakersfield (No. 3 at 105.5), Tabithia Ramsey of UM-Morris (No. 4 at 112.25), Julie Duarte of Missouri Valley College (No. 4 at 130) and Brandy Golt of Missouri Valley College (No. 2 at 147.5). The March 16, 2004 TheMat.com U.S. Women's College Individual rankings can be found at: http://themat.com/rankings/default.asp?CategoryID=108&RankingID=678 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.