August 22, 2007

2007 Men's Preseason CWPA, Division III & National Collegiate Club Polls Released

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. -- The United States Naval Academy, University of Redlands and Michigan State University are ranked #1 in the nation as the Collegiate Water Polo Association Top 10, Division III Top 10 and National Collegiate Club Top 20 polls were released to the media.

In the CWPA poll, the United States Naval Academy was picked to repeat as the Eastern Champion as the Midshipmen garnered all of the first place votes to finish with 100 points. St. Francis College (NY), which finished third at Easterns last year after capturing the 2005 title, is picked to finish second with 95 points, while Princeton University, the 2006 Eastern runner-up, earned the third place spot in the preseason poll with 90 points.

The 4-6 spots in the poll mirror the 2006 Eastern finish of the teams as Bucknell University, Brown University and Johns Hopkins University garnered 83, 78 and 75 points, respectively.

The biggest improvement in the poll belongs to George Washington University which moved up from a ninth place at Easterns a year ago to rank seventh in the preseason with 72 points. Harvard University (67), Gannon University (57) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (46) round out the Top 10 teams in the CWPA.

Men's CWPA Top 10 Poll

Rank School Name 2006 Final Poll Total Points
1 U.S. Naval Academy 1 100
2 St. Francis College (NY) 3 95
3 Princeton University 2 90
4 Bucknell University 4 83
5 Brown University 5 78
6 Johns Hopkins University 6 75
7 George Washington University 9 72
8 Harvard University 7 67
9 Gannon University 10 57
10 MIT 8 46
RV Iona College NR 12

The Division III poll saw the closest finish in the history of the preseason poll as University of Redlands, which finished third in the final 2006 poll, edged out Pomona Pitzer Colleges 95-to-94 to earn the #1 ranking in the nation. Pomona-Pitzer, which finsihed second in the final 2006 poll, is followed by former #1 ranked University of California-Santa Cruz (91), Johns Hopkins University (87) and California Lutheran University (81) to round out the top five teams.

Claremont Mudd Scripps Colleges (71), University of La Verne (64), Whittier College (54), Chapman College (53) and Occidental College (49) rank sixth through tenth, respectively.

Men's Division III National Collegiate Top 10 Poll

Rank School Name 2006 Final Poll Total Points
1 University of Redlands 3 95
2 Pomona-Pitzer Colleges 2 94
3 University of California, Santa Cruz 1 91
4 Johns Hopkins University 4 87
5 California Lutheran University 7 81
6 Claremont Mudd Scripps Colleges 6 71
7 University of La Verne 8 64
8 Whittier College 5 54
9 Chapman College 9 53
10 Occidental College RV 49
RV MIT 10 36

The pollsters did not stray far from the order of finish in the final 2006 poll in ranking the teams for the 2007 preseason as defending national champion Michigan State University of the Big 10 Conference is a unanimous pick to defend its title.

The Spartans, who knocked off Grand Valley State University 6-4 to capture the national title at the 2006 National Collegiate Club Championship hosted by Miami University (OH), are followed by Grand Valley State (95), Cal Poly State University (90), the University of Arizona (85), Florida International University (80), the University of Texas (71) and Williams College (70) in second through seventh place as the top seven teams of 2006 held onto their spots.

The University of California-San Diego (67), Slippery Rock University (58) and the University of Washington (57) finish out the Top 10 men's club teams in the nation.

Men's Collegiate Club Top 20 Poll

Rank School Name 2006 Final Poll Total Points
1 Michigan State University 1 100
2 Grand Valley State University 2 95
3 Cal Poly State University 3 90
4 University of Arizona 4 85
5 Florida International University 5 80
6 University of Texas 6 71
7 Williams College 7 (T)
70
8 University of California, San Diego 9 67
9 Slippery Rock University 7 (T)
58
10 University of Washington 9 57
11 University of Michigan 11 54
12 University of California, Los Angeles 13 45
13 Virginia Tech University 14 36
14 Miami University (OH) 15 35
15 University of California, Davis 12 24
16 Villanova University 15 23
17 University of Notre Dame 17 22
18 Boston College 18 21
19 University of Oregon 20 11
20 Purdue University 19 7
RV Yale University RV 4
RV Fresno State University 20 1

The National Varsity Top 20, CWPA, Division III and National Collegiate Club polls will be released each Wednesday during the season by 5:00 p.m.

 


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