Poets back to No. 1 in CWPA D-III poll
Photo by: Paul Adams
BRIDGEPORT, Pa. - The Whittier College men's water polo team returned to the top spot in last week's Collegiate Water Polo Association Division III poll and when the CWPA released its 13th poll of the year today the Poets remained No. 1 in the country.
Whittier finished the season second in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and placed fourth at the Western Water Polo Association Championships.
The fourth place finish at the WWPA Championships was the highest in program history.
The purple and gold garnered 96 points to hold off Redlands who was second in the poll with 95 points. The Poets and Bulldogs met twice during the season with each team winning a contest. Redlands won the SCIAC Championships after Whittier was upset in the conference tournament semifinals but UR only managed a seventh place finish at the WWPA Championships while the Poets advanced to the semifinals.
Both Whittier and Redlands, along with Johns Hopkins, all received a vote towards the Varsity Top 20.
Claremont-M-S, JHU and Pomona-Pitzer round out the Division III Top 5.
No Division III team has any games remaining on its schedule. The CWPA will release its final poll of the year next Wednesday. Despite the fact that no games were played among D-III teams after last week's poll was released there was still a bit of shuffling among the Top 10.
Last week the Poets held a 96-94 advantage in points over the Bulldogs but UR was able to close the gap to one point this week.
Chapman, MIT, Cal Lutheran, Occidental and Washington & Jefferson make up spots six through 10 in the D-III poll.
The last time the Poets finished the season ranked No. 1 in the final D-III poll was in 2004.
Also see:
