Northwestern College remains #18 in the newest NAIA Rankings despite Nic Leither and Levi Price’s rise in the polls.Notre Dame College (Ohio) remained at No. 1 in the second edition of the NAIA Wrestling Coaches' Top 20 Poll, the NAIA announced Tuesday. Northwestern increased its points from 12.5 in the November 24th poll to 19 and closed the gap between itself and some other top programs.
“This is a testament to our hard work,” says 2nd Year Coach Rik Dahl. “We have a young team and have worked to get these guys ready to compete at a high level. We are not where we want to be, but with the leadership provided by Price, Leither, Heiberger, and the other upper class-men, we believe we have a shot at competing and breaking the top ten by the end of the season.”
Coach Dahl said, “Leither has had a great first semester. He made a tough decision last fall to focus on wrestling and if this semester tells him anything, it is paying off. He has key wins in these early tournaments and Levi had a rough finish last year with his knee injury and disappointing tournament finish. He has look solid this fall. He is so hard to score on and get out of position. He is opening up more on his feet, and this will make him pretty dangerous.”
The Raiders have been blessed thus far and have qualified seven wrestlers to the National Qualifier in Oklahoma City including: Angelo Quintana (125); Matt Dowell (141); Jerod Flores (141); Levi Price (149); Luke Evjen (165); David Carter (174) and Nic Leither (197).
In addition to the national rankings, the Raiders had several wrestlers make it on the Northern Qualifying Group Rankings that came out on December 7th. These include:
Diego Quintana - #6 @ 125 lbs.
Matt Dowell - #4 @ 141
Jerod Flores - #6 @ 141
Levi Price - #1 @ 149
Luke Evjen - #2 @ 165
David Carter – 36 @ 174
Nic Leither - #1 @ 197
Brad Hughes - #6 @ 285
The national poll was voted upon by a panel of head coaches representing each of the groupings. The next poll will be announced on Dec. 22.
| Team Ratings | ||
| Rank | School Name | Total Team Points |
| 1 | Notre Dame (Ohio) | 101 |
| 2 | California Baptist (Calif.) | 85.5 |
| 3 | Missouri Valley (Mo.) | 84 |
| 4 | Great Falls (Mont.) | 82.5 |
| 5 | Southern Oregon (Ore.) | 78 |
| 6 | McKendree (Ill.) | 77 |
| 7 | Grand View (Iowa) | 63 |
| 8 | Oklahoma City (Okla.) | 56 |
| 8 | Lindenwood (Mo.) | 56 |
| 10 | Cumberland(Tenn.) | 37.5 |
| 11 | Campbellsville (Ky.) | 31.5 |
| 12 | Dana (Neb.) | 30 |
| 13 | Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) | 29.5 |
| 14 | DickinsonState(N.D.) | 29 |
| 15 | Montana State-Northern (Mont.) | 27.5 |
| 16 | Missouri Baptist (Mo.) | 26 |
| 17 | Jamestown(N.D.) | 20.5 |
| 18 | Northwestern (Iowa) | 19 |
| 19 | Morningside (Iowa) | 15 |
| 20 | Simon Fraser (B.C.) | 13.5 |
| 20 | Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) | 13.5 |
Others receiving votes:Waldorf (Iowa) 10; Hastings College (Neb.) 7.5; Menlo (Calif.) 6.5; Cumberlands (Ky.) 2.5; Baker (Kan.) 2; William Penn (Iowa) 2
Please click here to view the individual ratings.
