Kansas City, Mo. - The Central Methodist Men's Wrestling team opens the New Year ranked 14th in the fourth edition of the NAIA Top 25 Coaches' Poll.
Other Heart programs featured or mentioned in the poll include; No. 1 Grand View, No. 12 Missouri Valley, No. 19 Missouri Baptist, No. 25 Dickinson State, (RV) Baker, (RV) Graceland, (RV) St. Ambrose, (RV) William Woods, (RV) Benedictine, and (RV) William Penn.
Additionally, Central has nine grapplers individually ranked. They are led by junior heavy weight Austin Foye, who remains No. 1 in the 285 pound weight class for the fourth consecutive poll.
Roman Garcia lands is fourth at 174 pounds followed by Eric Hodge, who lands at No. 12 in the 165 pound weight class.
Both Drew Cooper and Cameron Cornman come in at No. 17 at 133 and 197 pounds respectively. Alex Walker is No. 19 at 149 and Brayden Forman No. 20 at 157 pounds.
Griffin Ray (184) and Arojae Hart (141) round out Central's ranked wrestlers at No. 24 and No. 25 respectively.
The Eagles are set to compete in the highly touted NWCA National Duals beginning Friday, Jan. 9 at 10:00 a.m. at the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
To view the poll methodology and the complete Top 25 poll, please see below.
| RANK | LAST TIME | INSTITUTION | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Grand View (Iowa) | 246 |
| 2 | 2 | Life (Ga.) | 238 |
| 3 | 4 | Southeastern (Fla.) | 235 |
| 4 | 3 | Indiana Tech | 212 |
| 5 | 5 | Southern Oregon | 194 |
| 6 | 6 | Oklahoma City | 182 |
| 7 | 7 | Campbellsville (Ky.) | 154 |
| 8 | 8 | Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) | 151 |
| 9 | 10 | Cumberland (Tenn.) | 135 |
| 10 | 13 | Providence (Mont.) | 133 |
| 11 | 9 | Doane (Neb.) | 128 |
| 12 | 11 | Missouri Valley | 125 |
| 13 | 12 | Cumberlands (Ky.) | 109 |
| 14 | 14 | Central Methodist (Mo.) | 104 |
| 15 | 15 | Arizona Christian | 85 |
| 16 | 17 | Marian University (Ind.) | 60 |
| 17 | 20 | Friends (Kan.) | 58 |
| 18 | 16 | Corban (Ore.) | 57 |
| 19 | 19 | Missouri Baptist (Mo.) | 56 |
| 20 | 18 | Saint Mary (Kan.) | 55 |
| 21 | 20 | Wayland Baptist (Texas) | 52 |
| 22 | 22 | Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) | 49 |
| 23 | RV | Reinhardt (Ga.) | 47 |
| 24 | RV | Montana State-Northern | 43 |
| 25 | 24 | Morningside (Iowa) | 41 |
| 25 | 23 | Dickinson State (N.D.) | 41 |
Receiving Votes: Baker (Kan.) 39, Eastern Oregon 39, Midland (Neb.) 33, Hastings (Neb.) 27, Concordia (Neb.) 26, Keiser (Fla.) 26, Cleary (Mich.) 24, Lourdes (Ohio) 23, Briar Cliff (Iowa) 22, Northwestern (Iowa) 20, Rio Grande (Ohio) 18, Brewton-Parker (Ga.) 18, Rochester Christian (Mich.) 16, Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) 16, Georgetown (Ky.) 15, Graceland (Iowa) 15, St. Ambrose (Iowa) 15, William Woods (Mo.) 15, Ottawa (Kan.) 14, Cornerstone (Mich.) 13, Oklahoma Wesleyan 13, Benedictine (Kan.) 13, Westcliff (Calif.) 10, Evergreen State (Wash.) 9, William Penn (Iowa) 7, Siena Heights (Mich.) 7, St. Thomas (Fla.) 5, Avila (Mo.) 5, Texas Wesleyan 5, Truett-McConnell (Ga.) 2.
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