Methodist Continues Hold on GCAA/Bridgestone Coaches Poll
Posted Friday, March 4, 2005
Methodist Continues Hold on GCAA/Bridgestone Coaches Poll NORMAN, Okla. ? Methodist continues its hold on the top spot in the Division III GCAA/Bridgestone Coaches Poll. The Monarchs earned eight first-place votes to stay No. 1. Guilford - who finished the fall ranked second - remained one spot behind Methodist. Positions three through five also say no change as Redlands, Oglethorpe and Saint John's held serve. Redlands and Saint John's each received one first-place vote. Emory jumped up two spots to sixth while Gustavus Adolphus climbed three places behind two first-place ballots. Nebraska Wesleyan, Otterbein and Central held eighth through No. 10. Greensboro and Huntingdon - who earned the final first-place tally - each moved up one position to Nos. 11 and 12, respectively. Texas Lutheran fell two places to No. 13. Ohio Wesleyan, Wisconsin-Eau Claire, LaVerne stayed in spots 14-16. Mary Hardin-Baylor, California Lutheran, La Grange and McMurray round out the top 20. Skidmore was tied at No. 21 for the second straight poll - this time with Denison. Rhodes - who was tied with Skidmore at No. 21 in the final fall poll - fell to No. 23 and is followed by Saint Thomas and Hardin-Simmons.
The GCAA/Bridgestone Coaches Poll is voted on by a panel of head coaches at Division III institutions. All are members of the Golf Coaches Association of America. The next Division III GCAA/Bridgestone Coaches Poll will be released March 25.
GCAA/Bridgestone Coaches Poll Top 25
Division III - March 4, 2005
Rank
University (First-Place Votes)
Points
Prev.
1
Methodist (8)
319
1
2
Guilford
287
2
3
Redlands (1)
273
3
4
Oglethorpe
263
4
5
Saint John's (1)
257
5
6
Emory
227
8
7
Gustavus Adolphus (2)
212
10
8
Nebraska Wesleyan
210
6
9
Otterbein
202
7
10
Central
159
9
11
Greensboro
154
12
12
Huntingdon (1)
147
13
13
Texas Lutheran
132
11
14
Ohio Wesleyan
128
14
15
Wisconsin-Eau Claire
125
15
16
LaVerne
115
16
17
Mary Hardin-Baylor
83
23
18
California Lutheran
79
25
19
La Grange
70
20
20
McMurray
68
19
T21
Denison
67
17
T21
Skidmore
67
T21
23
Rhodes
55
T21
24
Saint Thomas
51
18
25
Hardin-Simmons
50
24
Dropped From Rankings: none Others Receiving Votes: Randolph Macon 48, Franklin 27, St. John Fisher 27, Hope 26, Olivet 20, New York 19, College of New Jersey 18, Claremont McKenna-Mudd-Scripps 17, Hampden-Sydney 17, Illinois Wesleyan 15, Allegheny 15, Muskingum 15, Wartburg 15, Willamette 15, LeTourneau 14, Wooster 14, Rochester 13, Washington & Lee 10, Averett 9, Pacific Lutheran 9, Williams 5, Luther 4, Hamilton 3, Augustana 2, Southwestern 2, Trinity University 2, University of the South 2, Wesley 2, Husson 1, Millikin 1, Wisconsin Lutheran 1