Virginia Wesleyan stays No. 1 in NFCA Division III Top 25
May 6, 2019 | News | No Comments
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Two-time defending national champion Virginia Wesleyan University stayed in the top spot in the NFCA Division III Top 25 following another 4-0 week.
The (31-2) Marlins have now won 12 straight, and are back on track after dropping to No. 2 for two weeks before reclaiming the top spot on April 10. Before that, Virginia Wesleyan had held the No. 1 position for 25 straight weeks — a span of 720 days, which included two NCAA Division III titles.
East Texas Baptist (32-2) remained No. 2 for a second consecutive week despite dropping the third game of its American Southwest Conference series at Hardin-Simmons on a two-run walkoff homer. That loss snapped a 12-game win streak and was just the Tigers’ second defeat in 34 games.
Williams (23-4) has now won 12 straight, and gained four more places to take over the third spot this week, while St. Thomas (28-4), which is riding a 13-game win streak, moved all the way from 11th to fourth. Last week’s third through sixth teams — who all lost a game — fall in line after that to round out the top eight.
Elsewhere, Birmingham-Southern (31-5) surged six spots to No. 12 after extending its win streak to 18, Luther (27-4) moved into to a tie for 16th after sweeping a ranked matchup with No. 9 Coe, Southwestern (29-4) gained two spots after winning its 18th straight, and Thomas More (25-9), which has won 20 of its last 22, joined the mix for the first time this season at No. 25.
The NFCA Division III Top 25 Poll is selected by eight NCAA Division III head coaches representing the eight NCAA regions. Current 2019 records are listed, with first-place votes in parentheses.
NFCA Division III Top 25 Poll – April 17, 2019
Rank
Team
2019 Record
Points
Previous
1
Virginia Wesleyan (8)
31-2
200
1
2
East Texas Baptist
32-2
192
2
3
Williams
23-4
184
7
4
St. Thomas (Minn.)
28-4
176
11
5
Christopher Newport
26-4
168
3
6
Illinois Wesleyan
21-6
160
4
7
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
27-6
152
5
8
Linfield
28-5-1
144
6
9
Coe
28-7
136
8
10
Trine
22-4
128
9
11
Moravian
28-4
120
10
12
Birmingham-Southern
31-5
110
18
13
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
19-6
99
13
14
Ithaca
19-5-1
85
14
15
Texas Lutheran
25-7
81
15
T16
Luther
27-4
79
17
T16
The College of New Jersey
24-6
79
20
18
Manhattanville
29-2
57
16
19
Kean
28-5
52
23
20
Brandeis
20-1-1
41
21
21
Wisconsin-Eau Claire
17-4-1
37
22
22
Lynchburg
29-9
32
19
23
Southwestern
29-4
29
25
24
Rowan
20-10
20
12
25
Thomas More
25-9
12
NR
Others receiving votes: Geneseo 10, Mount Saint Joseph 5, Endicott 3, Millikin 2, New Paltz 2, Whitworth 2, Pomona-Pitzer 1, and Wartburg 1.
Dropped out: Baldwin Wallace, Emory, Muskingum and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
* NOTE: Texas-Tyler is reclassifying to NCAA Division II, and Pfeiffer continues the process of going from Division II to Division III. Neither is eligible for the NCAA Division III Championship.
