CWPA Releases Week 3/February 8 Women's Varsity Polls

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. -- Stanford University, University of Redlands, Indiana University and Grove City College remain on top of the rankings as the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) released the Week 3/February 8 Women's Varsity National Top 20, Division III Top 10, CWPA Division I/II Top 10 and CWPA Division III Top Five Polls.

With several of the nation's top teams in action over the weekend, the Women's Varsity National Top 20 was shaken up. In the CWPA DI/DII Top 10, a three-way tie for second place has emerged in the race toward the CWPA Eastern Championship continues.

Voted on by a panel of coaches from the CWPA, Western Water Polo Association (WWPA), Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF), Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC), Big West Conference, Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the polls are compiled and released on Wednesday during the season through the week following the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship.

2012 Women's Varsity National Top 20

2011 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) champion Stanford University remained the most reveered team in the country as the Cardinal garnered 100 points to retain a unanimous selection in the 2012 Women's Varsity Week 3/February 8 National Top 20 Poll.

Stanford defeated three team's ranked in the Top Five of the Week 2/February 1 poll during a perfect weekend at the Stanford Invitational.

University of Southern California (USC) moved up to No. 2 with 94 points after knocking off the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), which moved to No. 3 with 89 points, and the University of California-Berkeley (87 points), which slipped from No. 2 to No. 4. Arizona State University (79 points), University of California-Irvine (72 points) and the University of Hawaii (71 points) each moved up to fill the No. 5-through-7 rankings, supplanting San Jose State University (66 points), which fell to No. 8. Indiana University (57 points) and San Diego State University (57 points) tied for No. 9 to round out the top 10.

The University of Michigan (48 points), Loyola Marymount University (44 points), University of California-Davis (37 points), Long Beach State University (35 points), Hartwick College (29 points) make up the remaining teams in the Top 15. The University of California-Santa Barbara (27 points), University of Maryland (19 points), University of California-San Diego (16 points), California State University-Northridge (13 points) and Princeton University (11 points) made up the remainder of the ranked teams in this week's poll. University of the Pacific (2 points), Colorado State University (1 point) and CSU Bakersfield (1 point) received votes but did not reach the Top 20.

2012 Women's Varsity Division III Top 10

The Women's Varsity Division III Top 10 poll went unchanged as the University of Redlands remained a unanimous No. 1 in the Week 3/February 8 poll.

Redlands, which captured the 2011 Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) title, concluded the 2011 season at No. 1 in the nation and will seek to repeat the feat in 2012.

Occidental College (92 points), Pomona-Pitzer Colleges (90 points), Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges (85 points) and California Lutheran University (83 points) complete the Top Five. Whittier College (75 points), Chapman University (68 points), University of La Verne (64 points), Grove City College (63 points) and Carthage College (33 points) round out the Top 10. Wheaton College (11 points) and McCalaster College (11 points) also received votes.

2012 Women's CWPA Division I/II Top 10

The race to the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Eastern Championship intensified in the Week 3/February 8 CWPA Division I/II Top 10 Poll.

Defending CWPA Eastern Champion Indiana University (99 points), who was inactive this weekend, remained atop the conference rankings. A two-way tie for third in the Week 2 poll has turned into a three-way tie for the No. 2 ranking as Hartwick College (90 points), the University of Michigan (90 points) and Princeton University (90 points) are deadlocked in the chase to catch the Hoosiers.

The University of Maryland (81 points), Harvard University (76 points), Brown University (69 points), Bucknell University (68 points), George Washington University (59 points) and Mercyhurst University (56 points) finish out the Top 10.

2012 Women's CWPA Division III Top 5

Grove City College remained a unanimous selection as the No. 1 team in the latest Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Top 5, garnnering 100 points in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Division III Week 3/February 8 Top Five Poll.

The 2010 and 2011 CWPA Division III champion, as the league's Division III members elected to philosophically separate from the Division I/II programs two seasons ago to contest their own championship, Grove City is striving for the program's third consecutive crown in 2012.

Carthage College (94 points) and Wheaton College (88 points) retained the No. 2 and No. 3 ranking, respectively. Meanwhile, Macalester College (84 points) moved past Washington & Jefferson College (68 points) and into the No. 4 ranking. Penn State University-Behrand (16 points) also recieved votes in this weeks poll.