NAIA Coaches' Poll- Preseason

Kansas City, MO – The UC women's wrestling team secured their highest preseason ranking since the 2018-19 season, coming in at #5, announced by the national office on Thursday. Cumberlands earned 139 points by having 11 wrestlers ranked in the top-20 of their respective weight classes.

The Patriots finished last season ranked 8^th, based on how they finished at the NAIA Tournament. Of the 11 wrestlers ranked, UC has seven in the top-10 with four in the top-five.

Leading the way for UC is Dymond Guilford, holding on to her #1 ranking at the 170-weight class. Guildford is coming off a national championship, only losing one match all year. Also in the 170-weight class is Chamira Cooper, moving up to #4 after finishing in fifth last year. Cooper is a two-time All-American and one-time MSC All-Conference honoree.

After making a statement in the NAIA Championships, being unseeded and finishing third, Alexis Medina holds her #3 ranking for the 109-weight class. Jaine Stephens also has the #15 ranking for the same weight class.

Jesse Kirby is the defending Mid-South Conference Champion and comes in ranked at 5^th in the 191-weight class. The Pats also have the 2021 191-weight class champion in MaQuoia Bernabe who is ranked 11^th to being the season.

An All-American back in the 2020-21 campaign, Angelina Castaneda is in the top-10 for the 101-weight class, holding on to the #9 NAIA ranking.

Only being ranked one time last season, Courtney Pittman has her best ranking to being the year coming in at #19 for the 123-weight class.

Rounding out the rankings for UC, is freshman Leah Brown. Her standout high school career put Brown at the 20^th spot for the 155-weight class.

Cumberlands is the second highest ranked MSC team, only behind defending National Champions, Campbellsville who has the top spot. Life (7), Indiana Tech (9) and Brewton-Parker (13) all represent the MSC in the top-20 rankings. Lourdes and St. Andrews are receiving votes to give the MSC seven teams in the poll.

The Patriots are gearing up for their first competition of the season taking place on November 5. UC will travel to the Falcon Invite in Park City, KS with a 9:30AM ET start.

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