Mountaineer Men Remain in Top-20 to Begin New Year
By Paul Hall on Monday, January 11th, 2021 in More Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
LA GRANDE – The NAIA released its third set of the top-20 rankings for the 2020-21 men’s wrestling season this past week. The Eastern Oregon University Mountaineers still sit in the top-20 entering the New Year.
EOU is exactly at the No. 20 spot in the first set of ranking released in 2021. The Mountaineers have been ranked in every set of ranking this season despite having not competed in an event. EOU did fall three spots from No. 17 from the last poll which was released back on Dec. 17, 2020.
Along with remaining in the top-20, the Mounties still have three grapplers that are individually ranked in the top-20 for their respective weight classes. Noel Orozco leads the trio with the No. 7 ranking at 285 pounds. Keegan Mulhill is second up at No. 9 for the 174-pound weight class. Marco Retano rounds out the group at 15th for 197 pounds.
Eastern Oregon is one of 10 CCC schools represented in the NAIA coaches’ poll and just one of three ranked in the top-20. Montana State-Northern and Vanguard sit ahead of EOU as both are tied for the No. 17 ranking. Arizona Christian, Providence (Mont.), Warner Pacific (Ore.), Southern Oregon, Simpson (Calif.), Corban (Ore.), and Life Pacific are all currently in the receiving votes category.
To see the full list of NAIA team and individual rankings, click the link above. The fourth edition of the coaches’ poll will be released Jan. 21.
