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First Semester Lifts Team Four Places
The National Junior College Athletic Association updated its national wrestling rankings for the first time in almost two months and the change brought good news to the Northwest College Trappers. Thanks to the strength of their first semester performance, NWC rose four spots to seventh in the nation.
Northwest had started the season ranked 11th in the preseason poll. The new rankings are the first changes to the poll this season.
The Trappers also have six individuals ranked in the top 12 of their individual weight classes. That list is led by the freshman tandem of Cody Vichi (125) and Zach Loveless (141). Both Vichi, a Rock Springs freshman, and Loveless, a Payson, Utah, product, are ranked third in their respective weight classes.
Sophomore Colton Thornton holds down the No. 7 ranking at 157 pounds. Freshman Diorian Coleman (165) and redshirt freshman Colby Kloetzer (149) are both ranked eighth in their divisions. Star Valley freshman T.J. Guild rounds out the Trappers’ list of nationally acclaimed wrestlers, holding the No. 11 ranking at 133 pounds.
The Trappers are currently on holiday break. The team returns to action on Jan. 5 at the Utah Valley Open. Northwest will also travel to Kansas for a series of early-January duals against former North Central zone rivals.
Northwest will compete against schools from the Pacific Northwest region this February for the right to compete at the national tournament.
Complete team rankings:
1. North Idaho
2. Labette
3. Clackamas
4. Niagara County
5. Iowa Western
6. Colby
7. Northwest
8. Ridgewater
9. Nassau
10. Ellsworth
11. Iowa Central
12. Pratt
13. Gloucester County
14. (tie) Neosho County and Western Wyoming
16. Muskegon
17. Iowa Lakes
18. Southwestern Oregon
19. Lincoln
20. Highline
Receiving votes: Mercyhurst Northeast, Springfield Tech, North Iowa Area, Harper, Northwest Kansas Tech, Rend Lake, Rochester, Middlesex County, Jamestown.