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Wrestling captures No. 16 ranking in NAIA Top 20 Preseason Poll
By Matt Green
NAIA Wrestling Preseason Top 20 Coaches Poll
KANSAS CITY -- The Shorter University wrestling team garnered a No. 16 ranking in the NAIA Wrestling Preseason Top 20 Coaches Poll, which was released by the organization on Wednesday night.
Shorter's second-year program opened plenty of eyes across the country with its 20th place finish at the 2011 NAIA Wrestling National Championship and returns a healthy nucleus of that inaugural squad.
Three Shorter grapplers will open the 2011-12 season ranked nationally in their respective weight class.
Senior Raleigh Abbott, who climbed as high as No. 3 in the country at 165 last season, begins the 2011-12 season ranked No. 3 at 165 pounds. Abbott, who hails from Powder Springs, Ga., and McEachern High School, went 23-6 last season and posted a top 16 finish at the NAIA National Championship.
Sophomore Nate Galloway enters the season ranked No. 12 at 133, where he also earned a top 16 placing at last year's national tournament. Galloway, a native of Mableton, Ga., and former standout at Pebblebrook High, went 20-14 in 2010-11.
Newcomer Andrew Stivers is ranked 10th in the country in the heavyweight division and brings a wealth of collegiate experience to an otherwise young Shorter roster. Stivers, a junior, is a former Mid-South Conference standout and hails from Summerville, Ga.
Shorter's road to another strong finish at the NAIA Wrestling National Championship will once again wind through the nation's toughest conference. Shorter is one of four Mid-South Conference teams ranked in the Preseason Top 20 Poll and one of five to receive votes.
Campbellsville is the preseason No. 1-ranked team in the country, followed by fellow Mid-South members Lindsey Wilson (No. 8), University of the Cumberlands (No. 13) and Shorter. Cumberland University (Tenn.) gathered five votes to sit just outside of the Top 20.
The Hawks open the 2011-12 season at the Dan Harris Open in Baldwin, Kan., on Nov. 6 before hosting the 2nd Annual Shorter Open at the Winthrop-King Centre on Nov. 12. Shorter boasts four home competition dates in 2011-12 with the first coming on Dec. 11 when Shorter squares off with Mid-South rival Lindsey Wilson at 1 pm in the Winthrop-King Centre.
The Hawks will also wrestle at home on Jan. 21 (St. Andrew's Presbyterian and Darton), Jan. 25 (Truett-McConnell) and Feb. 11 (Cumberlands (Ky.) and West Virginia Tech).
