COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - If the excitement of moving in to a brand new state-of-the-art facility wasn't enough on Monday, the Iowa Western Wrestling team learned that the target just got bigger when the NJCAA rankings were released Monday afternoon. The Reivers find themselves ranked second with 51 points just behind ICCAC foe, Ellsworth with 61.
Gone is last years NJCAA National Champion, Preston Lauterbach (184 lbs.) who pinned his way to the title. The Reivers will have plenty of experience however, as they return six national tournament qualifiers and one All-American off of last year's sixth place team, hungry for a shot at a national championship.
D'Andre Brumfield, the lone returning All-American for the Reivers, finds himself ranked first in the country at 133 lbs. after finishing his freshman campaign in sixth. Sophomores, Emmanuel Browne (125 lbs.) and Tell Ward (157 lbs.) enter the season ranked third in their respective weight classes followed by Seth Ham who is ranked fifth at 197 lbs., Cody Kingery who is ranked seventh at 174 lbs., and Heavyweight, Travis Gusan also ranked seventh.
The ICCAC as a conference showed well in the initial poll with five schools ranked in the top 11. After Ellsworth and Iowa Western, Iowa Central checks in at fourth followed by Iowa Lakes and NIACC ranked seventh and eleventh respectively.
The Reivers open up their season on Wednesday, November 8, 2017 at home versus NIACC at 7:00pm in Kanesville.
