Looking For Winter Wins
All five winter programs find themselves ranked in the NCAA Division II top-25 this season. History has already fallen for California Baptist University for two of these programs, with wrestling and women’s basketball already out to impressive starts.
Women’s basketball began the season with a program-best 7-0 start and peaked as high as No. 2 in Division II before suffering its first loss. The Lancers are averaging 83.38 points per game and have blown out their opposition by an average of more than 20 points a game in wins, as they look to build on their runner-up finish in D-II a season ago.
There have been a number of firsts accomplished by CBU wrestling early on this year. Most recently, the team took 27th at the elite Cliff Keen Invitational, which was tops among all Division II squads competing, and had a wrestler place in the top-eight for just the second time in program history.
Joe Fagiano took seventh in the heavyweight bracket and defeated a top-six ranked opponent from NCAA Division I, which was a first for the Lancers. Fagiano also played a huge role in CBU’s other banner achievement this year, a 23-18 victory over fourth-ranked Mercyhurst of Division II.
Both swim and dive teams are among the top-13 teams in Division II, with the women ranked sixth and the men 13th. They are both undefeated in events where team scores are kept, as well. A host of qualifying times have been posted by each side so far, with Alena Rumiantceva notching a rare automatic time already for the Lancers.
With wins in its first six games, men’s basketball climbed as high as No. 4 in the rankings this year and still holds in the top 20 with a 9-2 record at this point. CBU debuted at 11th in D-II and opened the season with an upset of No. 9 Minnesota State-Moorhead in overtime and has not looked back from there.