2024 Men’s Varsity Week 8/October 30 Polls Released; University of California-Los Angeles & Pomona-Pitzer Colleges Top National Top 20 & Division III Top 10

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — The University of California-Los Angeles and Pomona-Pitzer Colleges rate at No. 1 in the National Top 20 and Division III Top 10 rankings as the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) releases the official 2024 Men’s Varsity Week 8/October 30 National Top 20, Division III Top 10, Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) Top Five and Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) Top Five Polls.

UCLA holds a nine-point lead in the National Top 20, while Pomona-Pitzer returns to the top spot in the Division III rankings following a one week reign by the University of Redlands.

Defending MAWPC champion Fordham University remains a unanimous No. 1 pick in its league rankings, while Princeton University maintains a narrow margin compared to Harvard University in the Northeast Water Polo Conference voting.

Voted on by a panel of coaches, the polls are compiled and released on Wednesday during each week of the season through the week following the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship.

2024 Men’s Varsity National Top 20 (Week 8/October 30)

The University of California-Los Angeles continues at No. 1 in the 2024 Week 8/October 30 National Men’s Varsity Top 20 Poll.

UCLA (99 points) – which returned to No 1 seven days ago following a two week run by Stanford University in the lead position – holds a nine-point margin over the runner-up(s).

History is made at No. 2 as Fordham University (91 points) pulls even with the University of Southern California (91 points) and Stanford University (91 points) to create a three-way logjam in the runner-up position.  The Rams’ runner-up placement is the highest by a team outside California in the history of men’s water polo since the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) began sponsoring a championship in the sport.

University of the Pacific (78 points) slips back to No. 5 with Princeton University (76 points) maintaining the Tigers’ prior placement at No. 6.  The University of California (67 points), the University of California-Irvine (66 points), Pepperdine University (61 points) and the University of California-Davis (54 points) complete the Top 10.

Long Beach State University (53 points) and San Jose State University (42 points) hang on at No. 11 and 12, respectively, for another seven-day run with the University of California-San Diego (40 points) and the University of California-Santa Barbara (36 points) climbing to No. 13 and 14.

California Baptist University (29 points) and Harvard University (26 points) back-up to No. 15 and 16 with Loyola Marymount University (22 points) and Santa Clara University (16 points)  breaking a tie at No. 17 to rate at No. 17 and 18.

Brown University (12 points) remains steady at No. 19, while George Washington University (3 points) breaks into the Top 20 by achieving the final position.

2024 Men’s Varsity Division III Top 10 (Week 8/October 30)

Pomona-Pitzer Colleges terminates a one-week run by the University of Redlands at No. 1 to reclaim the lead position in the 2024 Week 8/October 30 Men’s Varsity Division III Top 10 Poll.

Pomona-Pitzer (96 points) – which fell behind Redlands by a 98-to-95 score last week – returns to No. 1 as the Bulldogs dropped a 9-8 game in overtime to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges last week.  The loss slips Redlands (94 points) to No. 2, raises Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (92 points) up to No. 3 and drops California Lutheran University (87 points) back to No. 4 as the top four positions in the Division III rankings change hands.

Whittier College (78 points), Chapman University (77 points) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (68 points) stay at No. 5-to-7 with Occidental College (65 points) and the University of La Verne (50 points) trading the No. 8 and 9 berths.

Johns Hopkins University (34 points) gains company at No. 10 as Augustana College (34 points) pulls even with the Blue Jays.

2024 Men’s Varsity Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference Top 5 (Week 8/October 30)

Fordham University – which claimed the 2021, 2022 and 2023 Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference (MAWPC) Championships – remains on the path to a potential four-peat as the Rams continue to top the 2024 Week 8/October 30 MAWPC Top Five Poll.

The Rams (100 points) and George Washington University (95 points) remain at No. 1 and 2, while the United States Naval Academy (87 points) is tracked down by Bucknell University (87 points) to create at tie at No. 3.

Wagner College (81 points) completes the Top Five.

2024 Men’s Varsity Northeast Water Polo Conference Top 5 (Week 8/October 30)

Four-time Northeast Water Polo Conference (NWPC) champion Princeton University continues to hold a one-point lead over three-time winner Harvard University for the No. 1 position in the 2024 Week 8/October 30 NWPC Top Five Poll.

The 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2023 NWPC Champion Tigers (98 points) edged out the 2016, 2017 and 2019 NWPC Champion Crimson (97 points) by a single point last week to lead the NWPC Top Five poll for the first time since the Week 4 voting.

Seven days later and Princeton maintains the narrowest of leads over Harvard with Brown University (90 points), Iona University (85 points) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (80 points) continuing at No. 3-to-5.