College Power Rankings, Presented By NUTC [April 17, 2024]

Conferences twist the D-III women's rankings while scattered upsets shuffle the other divisions

April 17, 2024 by Ultiworld in Rankings with 0 comments

Ultiworld’s College Power Rankings, presented by the National Ultimate Training Camp!

While our College Power Rankings can always be found on our permanent rankings page, every week during the season we will post the current edition here on the front page to facilitate discussion in the comments and serve as a permalink for each week’s rankings.

Ultiworld Subscribers have access to team-by-team coverage in the Breakdown sections.

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D-I Women’s Divions Power Rankings

D-I Women’s Division Discussion

• UC Davis’ upset over UC Santa Cruz at NorCal Conferences pushed both teams around the board. UCSC fell to #15, while Rogue returned to the top 25 at #23.
• Over in the stacked Cascadia Conference, Victoria’s wins over WWU (12-9) and Washington (15-9!) were convincing enough to move them up five spots to #16. Both Washingtons dropped one spot.
• An 8-7 loss to Southern California and a fifth place finish at SoCal Conferences yanked Cal Poly SLO out of the top 25.

D-I Men’s Division Power Rankings

D-I Men’s Division Discussion

• UNC Wilmington’s Carolina Conferences win over NC State vaulted them back into the top 25, all the way up at #20. They’ve been up and down, but you can’t argue with their success when they’ve played well. NC State had a rocky weekend and fell to #17.
• Northwesterners UBC and Utah State both got knocked out. USU got rolled by Utah Valley while finishing third in the Big Sky Conference, while UBC lost 11-10 to Victoria, leading them to a fifth place finish in the Cascadia Conference. Meanwhile, Utah’s Big Sky win earned them another go ’round.

D-III Women’s Division Power Rankings

D-III Women’s Division Discussion

• North Central ConfRegionals pool play was wracked by wind that saw games decided by the flip, but Macalester and Grinnell backed up their upsets on Sunday, with Macalester notching a break on former #1 St. Olaf to claim the region and enter the top five. Grinnell meanwhile scored a second win over bid-earners Michigan Tech in the game-to-go to book their ticket to Nationals and the #14 spot. Though their Nationals trip was already assured, St. Olaf followed the loss to Macalester with an ugly 15-2 drubbing at the hands of Carleton that sees Vortex drop to #3.
• Many had Whitman Sweets pegged as title-contenders and they looked it through Northwest ConfRegionals pool play. But potential POTY Gemma Munck went down with an injury in the first-place game, and Whitman’s lead over Portland slipped to an 11-10 loss. Whitman dropped to the game-to-go, where the Sweets fell to Lewis & Clark to miss out on Nationals altogether. Artemis’ star rises to #9, and while there was discussion of dropping Whitman further, their impressive resume up to this point keeps them at #5.
• Three teams finished Pennsylvania Conferences with a 3-1 record, with the win by point diff going to…Scranton? Despite not playing a regular season tournament, the Electric City came out striking, only losing by one to #13 Lehigh and beating favorites to take the OV bid, #8 Haverford and Bryn Mawr. Without much data it’s unclear if this portends a new Nationals attendee or if it’s just a wacky D-III result, and Scranton enters at #24.
• Middlebury returned to form with an undefeated North New England Conferences, edging out upstart Bates by a single point. But Dartmouth did it first, beating Bates 7-6 in the second round of play to take second in the conference and reenter the top 25 at #20.
• Though Colorado College fell in pool play to #15 Trinity, Zenith rebounded on Sunday to the tune of a 13-4 win and the SC’s sole bid to Nationals.

D-III Men’s Division Power Rankings

D-III Men’s Division Discussion

• Berry and Ave Maria flip spots after Berry, powered by superstar Collin Hill, beat Gyrenes twice at SC ConfRegionals, including on universe to take the SC’s one bid.
• Bates’ win over Dartmouth en route to the North New England championship game, where they only lost to #4 Middlebury by two, sees Orange Whip’s stock rise three spots.
• Missouri S&T’s season isn’t over, but their current stint in the top 25 is after a blowout loss to #2 Oklahoma Christian at Ozarks Conferences, paired with losses to unranked Truman State and John Brown. In their place slot Navy off the back of an impressive East Coast Invite, with a loss to Union at FCS Tune Up keeping Poseidon at #25.