Monday, October 25, 2010

No. 14 Preseason Ranking for IHCC

Ottumwa -- The Indian Hills Warriors will take a No. 14 national ranking into the upcoming season. The preseason National Junior College Athletic Association poll, released Monday, has the Warriors ranked higher than at any time last year, when Indian Hills finished 25-8.

The Warriors were ranked for only three weeks in the 2009-10 season and never higher than 19th in the national poll. This year’s ranking marks the fifth time in the past six seasons that Indian Hills has been ranked in the top 14 in the preseason poll. The only time in the last six years the Warriors entered the season unranked was last year when the Warriors won the conference title for the third time in four years.

Indian Hills’ schedule includes games against five teams that are nationally ranked in the preseason: Moberly Area Community College (No. 18) and Three Rivers CC (No. 23) in the Division I poll, Kirkwood CC (No. 4) and DMACC (No. 20) in DII and Milwaukee Area Technical College (No. 12) in DIII.

Two Texas schools, Midland and defending national champ Howard, are ranked one-two in the Division I poll. North Idaho is third. Indian Hills is the only member of its four-team conference that is ranked in the preseason.

Indian Hills opens the season at home against Flint CC on Nov. 4. The Warriors will then take on Southwest Academy and Ellsworth CC the next two nights in the Reed Overhead Doors Classic. The first six IHCC games are at home with the next six on the road.