Air Force First, St. Thomas Gains Ground in MCLA Division II Coaches Poll

ATLANTA — For the third consecutive week, Air Force sits astride the MCLA Division II New Balance Weekly Coaches Poll, which was released Wednesday.

The Falcons (7-0), which handed No. 19 Denver (5-1) its first loss over the weekend, has just two games left in the regular season and are favored to enter the RMLC playoffs as the top seed in the Southeast subdivision.

Air Force amassed 19 of the 27 first-place votes.

St. Thomas (7-0) was idle this week, but upped its first-place vote total to eight — a gain of two from the last session. The Tommies open their conference season against Central Michigan on Friday before clashing with arch-rival St. John’s on Saturday.

After breezing to a pair of comfortable wins, Montana State (6-1) remained firmly at No. 3, a full 30 points ahead of No. 4 UNC-Charlotte (6-0), which was also idle.

The Top 5 remained static with Grand Valley State (2-0) sitting at five after no action over the weekend. The Lakers tackle D-I Missouri on Sunday at home.

College of Idaho (4-1) dipped out of the poll, making way for No. 23 Bridgewater State (5-1).

MCLA DIVISION II COACHES POLL

1. Air Force, 667 (19 first-place votes)
2. St. Thomas, 656 (8)
3. Montana State, 601
4. UNC-Charlotte, 571
5. Grand Valley State, 542
6. Rhode Island, 538
7. Montana, 454
8. Florida Atlantic, 453
9. Coastal Carolina, 449
10. Kennesaw State, 444
11. Cal State San Marcos, 413
12. Dayton, 391
13. Wake Forest, 383
14. UC San Diego, 298
15. Northwest Nazarene, 288
16. North Dakota State, 277
17. Missouri State, 223
18. Florida Gulf Coast, 177
19. Denver, 160
20. Western Washington, 158
21. Minn.-Duluth, 145
22. Utah State, 124
23. Bridgewater State, 88
24. Loyola Marymount, 77
25. Northern Arizona, 64

Others receiving votes: College of Idaho (55), UC Davis (35), Appalachian State (21), St. John’s (11), Georgia Southern (6), Miami (3), Tulane (2), Central Washington (1)