USC, Johns Hopkins & Navy Top November 26 National Men's Varsity Polls

BRIDGEPORT, Pa. -- The University of Southern California, Johns Hopkins University and the United States Naval Academy top the national scene as the November 26 Varsity Top 20, Division III Top 10 and Collegiate Water Polo Association Top 10 polls were released by the CWPA office.

In the Varsity Top 20 poll, the Trojans of USC held firm as the best in the nation after claiming the No. 1 ranking nine weeks ago for the first time since 2007. Like the previous six weeks, the Trojans garnered 100 points and are a unanimous choice as the top team in the nation.

The poll saw radical changes in the Top 10 as only three teams (No. 1 USC, No. 9 UC-San Diego, No. 10 UC-Irvine) held their spots from the November 19 balloting.

Stanford University, the University of California-Berkeley and Pepperdine University moved up to No. 2-4, respectively, while the University of California-Los Angeles fell three places to No. 5.  Loyola Marymount University climbed two places to No. 6 to surpass the University of California-Santa Barbara and Long Beach State University, while the University of California-San Diego and the University of California-Irvine round out the Top 10.

The United States Naval Academy jumped three spots to No. 11 to lead the next 10 of the Top 20 poll, while the University of California-Davis, Princeton University, St. Francis College (N.Y.) and Santa Clara account for positions No. 12-15.

The University of the Pacific, Brown University, California Baptist University, the United States Air Force Academy and Bucknell University round out the poll in the final five teams.

Johns Hopkins leads the Division III poll for another week as the Blue Jays garnered 98 points to hold onto their stake as the best small college team in the nation. 

The University of Redlands, California Lutheran University, Pomona-Pitzer College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Occidental College, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges, Whittier College, the University of California-Santa Cruz and Chapman University round out the Top 10 teams.

The United States Naval Academy, which was tied for No. 3 last week with Brown University, took possession of the top spot in the Collegiate Water Polo Association poll as the Midshipmen were a unanimous choice after capturing the 2008 Eastern Championship over the weekend at home in LeJeune Hall.

Overall, the top eight spots in the poll mirror the order of finish at the Eastern Championship with Princeton University, St. Francis College, Brown University, Bucknell University, Johns Hopkins University, MIT and Iona College falling into line at No. 2-8. 

Fordham University is the first non-Eastern Championship team participant in the poll as the team moved up from 10th to ninth to drop George Washington University back to 10th.