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Stanford women's golf starts No. 1 in Preseason Mizuno WGCA Coaches Poll for 2024-25

Stanford Cardinal players celebrate with family after winning the NCAA Women's Golf Division I Championships at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa on May 22, 2024 in Carlsbad, California. (Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)
Stanford Cardinal players celebrate with family after winning the NCAA Women's Golf Division I Championships at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa on May 22, 2024 in Carlsbad, California. (Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)

The Women's Golf Coaches Association has released its preseason polls for the 2024-25 season.

The Preseason Mizuno WGCA Coaches Polls are headlined by Div. I, which is topped by the defending national champion Stanford Cardinal.

Stanford is a unanimous No. 1 with former Pac-12 rival USC starting in the No. 2 spot. NCAA runner-up UCLA will start third, with South Carolina and Texas tied for fourth.

In the wake of the latest round of college realignment, there are 10 SEC teams in the top 25. The breakdown:

  • SEC (10) - South Carolina, Texas, Auburn, Arkansas, Texas A&M, LSU, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss, Florida.

  • ACC (6) - Stanford, Wake Forest, Florida State, Duke, Clemson, Virginia.

  • Big Ten (5) - USC, UCLA, Oregon, Northwestern, Michigan State.

  • Big 12 (2) - Arizona State, Arizona.

Div. I Preseason Mizuno WGCA Coaches Poll

Rank

University (First-place votes)

Points

1

Stanford (31)

775

2

USC

692

3

UCLA

671

T4

South Carolina

599

T4

Texas

599

6

Auburn

565

7

Wake Forest

544

8

Arkansas

528

9

Texas A&M

480

10

Oregon

470

11

Northwestern

448

12

Arizona State

428

13

LSU

414

14

Florida State

356

15

Duke

349

16

Mississippi State

254

17

Arizona

247

18

Clemson

222

19

Vanderbilt

221

20

Virginia

204

21

Ole Miss

199

22

Florida

198

23

Michigan State

139

24

Pepperdine

134

25

San Jose State

47

Others receiving votes: Central Florida (39); North Carolina (36); Georgia (34); Southern Methodist University (29); California (26); Oregon State (20); Texas A&M - Corpus Christi (17); Kansas (17); Missouri State (14); Oklahoma State (13); Purdue (13); Georgia Southern (10); Ohio State (7); Baylor (6); Kansas State (5); Eastern Michigan (3); Alabama (3)

Dallas Baptist opens the season atop the Division II rankings after receiving eight first-place votes, followed by Flagler College at No. 2 with three votes. Findlay received one first-place vote to claim the No. 3 spot, while West Texas A&M and Anderson come in at No. 4 and No. 5, respectively.

Dallas Baptist golf. (Photo: Dallas Baptist golf)
Dallas Baptist golf. (Photo: Dallas Baptist golf)

Div. II Preseason Mizuno WGCA Coaches Poll

Rank

University (First-place votes)

Points

1

Dallas Baptist (8)

430

2

Flagler College (3)

409

3

Findlay (1)

396

4

West Texas A&M

382

5

Anderson

363

6

St. Mary's (Texas) (1)

336

7

Nova Southeastern

332

8

Lynn (2)

330

9

Indianapolis (3)

302

10

Rollins College

243

11

Saint Leo

234

T12

California State San Marcos

231

T12

Lee

231

14

Henderson State

227

15

Barry

196

16

Central Missouri

193

17

Grand Valley State

139

18

Wingate

113

19

Lander

104

20

Midwestern State

102

21

Florida Southern College

86

22

California State East Bay

63

23

Southwestern Oklahoma State

50

24

California State Monterey Bay

48

25

Rogers State

46

Others receiving votes: North Georgia (44); Tampa (35); Texas at Tyler (35); Augustana (South Dakota) (29); Ashland (23); Missouri-St. Louis (21); West Florida (19); California State Los Angeles (18); Lenoir Rhyne (14); Davenport (8); Eckerd College (6); Central Oklahoma (5); Northeastern State (3); Lincoln Memorial (1); Palm Beach Atlantic (1); Texas A&M International (1); Nebraska at Kearney (1)

In Division III, the defending NCAA champs Carnegie Mellon claims the top spot after receiving all but two first-place votes, while Emory and Pomona-Pitzer come in at a tie for the No. 2 spot. George Fox opens the season at No. 4, while Claremont-Mudd-Scripps rounds out the top five.

Div. III Preseason Mizuno WGCA Coaches Poll

Rank

University (First-place votes)

Points

1

Carnegie Mellon (17)

473

T2

Emory

439

T2

Pomona-Pitzer (1)

439

4

George Fox

407

5

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

393

6

Williams College

363

7

University of Redlands

328

8

Illinois Wesleyan

326

9

St. Catherine

313

10

Washington University in St. Louis

282

11

Amherst College

239

12

Wellesley College

236

13

Washington and Lee

215

14

Trinity (Texas)

184

15

Centre College

177

16

Carleton College

170

T17

Methodist (1)

151

T17

New York University

151

19

Mary Hardin-Baylor

136

20

Denison University

135

21

Hamilton College

93

22

Middlebury College

91

23

Grinnell College

83

24

Rhodes College

75

25

Randolph-Macon College

48

Others receiving votes: Chapman (47); Sewanee: The University of the South (35); Adrian College (20); Trinity College (20); Saint Mary's College (17); Wisconsin Whitewater (16); Central College (14); Oglethorpe (11); Ohio Northern (10); Christopher Newport (8); Rose Hulman Institute of Technology (7); Whitman College (6); California Lutheran (5); Calvin (3);  California Santa Cruz (3); LeTourneau (2); Macalester College (2); Hardin-Simmons (1); Trine (1)

In NAIA, last year's champs, Keiser, opens the season as the unanimous No. 1, followed by runner-up Oklahoma City and SCAD Savannah at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively.

NAIA Preseason Mizuno WGCA Coaches Poll

Rank

University (First Place Votes)

Points

1

Keiser (10)

100

2

Oklahoma City

83

3

SCAD Savannah

72

4

British Columbia

71

5

Texas Wesleyan

60

6

William Carey

48

7

Dalton State College

40

8

Lindsey Wilson College

33

9

Embry Riddle Aeronautical

14

10

Loyola New Orleans

8

Others receiving votes: Indiana Wesleyan (7); SCAD Atlanta (6); Truett McConnell (6); Ottawa University – Arizona (2)

The next Mizuno WGCA Coaches Poll will be released on Friday, Oct. 4.

About the Women’s Golf Coaches Association

The Women’s Golf Coaches Association, founded in 1983, is a non-profit organization representing women’s collegiate golf coaches. The WGCA was formed to encourage the playing of college golf for women in correlation with a general objective of education and in accordance with the highest tradition of intercollegiate competition. Today, the WGCA represents over 750 coaches throughout the U.S. and is dedicated to educating, promoting and recognizing both its members and the student-athletes they represent.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Stanford women's golf starts No. 1 in Preseason Mizuno WGCA Coaches Poll for 2024-25