KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The University of Providence women's wrestling team remained in the Top 10 in the latest NAIA National Rankings that were released on Thursday.

"I'm pleased that we're still in the Top 10," head coach Matt Atwood said. "I still think there's some teams ranked above us that don't belong above us. There are some really good teams up there and I think we're right up there in the mix."

The Argos are the third highest ranked team in the poll from the Cascade Collegiate Conference. Menlo is the top-ranked CCC team at #3, while Southern Oregon is coming in at #5. Eastern Oregon is the other CCC represented in the poll, coming in at #18.

All seven CCC teams will be coming to Great Falls this Sunday for the CCC Tournament. The tournament, which will take place in the McLaughlin Center, will begin at 10:00 a.m.

"We have a tremendous opportunity to make some noise going into the conference tournament," Atwood said. "We have two teams coming that have been consistently ranked in the Top 5 in the country. They are high-ranked teams but there's an opportunity to close some gaps and win some matches that we're not supposed to win on paper. We've been wrestling really well. Practice today was really sharp. I expect some big things. We can win a lot these weights this weekend."

Eight Argo wrestlers are individually ranked in their respective weight classes.

Ivy Navarro #2 (101 lbs.)
Navarro dropped one spot to the #2 ranking after being the top-ranked wrestler the entire season. Navarro hadn't competed since the previous ranking, but Nina Pham (Wayland Baptist), last year's 101 lb. National Champion, reclassified into the 101 lb. weight class after competing in the 109 lb. weight class in the fall.

"Hopefully this fires Ivy up," Atwood said. "Ivy has been the top-ranked wrestler all season for a reason. She deserves to be #1. I'm expecting her to dominate at this conference tournament."

Paige Respicio #4 (136 lbs.)
Respicio moved up one spot in the rankings after previously being ranked #5. She is one of three Top 10 wrestlers in the 136 lb. weight class at the conference tournament this weekend.

"Paige is going to have two Top 10 wrestlers in her weight this weekend so it's definitely a good opportunity to show that she belongs," Atwood said. "It should be fun."

Ashley Gooman #6 (116 lbs.)
Gooman slid down one spot since the previous ranking. She is one of five wrestlers in the 116 lb. weight class that will compete this weekend.

"Ashley's in probably the toughest weight class," Atwood said. "We haven't wrestled a lot of the girls in this weight class so Ashley has a pretty good opportunity this weekend. She can beat anybody when it comes down to it. If she performs well there's nobody in the country that can beat her."

Sadie Antoque #12 (155 lbs.)
Antoque has moved up three spots since the previous ranking and Atwood believes she has an opportunity to make some noise this weekend.

"Sadie has been improving like crazy," Atwood said. "Sadie has been wrestling close with some of the top girls in the country. She has a pretty awesome opportunity this weekend to do some good things."

Ira Navarro #12 (101 lbs.)
Navarro slid down one spot due to Pham's entry into the weight class. Atwood believes that Navarro is criminally underrated and can cause some major damage at the conference and National Tournament.

"There's a lot of girls that are ranked ahead of Ira that I think she is better than," Atwood said. "The sky is the limit for her. She can be as good as she wants."

Lexi Tupuola #14 (191 lbs.)
Tupuola slid down one spot from the previous ranking. Tupuola is another wrestler that the coaching staff believes is vastly underrated.

"Lexi can beat anyone in the country," Atwood said. "Once we get her attacks going, she can out-hand fight anybody in the country. Lexi is up there for sure. She's going to have a tough weekend, there's going to be some battles. She's going to have to wrestle well and I know she can."

Morgan Mackey #15 (143 lbs.)
Mackey slid down one spot since the previous ranking. She missed the early part of the season due to an injury, and has looked solid since her return.

"Morgan has been looking sharp in practice," Atwood said. "She's getting better and better so we'll see what happens. I think she has a pretty good chance of getting to the finals this weekend."

Joji Miner-Ho #16 (170 lbs.)
Miner-Ho moved up one spot in the rankings to #16. Miner-Ho hasn't competed in awhile, but has been impressing both the coaching staff and her teammates in the practice room.

"Joji has been improving all year," Atwood said. "She's one of the hardest workers in the room. She hasn't gotten a lot of opportunity to compete this year so I'm excited for her to see what she can do this weekend."