DWU football picked to finish 3rd in GPAC

LINCOLN, Neb. – After a 2013 season that saw the Dakota Wesleyan University football team win eight games for the first time since 1992 and for the third time in school history, the Tigers were picked to finish third in the Great Plains Athletic Conference preseason coaches' and media polls, it was announced Thursday.

The Tigers received 58 points in the coaches' poll, one point higher than Concordia University at 57 points. DWU received 62 points in the media poll, which was voted on by the members of the media in attendance.

"Last year was a good year for us," Cimpl said. "I would classify last year for us, as last year. It was a stepping stone for where we want to get to. We graduated 14 seniors last year and right now we only have eight. Our team consisted of a lot of freshman and sophomores the last two years who are now going to sophomores and juniors."

Defending GPAC champion Morningside College was picked to finish first in both polls, receiving all eight first-place votes by the media and nine of the 10 first-place votes by the coaches, who could not vote for their own school at No. 1. Northwestern College, which tied for second place with DWU at 7-2 in the GPAC in 2013, was voted second in both polls. Concordia was picked fourth in both polls.

Cimpl talked about DWU's momentum after winning seven of the final eight games in 2013 and how that has motivated the Tigers to prepare for the upcoming season.

"The dynamic of our offseason workouts changed," Cimpl said. "We had 45 guys on campus this summer, while two years ago we had eight. Hopefully that's a positive for us."

The Tigers play seven of their 11 games in 2014 at home. The DWU season opens against the University of Wisconsin-Stout at 1 p.m. on Sept. 6 at Joe Quintal Field in Mitchell.