By Robert McKinney, Athletics Communications Director, (503) 370-6110

SALEM, ORE. -- Willamette University, which concluded the year with an 8-2 overall record, moved up one spot to #21 in the final regular season D3Football.com Top 25 for 2009. The Bearcats defeated Menlo College, 48-10, to end the season and improve to 5-1 (2nd place) in the Northwest Conference.

D3Football.com Top 25

The #1 team remained Mount Union College, 10-0, with 19 of 25 first place votes and 619 points in the poll. Holding at #2 was the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, also 10-0. UWW received the six remaining first place votes and earned 606 points.

Wesley College (Del.) was #3 with a 10-0 record and 567 points. St. John's University (Minn.), 10-0, was ranked #4 with 536 points. Linfield College, 9-0, kept the #5 position and received 509 points. The top 15 teams all retained their rankings from the previous week.

Willamette was the fourth highest ranked team with two losses in this week's Top 25. Ohio Northern University, 8-2, remained at #13, North Central College (Illinois), 8-2, fell one spot to #17, 49-24), and Mississippi College, 8-2, held at #19.

The Bearcats were ranked one spot in front of California Lutheran University, which moved into the Top 25 at #22 with a 9-1 record. Willamette defeated CLU, 20-13, on Sept. 12 to give the Kingsmen their only loss of the regular season. Other new additions to the Top 25 were Monclair State University (N.J.), 9-1, at #24 and Coe College (Iowa), 9-1, at #25.