Top of the Division II National Coaches Poll Remains Steady
NEW ORLEANS – All was quiet through the first seven men’s and women’s positions in Wednesday’s U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II National Coaches Polls, but from No. 8 on down is a different story.
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On the women’s side Metro State and Edinboro reached all-time program-best ranks at No. 8 and No. 9, respectively, while Alaska Anchorage’s men jumped up two spots to a season-best No. 8 to headline the men’s poll.
Women
NCAA Division II National Coaches Poll Top 5 – Women |
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| GVSU | Adams St. | Augustana (S.D.) | Western St. | Alaska Anchorage |
| View Complete Women’s National Coaches Poll | ||||
For No. 8 Metro State combination of factors led to a one-spot improvement from last week’s all-time program-best rank. First, the Roadrunners notched a win over No. 10 UC-Colorado Springs at its home Roadrunner Invitational behind former National Athlete of the Week and individual champion Janelle Lincks and runner-up Amy Johnston.
Second, Southern Indiana dropped from No. 8 to No. 12 following its fourth-place showing among non-DI teams at Louisville, second among DII squads.
No. 9 Edinboro was first among DII units at Louisville to vault past the Screaming Eagles into a tie for its all-time best mark in program history. The Fighting Scots were also No. 9 for the final two weeks of the 2012 regular season.
From the top, unanimous No. 1 Grand Valley State finished runner-up among a mostly Division I field in the Gold race at the Notre Dame Invitational and No. 2 Adams State was idle. Adams State has been the No. 2 team in the nation in each of the past 13 editions of the National Coaches Poll (2013) or National Rankings (2012).
Augustana (S.D.) and Western State remain tied at No. 3 for the second consecutive week. The Vikings were the top non-DI program at the Arkansas Chile Pepper Festival with a sixth-place overall team finish behind top non-DI individual collegiate finisher and two-time National Athlete of the Week Runa Falch in 12th.
Western State posted a near-perfect team score of 16 at its home Mountaineer Open behind top finisher Tara Richardson, who won by nearly a minute over the rest of the field.
Alaska Anchorage, in action for the first time since early September, rounded out the top five. The Sea Wolves achieved a comfortable team victory at the Willamette Charles Bowles Invitational.
The Sea Wolves’ West Region rivals Chico State and Simon Fraser — both idle — remained stationary at No. 6 and No. 7, respectively.
No. 18 Shippensburg took the honor of biggest gainer this week, up six spots from a week ago. The Raiders were ranked No. 6 in the preseason, but had since tumbled all the way out of the poll and are now building up speed back toward the top.
Three squads return to the poll after having previously been ranked in No. 20 West Texas A&M, No. 24 Ferris State and No. 25 Mansfield. West Texas A&M started the preseason at No. 10, while Mansifeld was the preseason No. 12 and Ferris State had been the preseason No. 15.
New to this week’s poll are Alabama-Huntsville and Saginaw Valley State, both tied at No. 22.
For Alabama-Huntsville this is the first national ranking since a No. 24 mark just before the 2010 NCAA Championships and the third overall. The Cardinals of Saginaw Valley State were ranked as high as No. 16 last season leading up to a 12th-place finish at NCAAs, one year after a 13th-place showing.
Men
NCAA Division II National Coaches Poll Top 5 – Men |
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| Adams St. | Western St. | GVSU | Colorado Mines | Chico St. |
| View Complete Men’s National Coaches Poll | ||||
Alaska Anchorage moved up two spots to No. 8, its highest rank of the season so far, following a dominant team win at the Willamette Charles Bowles Invitational. Junior Dylan Anthony led three Sea Wolves among the top four finishers as the squad posted a score of 30.
Displaced by Alaska Anchorage were Edinboro and Missouri Southern, which both fell one spot each to No. 9 and No. 10, respectively. Edinboro was fourth among non-DI teams and second among DII programs at the Greater Louisville Classic, while Missouri Southern was third among DII programs at the Arkansas Chile Pepper Festival.
Finishing just ahead of MSSU as a team at Arkansas was West Texas A&M, which jumped nine spots to an all-time program-best No. 11 as a result.
From the top of the poll through spot No. 7 the order remained the same from a week ago. Adams State remained No. 1, a spot which it has occupied for all but one week (40 of 41) in 2011 since the beginning of the 2009 season, the beginning of the USTFCCCA records.
Western State scored a perfect 15 as a team to win its home Mountaineer Open behind individual winner Vegard Olstad. The Mountaineers are the only other team to have been ranked No. 1 since 2009, and have been No. 2 in 27 of the past 41 national lists.
No. 3 Grand Valley State took the team title in the Gold race at the Notre Dame Invitational, while No. 4 Colorado Mines and No. 5 Chico State were both idle.
No. 6 Augustana (S.D.) was the top non-DI program at Arkansas ahead of No. 11 West Texas A&M and No. 10 Missouri Southern. Southern Indiana was the top DII program at the Greater Louisville Classic behind top-four overall individual finishes by former National Athlete of the Week Johnnie Guy and Tyler Pence.
No new teams joined the men’s top 25 this week.
The Division II National Championships will be held Saturday,November 23, in Spokane, Wash.
USTFCCCA NCAA Division II |
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Men’s Cross Country National Rankings |
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2013 Week #4 — October 9 |
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| next release: October 16 | ||||||
| Rank | Institution (FPV) | Points | Region | Conference | Head Coach (Yr*) |
Last
Week |
| 1 | Adams State (7) | 199 | South Central | RMAC | Damon Martin (19th) |
1
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| 2 | Western State (1) | 193 | South Central | RMAC | Jennifer Michel (7th) |
2
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| 3 | Grand Valley State | 181 | Midwest | GLIAC | Jerry Baltes (15th) |
3
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| 4 | Colorado Mines | 173 | South Central | RMAC | Chris Siemers (2nd) |
4
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| 5 | Chico State | 169 | West | CCAA | Gary Towne (18th) |
5
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| 6 | Augustana (S.D.) | 161 | Central | NSIC | Tracy Hellman (13th) |
6
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| 7 | Southern Indiana | 156 | Midwest | GLVC | Mike Hillyard (16th) |
7
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| 8 | Alaska Anchorage | 140 | West | GNAC | Michael Friess (24th) |
10
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| 9 | Edinboro | 118 | Atlantic | PSAC | Rick Hammer (1st) |
8
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| 10 | Missouri Southern | 116 | Central | MIAA | Bryan Schiding (1st) |
9
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| 11 | West Texas A&M | 115 | South Central | Lone Star | Darren Flowers (5th) |
20
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| 12 | Lock Haven | 111 | Atlantic | PSAC | Aaron Russell (16th) |
14
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| 13 | Mount Olive | 106 | Southeast | Conf. Carolinas | Matt van Lierop (5th) |
12
|
| 14 | Malone | 85 | Midwest | GLIAC | Jack Hazen (47th) |
19
|
| 15 | Central Missouri | 84 | Central | MIAA | Kirk Pedersen (27th) |
15
|
| 16 | Metro State | 80 | South Central | RMAC | Nick Maas (1st) |
17
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| 17 | UC San Diego | 78 | West | CCAA | Nate Garcia (7th) |
18
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| 18 | Shippensburg | 53 | Atlantic | PSAC | Steve Spence (16th) |
21
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| 19 | Cal Poly Pomona | 50 | West | CCAA | Octavious Gillespie-Bennett (2nd) |
22
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| 19 | New Mexico Highlands | 50 | South Central | RMAC | Bob DeVries (22nd) |
11
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| 21 | Cedarville | 47 | Midwest | G-MAC | Paul Orchard (11th) |
16
|
| 22 | Ashland | 41 | Midwest | GLIAC | Trent Mack (4th) |
24
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| 23 | Stonehill | 33 | East | Northeast-10 | Karen Boen (16th) |
25
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| 24 | Sioux Falls | 23 | Central | NSIC | Grant Watley (2nd) |
22
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| 25 | American International | 14 | East | Northeast-10 | Leo Mayo (8th) |
13
|
| Also Receiving Votes: Franklin Pierce 9, Southwest Baptist 4, Neb.-Kearney 4, UC-Colorado Springs 3, Ferris State 2, Alabama-Huntsville 1, Montana St.-Billings 1 | ||||||
| Dropped Out: No. 25 Southwest Baptist | ||||||
| (* year as head coach of that team in men’s cross country, officially NCAA-recognized coach listed) | ||||||
USTFCCCA NCAA Division II |
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Women’s Cross Country National Rankings |
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2013 Week #4 — October 9 |
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| next release: October 16 | ||||||
| Rank | Institution (FPV) | Points | Region | Conference | Head Coach (Yr*) |
Last
Week |
| 1 | Grand Valley State (8) | 200 | Midwest | GLIAC | Jerry Baltes (15th) |
1
|
| 2 | Adams State | 191 | South Central | RMAC | Damon Martin (26th) |
2
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| 3 | Western State | 179 | South Central | RMAC | Jennifer Michel (7th) |
3
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| 3 | Augustana (S.D.) | 179 | Central | NSIC | Tracy Hellman (13th) |
3
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| 5 | Alaska Anchorage | 170 | West | GNAC | Michael Friess (24th) |
5
|
| 6 | Chico State | 161 | West | CCAA | Gary Towne (18th) |
6
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| 7 | Simon Fraser | 151 | West | GNAC | Brit Townsend (14th) |
7
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| 8 | Metro State | 138 | South Central | RMAC | Nick Maas (1st) |
9
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| 9 | Edinboro | 134 | Atlantic | PSAC | Rick Hammer (1st) |
14
|
| 10 | UC-Colorado Springs | 125 | South Central | RMAC | David Harmer (2nd) |
10
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| 11 | Minnesota Duluth | 113 | Central | NSIC | Joanna Warmington (3rd) |
13
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| 12 | Southern Indiana | 107 | Midwest | GLVC | Mike Hillyard (17th) |
8
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| 13 | Indiana (Pa.) | 102 | Atlantic | PSAC | Joey Zins (5th) |
11
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| 14 | Malone | 100 | Midwest | GLIAC | Jack Hazen (23rd) |
15
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| 15 | Hillsdale | 86 | Midwest | GLIAC | Andrew Towne (3rd) |
16
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| 16 | Pittsburg State | 78 | Central | MIAA | Russ Jewett (28th) |
17
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| 17 | Midwestern State | 77 | South Central | Lone Star | Koby Styles (7th) |
17
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| 18 | Shippensburg | 57 | Atlantic | PSAC | Steve Spence (16th) |
24
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| 19 | U-Mary | 53 | Central | NSIC | Dennis Newell (8th) |
21
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| 20 | West Texas A&M | 48 | South Central | Lone Star | Kimberly Dudley (16th) |
NR
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| 21 | Stonehill | 28 | East | Northeast-10 | Karen Boen (16th) |
22
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| 22 | Alabama-Huntsville | 22 | South | Gulf South | David Cain (16th) |
RV
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| 22 | Saginaw Valley State | 22 | Midwest | GLIAC | Rod Cowan (4th) |
NR
|
| 24 | Ferris State | 15 | Midwest | GLIAC | Steve Picucci (6th) |
RV
|
| 25 | Mansfield | 13 | Atlantic | PSAC | Mike Rohl (11th) |
NR
|
| Also Receiving Votes: Tampa 11, Columbus State 11, UW-Parkside 8, Southwest Baptist 7, Eastern New Mexico 7, Cal State Stanislaus 3, Neb.-Kearney 3, California (Pa.) 1 | ||||||
| Dropped Out: No. 12 UW-Parkside, No. 19 Tampa, No. 20 California (Pa.), No. 23 Columbus State, No. 24 Dallas Baptist | ||||||
| (* year as head coach of that team in women’s cross country, officially NCAA-recognized coach listed) | ||||||
