Regional Rankings in Division I XC Hold Steady Ahead of a Big Weekend of Races

NEW ORLEANS – With the true start of the regular season (explainer here) still a week away, the NCAA Division I Regional Team Rankings were largely kept in stasis for one last time before the inevitable turmoil that begins this weekend.

All eighteen regions—nine regions for each sex—saw the top two teams remain unchanged from a week ago in the week two edition released Monday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). In fact, fully two-thirds of the regional rankings kept their top seven teams fully intact.

Regional Rankings Summary PDF | Division I XC Rankings Central
MORE INFO: Week-by-Week 2014 | Week-by-Week Since 2010
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Six teams were particularly well-rewarded for their early season efforts. The North Carolina women moved up four spots to No. 2 in the Southeast Region, while North Texas men slid up four slots in the South Central Region. The women of Wyoming and BYU moved up three places in the Mountain and the Brown (Northeast) and Tulsa (Midwest) women each climbed four slots.

Overall, 266 of the 270 regionally ranked teams remained among their regions’ top 15. The four newbies were the men of Youngstown State (Great Lakes), Fordham (Northeast), Appalachian State (Southeast), and Wichita State (Midwest). That’s the first regional ranking for the Youngstown State men dating back at least to the beginning of the USTFCCCA archives in 2010.

Some streaks:

• The Arkansas women have been No. 1 in the South Central for seventeen straight rankings, dating back to the 2012 preseason; the Razorback men have been SC No. 1 for ten straight.
• The top of the South Central men’s rankings has been pretty static, as the Texas men have been No. 2 for the last nine polls.
• But not as static as the Mountain men, who have had the same top three in the same order for seven weeks in a row: No. 1 Colorado, No. 2 Northern Arizona, and No. 3 BYU. Northern Arizona has won the last two regional meets, but Colorado is the defending national champion.
• Georgetown’s women have been Mid-Atlantic No. 1 for 15 straight weeks.
• Stanford men have won the last three West Region titles, but it’s the men of Oregon who are regionally No. 1 for the seventh week in a row.
• But by far the longest streaks of all belong to Dave Smith’s Oklahoma State men (Midwest) and Karen Harvey’s Florida State (South), who have been atop their respective regions for each of the 33 weeks currently in the USTFCCCA archives.

With two major meets this weekend featuring numerous nationally ranked squads, next week’s polls will be sure to be less fossilized. The action kicks off Friday in Franklin Park, with Boston College’s Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown. Then Saturday’s Roy Griak Invitational at the University of Minnesota will be live on the internet.

NCAA Division I Regional Championships will be held around the country Friday, November 14.

USTFCCCA Regional Cross Country Rankings are determined subjectively by a single member coach in each respective region. The regional representative is tasked with weighing returning team strength with current-season results in determining predicted team finishes at the NCAA Regional Championships.