Week 4 Division III Rankings Feature Three New Men’s No. 1s, Three New Women’s No. 2s

NEW ORLEANS—After spicy head-to-head match-ups at Paul Short and SUNY Geneseo, three new NCAA Division III men’s teams rose to No. 1 in their respective regions.  The Regional Cross Country Rankings were released Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

Regional Rankings Summary PDF | Week by Week PDF
Men’s Regions | Women’s Regions

DIII XC Rankings Central

The Williams-St. Lawrence rematch at Paul Short played a huge role in the New England and Atlantic men’s rankings. Williams’s 474-557 win over the Saints was enough to garner the Ephs six of the eleven first-place votes, as they retook the No. 1 New England ranking back from idle Colby.

In the Atlantic, St. Lawrence actually received one more first-place-vote than new No. 1 SUNY Geneseo.  But Geneseo’s dominating home meet win over nationally ranked Dickinson and SUNY Oneonta was enough to, like Williams, retake their preseason No. 1 ranking.

The third new No. 1 were Christopher Newport men in the South/Southeast.  That’s the first time since at least 2009 (the first year of regional polling data on hand) that the Captains have received top billing in the South; they haven’t qualified for NCAAs since 1994.

This week was a regional high-water mark for three teams: Mideast No. 4 Widener, Midwest No. 6 UW-Stout, and Great Lakes No. 4 John Carroll all received their highest regional ranking in at least five years.

Two schools about 45 minutes apart in Connecticut were the only two DIII men’s squads to be newly regionally ranked this week: New England No. 9 Wesleyan (Conn.) and No. 10 Coast Guard.

Unlike the men’s rankings, the women’s are largely unchanged with no new No. 1 teams.  There were, however, three new No. 2s—a coveted spot with the top two teams from each region automatically qualifying for nationals.

After an impressive second-place finish at Pre-Nationals two weeks ago, Mount Union showed that it’s for real with a DIII win at the All-Ohio championships this weekend.  The Purple Raiders rise into a tie with Calvin for No. 2 in the Great Lakes. (Despite finishing second to MU at the Ohio meet, Oberlin holds on to the top spot in recognition that they were missing several top runners).

In the Mideast, No. 2 Elizabethtown and No. 4 Dickinson flip-flopped places in the rankings after Etown beat the Devils by 18 points at Geneseo. Trinity (Texas) made an enormous six-spot jump to No. 2 in the South/Southeast on the strength of its performance at the Chile Pepper Festival.

Two teams hit their best-ever regional rankings: RIT at No. 5 in the Atlantic and St. Benedict at No. 4 in the Central. And three teams are in the regional top ten for the first time in 2014.  All are from the Mideast: Nos. 6, 9, and 10 Allegheny, York, and Bryn Mawr.

That’s the first-ever regional ranking for Bryn Mawr.

NCAA Division III Regional Championships will be held around the country Saturday, November 15.

USTFCCCA Regional Cross Country Rankings are determined subjectively by a single member coach in each respective region, or by a panel of coaches in the 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.