Colby Men & MIT Women Make Moves in a Hectic Division III XC National Coaches Poll

NEW ORLEANS—Yesterday’s regional rankings showed the New England Region to be the stubbornly runny cheese in an otherwise solidifying NCAA Division III pie.  The National Coaches’ Poll, released Wednesday morning by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), proved half of that analogy true.

New England’s signature dairy product is indeed unsettled—the NE was responsible for the biggest changes— but the rest of the country is still a bit too hot to eat as well.

National Coaches Poll PDFs: Top 35 Summary | Week-by-Week 2014 | Week-by-Week All-Time
Regional Rankings PDF: Regional Summary

Division III XC Polls/Rankings Central

NCAA Division III National Coaches Poll Top 5 – Men 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) North Central (Ill.) UW-Eau Claire St. Olaf St. Lawrence Central (Iowa) View Complete Men’s National Coaches Poll NCAA Division III National Coaches Poll Top 5 – Women 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Johns Hopkins MIT St. Lawrence Middlebury Oberlin View Complete Women’s National Coaches Poll

Division III (35) ranks more teams than Division I (30), Division II (25), or the NAIA (25), which can lead to spiciness lower in the ranks.  This week was an extreme example of that, with 27 of the 30 men’s teams ranked Nos. 6-35 changing places this week.

The two biggest movers, by far, were Purple Valley Classic champs No. 6 Colby, up 11 spots to their highest national ranking in the USTFCCCA archive dating back to 2006, and No. 9 SUNY Geneseo, up 18 spots after taking second at Pre-Nationals.

Since 2006, Colby hadn’t been ranked inside the top 15 – its previous pinnacle was two weeks ago at No. 16 – while Geneseo returns to the top-10 for the first time since the end of the 2012 regular season.

And the three most significant women’s changes also came from the northeastern-most part of the country, as MIT jumped two slots to No. 2, No. 4 Middlebury climbed four positions, and Tufts moved up six spots to replace Midd as No. 8.

This is the highest rank for the MIT women since entering the 2012 NCAA Championships as the No. 1 team in the land. The Engineers came away with a disappointing sixth-place finish that year.

Also notable from the Northeast was former No. 2 Williams‘ drop to No. 10 after a fourth-place finish at its home Purple Valley meet. Not since the second poll of the 2010 season has a double-digit national rank been attached to the Ephs.

Both number ones were a model of stability, though.  The top five in the men’s poll remains unchanged from a week ago, with North Central (Ill.) leading the way.  Sixth-eight polls are in the USTFCCCA archives; NCC has now been No. 1 for 45 of them. Central (Iowa) at No. 5 is the only men’s team that has remained stationary for all four polls this season.

Likewise, No. 1 Johns Hopkins has been the only women’s squad static in all four 2014 polls.  In 2012, the Blue Jays weren’t ranked No. 1 all season, then won a national title in Terre Haute. Since then, they’ve been ranked No. 1 in 13 straight polls.

Only one new women’s team enters the poll, but it’s back in an enormous way.  No. 17 Mount Union improves 15 spots on its highest-ever national ranking; its best-ever NCAA finish is 20th in 2003.

No. 19 St. Thomas (Minn.) moves up five rungs; they do so on the basis of their Griak race, while the MU Purple Raiders are rewarded for their Pre-Nats performance.

There are three men’s newbies in the national poll this week: No. 29 Susquehanna, No. 30 SUNY Oneonta, and No. 34 Mount Union. (No. 28 UW-Oshkosh and No. 33 Swarthmore return after a brief absence from the top 35)  The coaches’ association archives date back to 2006; in that brief period, Susquehanna and Oneonta have not been ranked. The former did qualify for NCAAs in 1984 (when the field was only 21 teams), while the latter has never qualified for nationals.

The NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships will be held November 22 in Mason, Ohio.