DII Men’s National Poll Sets the Stage for Conference Championships

NEW ORLEANS – The postseason has all but arrived in NCAA Division II Men’s Cross Country, and the last regular-season edition of the National Coaches’ Poll sets the stage for what should be dramatic conference championships in two weekends’ time.

Support has begun to coalesce for Adams State as the top team in the nation, as the Grizzlies earned seven of the eight possible first-place votes in the poll announced Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

National PDFs: Top 25 Summary | Week-by-Week 2016 | Week-by-Week All-Time
Regional Rankings PDFs: Regional Rankings Summary | Rankings Recap

Division II XC Polls/Rankings Central | WOMEN’S POLL

NCAA Division II National Coaches’ Poll Top 5 – Men 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Adams State GVSU Colorado Mines Chico State Cal Poly Pomona View Complete Men’s National Coaches’ Poll

Just one week ago, four teams were garnering first-place nods; this week, it’s down to two. Only No. 2 Grand Valley State managed to hold on to a top vote of its own, though both defending national champion No. 3 Colorado Mines and No. 4 Chico State stayed put in the poll.

Cal Poly Pomona also remained stationary to round out the top five.

It was a relatively quiet week in the top 10, as No. 6 Western State swapped spots with No. 8 CSU-Pueblo, and Alaska Anchorage dropped a spot to No. 9. Completing the top-10 were a pair of stationary teams in No. 7 Augustana (S.D.) and No. 10 Southern Indiana.

Led by No. 1 Adams State and defending national champ Colorado Mines, the RMAC has four teams ranked top-eight in the nation – setting up an exciting showdown at Black Hills State on October 22. Host Black Hills State also moved up in the rankings this week, checking in at No. 13 with a one-spot gain.

The CCAA should be likewise compelling as No. 4 Chico State and No. 5 Cal Poly Pomona square off on CPP’s turf on October 22. They’ll both be challenged by No. 12 UC San Diego.

Elsewhere in the poll, Lee (Tenn.) moved up 10 spots to No. 14 – its highest rank in program history – with a win at the Royals Challenge over No. 17 Mount Olive, 58-70.

Academy of Art broke into the top-25 for the first time in program history, checking in at No. 24 after winning the SF State Invitational.

No. 25 Lewis returned to the top-25 after a strong third-place showing at its Conference Crossover meet this past weekend behind top-10 GVSU and USI.

The full poll can be found below.

The USTFCCCA National Coaches’ Poll for DII ranks the top 25 teams in the country. Voting panel of eight consists of the eight regional representatives, per gender.