Final NCAA DI Men’s Regional Rankings Set Stage for Regional Championships

NEW ORLEANS – Fresh off an exciting weekend of conference championships action, the final edition of the NCAA Division I Men’s Cross Country Regional Rankings set the stage for an equally dramatic slate of regional championship meets in two weeks’ time.

Three new No. 2 teams emerged from the nine regions in the rankings announced Monday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, as all nine regional favorites from a week ago held onto their No. 1 status.

Regional Rankings Summary PDF | Rankings Central | Women’s Rankings

UCLA, Michigan State and NC State moved to the all-important second position in their respective West, Great Lakes and Southeast regions.

Finishing top two at one of the nine regional championships on November 11 is of the highest importance, with those 18 teams earning automatic bids to the NCAA Championships in Terre Haute, Indiana, on November 19.

The remainder of the field – 13 teams – will be determined by at-large berths, which are allocated based on teams’ bodies of work in the regular season.

Of the three regions with new No. 2 teams, the movement in the West will likely have the largest impact on Tuesday’s National Coaches’ Polls – announced live on the USTFCCCA’s “Cross Country U” podcast at noon ET.

With its third-place finish at the Pac-12 Championships, national No. 10 UCLA moved ahead of No. 3 Oregon in the West Rankings.  Both teams finished behind Pac-12 champ Colorado from the Mountain Region and current West favorite Stanford.

Entering the Big Ten Championships as the fourth-highest-ranked team in the field, Michigan State came just three points shy of upsetting regional favorite Wisconsin for its first conference title since the 1970s. The Spartans were rewarded in the Great Lakes Regional rankings for their effort, moving up two spots from last time to No. 2.

Also moving up two spots to No. 3 in the Great Lakes was third-place Indiana. The moves by the Spartans and Hoosiers displaced MAC Champion Eastern Michigan down a notch to No. 4, while Michigan dropped three spots to No. 5 after a disappointing fifth-place effort at Big Tens after coming in as the favorite to repeat.

NC State made the biggest move to No. 2 of any of these three teams, jumping up four spots in the Southeast after a close third-place finish at the ACC Championships. The Wolfpack finished just 10 points behind current regional favorite Virginia.

Virginia was the only team that remained stationary in the Southeast, as the remaining 14 teams either moved or entered the rankings.

While there wasn’t movement atop the Mountain Region, conference championships weekend did set up a dynamic showdown in Logan, Utah. Big Sky champ Northern Arizona, WCC winner BYU, Pac-12 winner Colorado and Conference USA champ UTEP are poised for a titanic clash.

See the full regional rankings below.