Upsets Shake Up Penultimate NCAA DIII Men’s XC Poll

NEW ORLEANS — There is no hiding in the postseason.

NCAA Division III National Coaches Poll Top 5 – Men 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) North Central (Ill.) SUNY Geneseo Williams UW-Eau Claire MIT/UW-La Crosse View Complete Men’s National Coaches Poll

Teams don’t have enough leeway to rest top runners.

With Conference Championship Weekend in the books in NCAA Division III and NCAAs just 17 days away, it’s shaping up to be quite the race for the team title.

It’s been clear throughout the regular season that North Central (Ill.) and SUNY Geneseo are the favorites to win the national title. After Conference Championship Weekend, however, the Cardinals are held in even higher regard according to the most recent National Coaches’ Poll that was released Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

North Central (Ill.) took two more of the Knights’ first-place votes, leaving the second-ranked foe with one to its seven. The Cardinals appear to be rounding into form at the right time of the season.

NATIONAL PDFs: Summary | Week-By-Week 2016 | Week-By-Week All-Time
Regional Rankings: Week 7 Summary | Week 7 Recap

CHECK OUT THE WOMEN’S NATIONAL COACHES’ POLL

This past weekend, North Central (Ill.) swept the CCIW Championships. Zach Plank led the way as the Cardinals sent the first six runners across the line to beat Augustana (Ill.) — a team that was previously ranked No. 26 in the poll — 15-61.

SUNY Geneseo dominated its conference meet, but not as soundly as North Central (Ill.). The Knights beat previously-ranked No. 27 SUNY Oneonta 23-62 as Isaac Garcia-Cassani won for the sixth time this season and two of his teammates followed right behind.

Looking elsewhere in the poll, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, Johns Hopkins, Tufts and Brandeis all made impressive jumps from Week 6 to Week 7.

The Stags captured the SCIAC crown and knocked off previous-No. 6 Pomona-Pitzer in the process. CMS went from No. 16 to No. 8, which is one spot shy of its best ranking in program history that it set in Week 3.

The Blue Jays had something cooking at the Centennial League Championships and nearly upset Haverford. Johns Hopkins put four runners in the top-10 (3-4-8-9) and was only undone by its fifth runner (19th). The Blue Jays are now ranked 19th.

The Jumbos rode Tim Nichols and Luke O’Connor to a fourth-place finish at the NESCAC Championships. Nichols and O’Connor went 1-2 and Tufts, now ranked No. 21, lost a tiebreaker to previous-No. 21 Middlebury and beat previous-No. 14 Colby.

The Judges are ranked for the first time in five years after taking third at the UAA Championships. Brandeis put two runners in the top-5 (Ryan Stender and Mitchell Hutton) on its way to a grand total of 96 points (15 fewer than previous-No. 18 NYU).

Brandeis and Tufts were two of the three teams that weren’t ranked in Week 6 that gained entry to the Week 7 poll. UW-Platteville, led by 2015 individual champ Ian LaMere, is the other and sits 35th.

We’ll find out if LaMere can make it two in a row and whether or not the battle for the title between North Central (Ill.) and SUNY Geneseo lives up to the hype when they all converge on E.P. “Tom” Sawyer Park in Louisville, Kentucky on November 19.