2018 NCAA DI Women’s Cross Country Regional Rankings – Week 6
NEW ORLEANS – The running of conference championships around the country brought big changes to the latest edition of the NCAA Division I Women’s Regional Rankings that were released by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Monday.
The latest rankings saw three new No. 1 teams crowned in the South, Mountain and West as eight of the nine regions experienced a shake up to its top-five programs.
Week-by-Week Ranking Charts
REGIONAL RANKINGS
WOMEN: 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | All Year
With regional championships running nationwide on November 9 here’s a closer look at the top teams in each region as teams are in the homestretch of their battle for a spot at the NCAA Cross Country National Championships.
Remember the top-two teams in each region automatically qualify for NCAAs to take up 18 spots. After that 13 additions at-large bids are granted.
The NCAA Division I Regional Championships will be held around the country on November 9 while the NCAA National Championships will take place Saturday, November 17 in Madison, Wisconsin.
USTFCCCA Regional Cross Country Rankings are determined subjectively by a single member coach in each respective region. The regional representative is tasked with weighing returning teams strength with current season results (if applicable) in determining predicted team finishes at the NCAA Regional Championships.
Great Lakes Region
The top spot in the Great Lakes remained with Michigan for the second-straight week after the Wolverines collected their third consecutive Big Ten Championship with an impressive performance. Michigan ran in a tight pack at the conference meet and had just a 30-second gap between its top-five athletes. The group was paced by Avery Evenson in third.
Coming in at No. 2 in the region was Michigan State after a second-place finish at Big Tens. The Spartans also ran well as a unit with just a 38-second gap between top scoring athletes. Michigan State was paced by Maggie Farrell in fourth.
Rounding out the top-five was No. 3 Wisconsin (with a one-spot improvement), No. 4 Indiana and No. 5 Notre Dame.
Mid-Atlantic Region
The top of the Mid-Atlantic stayed the same as it stuck with No. 1 Villanova and No. 2 Penn State for the fifth-straight week.
The Wildcats captured the Big East Championships and were paced by individual title winner Caroline Alcorta while the Nittany Lions finished fourth at the Big Ten Championships and had their top-finisher in Julia Paternain who came in tenth.
No. 3 West Virginia (up one), No. 4 Princeton and No. 5 Georgetown made up the rest of the region’s top-five.
Midwest Region
Iowa State continued its run atop the Midwest region for the seventh consecutive ranking to open the year. The Cyclones won their seventh Big 12 Championship in the last eight seasons as the group was paced by individual champion Cailie Logue.
Jumping up one spot to No. 2 was Oklahoma State after a second-place finish at the Big 12 Championships. Sinclaire Johnson was the top finisher for the group with a second-place performance.
The rest of the top-five was made up by No. 3 Minnesota, No. 4 Northwestern (up one spot) and No. 5 Kansas (up two).
Mountain Region
The defending NCAA Champions, New Mexico, retook the top spot in the region after it picked up the 11th-straight Mountain West title for the program. The Lady Lobos had the top-three finishers at the meet and were led by individual champion Weini Kelati.
Falling one to No. 2 was Colorado after a strong showing at the Pac-12 Championships. The Buffaloes came in second behind a strong Oregon team and had the individual title winner for the second-straight year in Dani Jones.
Also in the top-five was No. 3 BYU, No. 4 Southern Utah and No. 5 Northern Arizona.
Northeast Region
The top-two spots in the Northeast remained the same as No. 1 Columbia and No. 2 Syracuse held in its position from the previous week.
Columbia raced to its second-straight Ivy League Heptagonal Championships after the group was paced by Erin Gregoire who posted a second-place finish.
Syracuse tied its program-best finish with a third-place showing at the ACC Championships. The Orange placed all-five scoring athletes in the top-26 overall and were led by Shannon Malone who finished fifth.
No. 3 Dartmouth (one-spot improvement), No. 4 Yale and No. 5 Providence (three-spot improvement) were also in the top-five in the region.
South Region
For the first time in school history Florida has moved into the No. 1 spot in the South after a three-spot improvement from the previous rankings. The Gators picked up a second-place finish at the SEC Championships and had the meet’s individual title winner in Jessica Pascoe.
Ole Miss remained at No. 2 after a third-place showing at the SEC Championships. The Rebels were paced by Clio Ozanne-Jaques in 12th overall.
The rest of the top-five belonged to No. 3 Florida State (up two spots), No. 4 Georgia and No. 5 Georgia Tech.
South Central Region
Like a few other regions, the top of the South Central also stayed the same as No 1 Arkansas and No. 2 Texas remained at the top of the rankings.
The Razorbacks captured their sixth-consecutive SEC Championships and were paced by Katrina Robinson at second overall. The unit also placed all five scoring-athletes in the top-10 at the meet.
The Longhorns are coming off a fifth-place finish at the Big 12 Championships. Texas was led by Destiny Collins’s fourth-place performance.
The top-five was completed by No. 3 SMU, No. 4 Rice (up four spots) and No. 5 Texas A&M (up one).
Southeast Region
The Southeast was the only region to not experience a shake up to the top of the charts as the top-five teams all remained the same from the previous week.
The top spot once again went to No. 1 NC State, a position it has held for seven consecutive weeks to open the season. The Wolfpack claimed their third-straight ACC title and were led by Elly Henes in second.
Coming in at No. 2 was Furman after the program’s sixth-straight Southern Conference Championship title. The Paladins were paced by second-place finisher Savannah Carnahan and placed six athletes in the top-10 of the meet.
No. 3 Eastern Kentucky, No. 4 Virginia Tech and No. 5 Duke also appeared in the top-five.
West Region
For the first time this season Oregon has taken over as the No. 1 team in the West after an impressive showing at the Pac-12 Championships. The Ducks were led by Jessica Hull who came in second overall as Oregon placed four runners in the top-eight.
Dropping to the No. 2 spot was Boise State after a second-place showing at the Mountain West Championships. The Broncos recorded 35 points as they almost chased down defending NCAA Champions New Mexico, falling by just two points. Boise State was led by Allie Ostrander in fourth.
Rounding out the rest of the top-five was No. 3 Stanford, No. 4 Washington and No. 5 Portland.
