Three New Regional No. 1 Teams Following an Important Weekend in Division I

NEW ORLEANS – With significant meets at both the Wisconsin adidas Invitational and the Pre-National Invitational, three new teams have emerged atop their regions following the biggest regular-season weekend of the cross country season in Monday’s U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Regional Rankings.

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Division I XC Rankings Central

The Wisconsin men moved to the top of the Great Lakes Region — which they have won in each of the past 11 years — while Eastern Kentucky’s men regained control of the Southeast Region and the Iowa State women improved to No. 1 in the Midwest.

The dust will fully settle from the weekend’s action Tuesday with the release of the National Coaches Polls.

For Wisconsin, ranked No. 20 nationally, a fourth-place finish among a loaded field at its home adidas Invitational answered many questions about this year’s Badgers squad.

The 2011 NCAA Champions entered the meet as the 12th-highest ranked team in a field of 20 ranked teams, but behind freshman Malachy Schrobilgen and junior Michal Vanvoorhis in 20th and 21st, respectively, Wisconsin finished with 217 points, just one point behind No. 7 Portland.

Regional rivals Michigan (second in the region), Notre Dame (third) and Indiana (fourth) finished ninth, 14th and 17th, respectively, at the same meet. Michigan moved two spots to second as a result, while Indiana dropped from the top spot to No. 4.

Eastern Kentucky (No. 17 nationally) rode a fifth-place individual finish by former National Athlete of the Week Soufiane Bouchikhi to a tenth-place team finish at Wisconsin, just one spot ahead of regional rival North Carolina (No. 13 nationally) in 11th. Earlier this season North Carolina took over the top spot in the region after beating EKU head-to-head at the Virginia Panorama Farms Invitational.

Sitting at third in the women’s Midwest Region all season, the Iowa State Cyclones (No. 28 nationally) made the big jump to the top spot following a fifth-place team showing at Wisconsin after entering as the 15th-highest ranked of 17 ranked teams. Sophomore Crystal Nelson was the top finisher in 10th.

Among those teams they beat was eighth-place regional rival Minnesota (No. 22 nationally), over which they leapt to take the region’s top spot. Minnesota stayed at No. 2 while former region favorite Oklahoma State (No. 19 nationally) fell to third.

Elsewhere in the mens rankings:

• Iona’s men (No. 18 nationally) moved up two spots to No. 2 in the Northeast Region with a third-place team showing at the Pre-National Invitational. Syracuse (No. 11) and Providence (No. 17) were each displaced one spot.
• Stanford’s men (No. 29 nationally) moved up four spots to No. 4 in the West Region to headline a busy weekend for the region. The Cardinal finished fourth overall at Pre-Nationals after entering as the lowest-ranked of 10 ranked teams in competition. Washington and Cal Poly moved up in the region, while Boise State (No. 17), Arizona State (No. 30) and UCLA (No. 21) all fell.
• UT-Arlington’s men jumped 12 spots in the South Central following a runner-up team showing at the Alabama Crimson Classic.

Other moves of note in the women’s rankings:

• Butler’s women (No. 20 nationally) took third in the Pre-National race behind three top-29 finishers, boosting the Bulldogs to second in the region past Michigan (No. 14), which dropped one spot to third in the region after a sixth-place showing at the same meet.
• Texas A&M (receiving votes nationally) jumped past Texas (No. 29) into the second spot in the South Central Region. The Aggies finished 23rd as a team at Wisconsin to Texas’ 26th.
• The slide continues for pre-season Southeast Region favorite Duke (No. 17 nationally), which fell one spot to fourth in the region following a 25th-place showing at Wisconsin. Moving up to take the Blue Devils’ place at third in the region was N.C. State (receiving votes nationally) with a 20th-place showing in the same meet.
• Syracuse (receiving votes nationally) jumped two spots to third in the Northeast Region following an 11th-place team finish at Wisconsin. The Orange defeated regional rivals Cornell (No. 15 nationally) and Boston College (No. 24) in 15th and 16th, respectively. Both schools dropped one spot in the region to fourth and fifth, respectively, as a result.

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 team strength with current-season results in determining predicted team finishes at the NCAA Regional Championships.

Regional Championships will be held Friday, November 15. More details can be found at Regional Championships Central.