Final Regular-Season Division II XC Regional Rankings Include a New No. 1

NEW ORLEANS – The regular-season portion of the NCAA Division II Cross Country schedule is all but wrapped up, with most teams in the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Regional Team Rankings released Tuesday having just their conference meets between now and the all-important November 22 regionals.

With the end of the regular season came a new men’s regional No. 1 in Saint Leo, three women’s teams that have moved up into automatic-qualifying territory and three more squads that are right on the cusp of their regions’ projected qualifiers to NCAAs on December 6 in Louisville, Kentucky.

One last set of regional rankings will be released on November 11 prior to the regional championships.

Regional Rankings Summary PDF | Week-by-Week (also All-Time) | DII XC Rankings Central
QUICK LINKS: Men’s Regions | Women’s Regions

A third-place showing at the USC Beaufort Sand Shark Invitational bumped Saint Leo up three spots to No. 1 in the South. Displaced by the Lions were Florida Southern and Alabama-Huntsville, though both remained in position to earn one of the region’s three auto bids to NCAAs. Moving up onto the bubble at No. 4, however, was West Florida with a third-place finish at Valdosta State.

While the men’s South Region didn’t project any new auto-qualifying teams, that was not the case in the women’s Midwest, Southeast and West regions.

In the Midwest, Malone moved up one spot to No. 4 (the region will take four teams to Louisville) in a swap with Southern Indiana. The Pioneers edged out the Screaming Eagles in a head-to-head battle at USI’s Midwest Regional Preview, as Malone was runner-up with 51 points and Southern Indiana was third with 66. Region No. 2 Hillsdale won with 36 points behind National Athlete of the Week Emily Oren.

Though already projected in auto-qualifying position, the Malone men moved up to No. 3 in the Midwest as they came just four points shy of upending a slightly short-handed regional No. 2 Southern Indiana (No. 5 nationally) at the Midwest Regional Preview, 33-36. In the process, the Pioneers defeated former regional No. 3 Hillsdale by nearly 50 points.

Also as the result of a head-to-head battle, the Western Washington women moved back into auto-qualifying territory in the West Region after beating Central Washington without top runner Katelyn Steen. The Vikings moved up to No. 6, while Central Washington fell onto the bubble at No. 7.

In the women’s Southeast, North Georgia was third at USC Beaufort to move into position for the region’s third and final auto bid. Should the Nighthawks make this projection a reality in a month’s time, it would be their first-ever appearance at the NCAA Division II XC Championships. (The school was a member of the NAIA prior to the 2005-06 season).

Also moving up onto the bubble were men’s Southeast No. 4 UNC Pembroke and women’s Atlantic No. 4 Seton Hill. A team appearance at  NCAAs for UNCP would be its first a two-year span in 1980 and 1981 that included a national runner-up showing in ’80, while Seton Hill would qualify as a team for the first time.

New to this week’s men’s rankings were Pittsburg State (Central); Southern New Hampshire (East); Saint Josephs (Ind.) (Midwest); Morehouse and Union (Tenn.) (South); and SF State (West).

Joining the women’s rankings were Kutztown (Atlantic); Le Moyne (East); Shorter (South); Eastern New Mexico (South Central); Anderson (S.C.) (Southeast); and Cal Poly Pomona (West).

Regionals will be held around the country on November 22. More information can be found on the USTFCCCA’s Regional Championships Central.

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.