Significant Leap by Northern Michigan Women Headlines Division II XC National Coaches’ Polls

NEW ORLEANS – Welcome back to the national top 10, Northern Michigan women.

The No. 10 Wildcats, ranked for the first time since 2005 among the country’s 10 best NCAA Division II Cross Country teams, were the biggest gainers of the week in Wednesday’s U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Coaches’ Polls.

National Coaches Poll PDFs: Top 25 Summary | Week-by-Week 2014 | Week-by-Week All-Time
Regional Rankings PDF: Regional Summary | Regional Week-by-Week

Division II XC Polls/Rankings Central

NCAA Division II National Coaches Poll Top 5 – Men 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Adams St. GVSU Chico St. Southern Indiana Colorado Mines View Complete Men’s National Coaches Poll NCAA Division II National Coaches Poll Top 5 – Women 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) GVSU Adams St. Minnesota Duluth Western St. Chico St. View Complete Women’s National Coaches Poll

A nine-spot improvement into a tie at No. 10 with UC-Colorado Springs following a win at the UW-Parkside Lucian Rosa Invitational – five finishers in the top 20 to take down former top-10 Wayne State (Mich.) – gave NMU this week’s headlining move in a pair of polls shaken up in their second halves.

The top 10 men’s teams – aside from Augustana (S.D.) moving up one spot into a tie at No. 8 with Lock Haven – remained the same, as did the women’s top-10 with the exception of Northern Michigan.

Another beneficiary of that UW-Parkside meet was Saginaw Valley State, whose women finished runner-up and made the polls’ second-farthest jump to move five spots up to No. 24. Lucian Rosa also produced the polls’ farthest fall, as the aforementioned Wayne State dropped 11 spots from a tie for No. 10 to a tie for No. 21 with Edinboro.

On the men’s side, No. 11 Sioux Falls moved up three spots into its best national poll position since the beginning of the USTFCCCA archives in 2000. Also up three spots were the men of No. 15 West Texas A&M.

Taking the biggest fall were the UW-Parkside men, who dropped seven spots to No. 23 following a runner-up showing at its own home meet.

In the women’s poll for the first time this season are the Alaska Anchorage women at No. 20 after a strong fourth-place finish at Western Washington this weekend, 17 points behind runner-up No. 8 Simon Fraser, 90-107.

Also rejoining the top 25 were the Franklin Pierce men at No. 20 following top DII honors at the New England (NEICAAA) Championships.

Look for the potential to have the top half shaken up this coming weekend with intriguing match-ups at Fort Hays State and UW-Oshkosh.

Fort Hays State will pit two-time defending champ No.1 Adams State, No. 5 Colorado Mines and No. 6 Western State against one another in the men’s race and No. 2 Adams State, No. 4 Western State, No. 10 UC-Colorado Springs and No. 17 Metro State in the women’s.

UW-Oshkosh will see two-time defending women’s champ No. 1 Grand Valley State, No. 3 Minnesota Duluth, and No. 7 Augustana (S.D.), with the men’s race featuring No. 2 GVSU and No. 8 Augustana.

The Division II National Championships will be held Saturday, December 6, in Louisville, Kentucky.