Wisconsin Men Reclaim Great Lakes’ Top Spot in Division I XC Regional Team Rankings

NEW ORLEANS – Last cross country season was an unusual one for the Wisconsin men. For the first time in 15 years, the Badgers didn’t finish the season as Great Lakes Region champs, and for the first time in 12 years didn’t claim the Big Ten title.

Now, for the first time since suffering those narrow losses a year ago, the Badgers are back atop the Great Lakes Region.

Wisconsin’s Great Lakes Region was the most heavily affected of all the regions in the NCAA Division I Regional Team Rankings released Monday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), but it was not alone as five men’s regions and two women’s saw movement within their top three – promising for some intrigue in Tuesday’s National Coaches’ Polls.

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The Great Lakes was the only one that saw all three of its top teams shuffle from last week, however. Following a decisive win at the Greater Louisville Classic, Wisconsin moved up to the top spot for the first time since losing out to Indiana for the Big Ten title a year ago.

Michigan, the defending regional champs, stepped up one spot to No. 2 – now in NCAA Championships automatic-qualifying territory – following an impressive win over national No. 10 BYU and a slew of other nationally ranked squads at Notre Dame behind individual winner Mason Ferlic.

Reigning Big Ten champion Indiana did not have nearly as good a weekend as those two teams now ahead of them, as the Hoosiers dropped from the top spot to No. 3 following a disappointing eighth-place finish at the very deep Washington Invitational. It’s not the end of the world for Indiana, however, as it fell as low as No. 4 in the region midway through 2013 before going on to win the Big Ten title and finish eighth overall at NCAAs.

Perhaps the biggest story of the weekend was the near-upset in the Washington Invite of national men’s No. 2 Northern Arizona at the hands of national No. 20 UCLA. The Bruins were within two points of the 2013 national runners-up with just 1000 meters left in the race before ultimately finishing second by 10 points. For their performance, UCLA moved to No. 3 in the West Region, displacing current national No. 6 Stanford to fourth in the region.

The Midwest men’s region saw Oklahoma overtake Tulsa for the all-important No. 2 spot, as the Sooners impressed in a fifth-place finish at Washington behind two top-10 finishers. Tulsa finished 10th overall in the Blue race at Notre Dame.

Eastern Kentucky finished fifth in that same Notre Dame race to leapfrog Furman into the No. 2 spot in the Southeast, essentially trading positions with former No. 2 NC State. The Wolfpack finished ninth in South Bend.

Rounding out the top-three movement for the men was a No. 3-No. 4 swap in the Mid-Atlantic between Georgetown and Penn State.

The Penn State women also dropped to No. 4 in the Mid-Atlantic with a fifth-place finish at Notre Dame after entering as the meet’s second-best team in the National Coaches’ Poll. West Virginia, which was runner-up to Wisconsin at the Greater Louisville Classic, moved to third in the region.

Lipscomb finished fourth in Louisville to move up two spots in the South Region to No. 3.

Making the biggest move of the week were the women of La Salle, who skyrocketed seven spots to No. 7 in the Mid-Atlantic. The UCLA women also made a huge six-spot jump in the West to improve to No. 6.

Making the biggest leaps on the men’s side were Gonzaga, up six to No. 7 in the West, and Akron, up five to No. 9 in the Great Lakes.

New to the men’s rankings this week were Ohio State (Great Lakes); North Dakota State and South Dakota State (Midwest); Buffalo (Northeast); ETSU (South); and LSU (South Central).

Joining this week’s women’s rankings were Central Michigan (Great Lakes); Northern Iowa (Midwest); Army (Northeast); Georgia Tech (South); LSU, McNeese State and Texas State (South Central); Clemson and Western Kentucky (Southeast); and Seattle (West).

The next set of Regional Team Rankings will be released not next week, but the week after following the always-tumultuous Wisconsin adidas Invitational/Pre-National Invitational weekend.

NCAA Division I Regional Championships will be held around the country Friday, November 14.

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.