GVSU Men Take Over Top Spot in DII National Coaches’ Poll

NEW ORLEANS – Just one week after their three-time defending national champion female teammates lost their No. 1 rank in NCAA Division II cross country, the Grand Valley State men have ascended to the top of the National Coaches’ Poll released Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

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Women’s National Coaches’ Poll

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NCAA Division II National Coaches’ Poll Top 5 – Men 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) GVSU Chico State Adams State Colorado Mines Southern Indiana View Complete Men’s National Coaches’ Poll

Though the Lakers were idle this past weekend, their win at the Michigan State Spartan Invitational two weekends ago combined with former No. 1 Adams State’s ninth-place showing in the Roy Griak Invitational’s Division I race was enough to push them to No. 1 for just the second time in program history. They garnered six of the eight first-place votes.

GVSU was also ranked No. 1 entering last year’s NCAA Championships before finishing runner-up for the second consecutive year to Adams State.

Not only were the three-time defending NCAA Champion Grizzlies passed up by GVSU in the polls, but also by new No. 2 Chico State. The Wildcats, led by third-place finisher William Reyes, were the top non-DI team at the Stanford Invitational with five finishers in the top-30.

It’s been a long time since Chico State was ranked so highly. Though the Wildcats have been in the top five in all but one poll since the beginning of the 2008 season, they haven’t been No. 2 since the middle of 2006 and haven’t been No. 1 dating back to at least 2000 (the beginning of the USTFCCCA archives).

Two voters this week believed Chico is worthy of that No. 1 rank, as the Wildcats garnered the final two first-place votes.

As long as it’s been since Chico has been inside the top two, it’s been even longer since Adams State – winners of six of the past seven national titles – was outside of it. You have to go all the way back to week eight of the 2004 season for the Grizzlies last No. 3 showing (which is coincidentally also the last time both the Adams State men and Grand Valley State women were both ranked outside the top two), and back to 2002 for their last third-place finish at the NCAA Championships.

These 2015 Grizzlies were ninth at Roy Griak, led by frosh Sydney Gidabuday in 47th, then a pack of three including Jackson Sayler, Dominic Cabada and Brian Glassey in 58th, 59th and 60th, respectively.

The Grizzlies get their next chance to bounce back on October 10 at the Fort Hays State Tiger Open, with the RMAC Championships two weekends later.

RMAC rival Colorado Mines held steady at No. 4, but all but three teams throughout the remainder of the top-25 moved around from a week ago.

New to the No. 5 spot was Southern Indiana after a one-spot improvement, followed by No. 6 Alaska Anchorage in an equivalent move up. No. 7 Cal Poly Pomona moved up two spots as the second-best non-DI team in the field at Stanford behind Chico State, while Augustana (S.D.) dropped three spots to No. 8 after a short-handed third-place effort at Griak.

No. 9 Western State fell one spot from a week ago, while No. 10 Lock Haven moved up one.

New to the poll for the first time in program history at No. 18 was Black Hills State, which won at Roy Griak behind National Athlete of the Week Alec Baldwin.

Making the biggest move of any team already ranked in the men’s poll from a week ago was No. 21 Saginaw Valley State’s four-position improvement.

Returning to the poll at No. 25 was Malone.

The NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships will be held November 21 in Joplin, Missouri.