Hillsdale Women Take over NCAA DII National Coaches’ Poll

NEW ORLEANS – The list of NCAA Division II women’s cross country teams to have been ranked No. 1 in the country isn’t a long one. Dating back to the beginning of the USTFCCCA archives in 2000, only five programs have topped DII: Adams State, Augustana (S.D.), Chico State, Grand Valley State, and Western State.

As of September 23, make that six.

Hillsdale has ascended to the top of the National Coaches’ Poll unveiled Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), surging past three-time defending national champion Grand Valley State just as the Chargers did in the Regional Rankings on Tuesday and in competition at the Michigan State Spartan Invitational on Friday.

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Men’s National Coaches’ Poll Release

Division II XC Polls/Rankings Central

NCAA Division II National Coaches’ Poll Top 5 – Women 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Hillsdale GVSU Adams State Minnesota Duluth Chico State View Complete Women’s National Coaches’ Poll

Led by the formidable frontrunning duo of Emily Oren and Kristina Galat, the Chargers garnered six of the eight total first-place votes in the poll after their 77-136 victory over their GLIAC rival Lakers in East Lansing.

No. 2 GVSU – which, in fairness, ran without defending NCAA champion Kendra Foley in what was their season opener – retained a single first-place nod, with the remaining top vote cast for No. 3 Adams State.

The two squads will have plenty of opportunities to settle this rivalry on the course. They square off in two weekends’ time at the Great Louisville Classic on October 3 before the postseason gauntlet of the GLIAC Championships (Oct. 24), the Midwest Regional (November 7) and, finally, the NCAA Championships in Joplin, Missouri, on Nov. 21.

In Missouri, Hillsdale will try to become just the seventh different program since the beginning of NCAA women’s competition in 1981 to win a Division II Cross Country team title.

Behind the intra-Michigan squabble at Nos. 1 and 2, Adams State checked in at No. 3, Minnesota Duluth at No. 4, and Chico State at No. 5. The Wildcats swapped spots with No. 6 Augustana (S.D.).

Western State remained constant at No. 7, but 13 of the poll’s final 18 teams moved around from a week ago.

No. 8 Alaska Anchorage moved up one spot to fill the void created by a 12-spot drop to No. 20 by Northern Michigan to No. 20, followed by the first-ever top-10 appearance by Bellarmine at No. 9. The Knights moved up five spots from last week as the victors in the non-Division I college standings at the National Catholic Championships at Notre Dame.

Rounding out the top-10 with an even more impressive leap from unranked to No. 10 was Western Washington. The Vikings won the open division at the Washington Sundodger Invitational to notch their first top-10 appearance since the 2010 season.

Among those teams they defeated were No. 11 Cal Baptist (which moved up two spots, itself), fellow top-25 newcomer No. 18 Seattle Pacific, and former No. 10 Simon Fraser, which dropped out of the National Coaches’ Polls completely after an eighth-place showing.

Moving up six spots to No. 14 was UC-Colorado Springs for the biggest upward move of any team already ranked within the top 25.

In addition to WWU and SPU, two more of last week’s unranked teams joined the top 25: No. 22 Dallas Baptist and No. 25 Cal State San Bernardino.

Led by National Athlete of the Week Kelsey Bruce, Dallas Baptist is up to its highest rank since a No. 22 showing this same week in 2010. This is the first-ever appearance for Cal State San Bernardino.

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