Johns Hopkins, North Central (Ill.) Extend Their Top-Ranked Streaks in DIII Poll

NEW ORLEANS – It’s no surprise that the North Central (Ill.) men and the Johns Hopkins women are the teams to beat in NCAA Division III Cross Country. After all, both teams won their respective titles at last year’s NCAA meet.

Until this week’s national poll, the voters didn’t feel as if they were both unanimous picks. That all changed as Johns Hopkins picked up the lone vote it coveted and joined North Central (Ill.) as unanimous No. 1 choices in the National Coaches’ Poll released on Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCA).

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NCAA Division III National Coaches Poll Top 5 – Men 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) North Central (Ill.) St. Olaf Amherst UW-Eau Claire MIT View Complete Men’s National Coaches Poll   NCAA Division III National Coaches Poll Top 5 – Women 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Johns Hopkins MIT SUNY Geneseo St. Lawrence Washington (Mo.) View Complete Women’s National Coaches Poll

Johns Hopkins and North Central (Ill.) both have quite the streak going in the polls. This is the 23rd consecutive poll that the Blue Jays found themselves perched atop the proceedings. Not to be outdone, the Cardinals are ranked No. 1 for 10 weeks in a row.

There was a bit of movement in the top-10 of the men’s poll behind North Central (Ill.). St. Olaf remained No. 2, but Amherst took over the No. 3 spot after a strong showing at the UMass Minuteman Invitational. UW-Eau Claire fell to fourth and is followed by MIT, a team that swapped spots with Washington (Mo.) and St. Lawrence is sandwiched in the middle. Williams (eighth), UW-La Crosse (ninth) and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (10th) all rotated into the top-10.

UW-Oshkosh (22nd to 15th), Colby (21st to 17th) and Ohio Northern (unranked to 23rd) are this poll’s biggest gainers. This is Ohio Northern’s first – and highest – ranking in the poll since 2009 when it was 18th in Week 3.

Other than Ohio Northern, there were two new additions to the poll – Allegheny (Pa.) is 31st and Bates follows right behind in 32nd.

A cursory glance of the women’s poll shows everything seems to be in order behind Johns Hopkins. MIT had a first-place vote taken away from it and sits a comfortable second ahead of SUNY Geneseo, St. Lawrence and Washington (Mo.). Williams (sixth) jumped Middlebury (seventh), Hope (eighth) leapfrogged Calvin (ninth) and Chicago rounds out the top-10.

Where things get interesting are in the 15-25 range. Elizabethtown surged seven places from 23rd to 16th to nab its highest ranking since it was 14th in 2011. Tufts (24th to 21st), Luther (26th to 23rd) and Emory (28th to 25th) all climbed three spots. Allegheny (Pa.) is 22nd, which is the highest that its women’s team has been ranked in nine years.

There are three newcomers to the women’s poll – Carnegie Mellon (30th), Keene State (31st) and Cornell College (32nd).