North Central (Ill.) Picked as Preseason Favorite in DIII Men’s Cross Country

NEW ORLEANS – The road to a men’s title in NCAA Division III Cross Country goes through North Central (Ill.), according to the national rankings released by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Wednesday.

Each of the eight voters selected the Cardinals as the team to beat. It would be tough to disagree with them since North Central (Ill.) won four of the past six team titles in Division III, including back-to-back crowns in 2011-12 and most recently in 2014. The Cardinals bring back two of its top five scoring runners from last year’s national meet, including All-American Aron Sebhat.

National PDFs: Preseason Top 30 Summary | Week-by-Week 2015 | Week-by-Week All Time
Regional Rankings: Preseason Summary | Preseason Recap

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

Next in line, according to the poll, are St. Olaf and Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Two All-Americans return for St. Olaf (Jake Campbell and Paul Escher), but they’ll need to replace three graduated seniors. UW-Eau Claire finished seventh at last year’s national meet and all five runners who scored for the Blugold are back.

Rounding out the top 5 are Amherst out of the New England Region and Washington (Mo.) from the Midwest Region. Amherst was ninth at NCAAs last November, while Washington (Mo.) earned a spot on the podium (fourth) and returns five of its seven runners from that squad.

There was a little bit of movement elsewhere in the top 10 as St. Lawrence (10th to sixth), MIT (eighth to seventh), Wisconsin-La Crosse (third to eighth) and Williams (sixth to ninth) all shifted around in the poll. Perhaps the biggest jump was from Tufts, rounding out the top 10 after finishing 22nd at the national meet last year.

Another team with an impressive surge in the poll was that of Carnegie Mellon. The team finished 24th at last year’s meet, but start the preseason ranked No. 12. Carnegie Mellon sits behind Wabash (11th) and in a tie for 12th with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.

Other teams making an appearance in the first poll of the season include Calvin and Middlebury (both tied for 16th), Johns Hopkins (20th) and Emory (30th). This is Middlebury’s first time ranked in the preseason poll in school history. Emory makes its first appearance in the preseason poll since 2010.

The Division III Cross Country Championships will be held Saturday, November 21 at the Lake Breeze Golf Course in Winneconne, Wisconsin.