GVSU, Hillsdale Remain Atop Tight DII National Coaches’ Poll Races

NEW ORLEANS – As the NCAA Division II Cross Country season continues to heat up, so too does the competition for the top spots in Wednesday’s National Coaches’ Polls announced by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

Both last week’s No. 1 Grand Valley State men and No. 1 Hillsdale women remained atop their respective genders’ polls with impressive performances at the Greater Louisville Classic against mostly Division I competition – but both teams also remained embroiled in tight races for the polls’ top positions.

National PDFs: Top 25 Summary | Week-by-Week 2015 | Week-by-Week All-Time 
Regional Rankings PDFs: Regional Rankings Summary | Rankings Recap

Division II XC Polls/Rankings Central

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

Hillsdale and National Athlete of the Week Emily Oren, despite knocking off three-time defending NCAA Champion Grand Valley State for the second time in three weeks, once again split the eight first-place votes right down the middle with idle No. 2 Adams State. Four for the Chargers, four for the Grizzlies.

GVSU and No. 4 Minnesota Duluth remained stationary from a week ago. UMD shook itself from a tie with Chico State, which dropped back to No. 5.

The Grand Valley men retained a majority of the first-place nods with five, but lost one to new No. 3 Colorado Mines after the Orediggers’ impressive college division win at the Arkansas Chile Pepper Festival. The two remaining first-place votes stayed with idle No. 2 Chico State.

Mines moved up one spot at the expense of RMAC rival Adams State. The three-time defending national champions, also idle this weekend, fell to No. 4 in the poll – its lowest position since a No. 7 showing in the final poll of the 2002 season. The Grizzlies would ultimately finish third at the NCAA Championships that year.

Mines’ advance up the poll headlined a series of top-10 swaps. No. 5 Alaska Anchorage and No. 6 Southern Indiana swapped from last week, as did No. 7 Augustana (S.D.) and No. 8 Cal Poly Pomona, and No. 9 Lock Haven and No. 10 Western State.

For Western State, this is the first time the program has received a double-digit rank dating back to the beginning of the USTFCCCA archives in 2000.

The lone new top-10 team for either gender was the No. 10 Western Washington women. They moved up one spot from a week ago.

Making the biggest waves in the National Coaches’ Poll for either gender were the men of No. 17 Pittsburg State, who jumped from receiving votes into the top-20 after a runner-up college division finish at Chile Pepper.

Two more women’s teams entered the poll by way of Chile Pepper in No. 18 Colorado Mines and No. 20 Montevallo. This is the latter’s first-ever top-20 appearance in the polls.

Bloomsburg made the biggest impression of any team in the women’s poll with a seven-spot leap into a tie for No. 13 with Bellarmine. The Huskies won their race at the Paul Short Run to receive their highest rank since 2008.

Also new to the men’s poll were No. 24 SF State and No. 25 UC San Diego, which tied with East Central (Okla.) for the poll’s final position. Also joining the women’s poll was No. 24 Ashland.

The Eagles make seven teams currently ranked inside the top 25 from the Midwest Region – a region that has only six allotted spots for the NCAA Championships.

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