Final NCAA DII Women’s Poll Portends Heated Title Battle

NEW ORLEANS – For the third season in a row, the Grand Valley State women will enter as the favorites to win the NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships – a feat they’ve accomplished four of the past five seasons.

If the final National Coaches’ Poll announced Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) holds to form, however, it’s going to be a battle on November 21 in Joplin, Missouri.

The three-time defending national champion Lakers accrued five of the poll’s eight first-place votes to remain at No. 1 for a second consecutive week, while Adams State claimed the remaining three at No. 2.

National PDFs: Top 25 Summary | Week-by-Week 2015 | Week-by-Week All-Time 
Men’s National Coaches’ Poll: Recap

Division II XC Polls/Rankings Central

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

Formerly top-ranked Hillsdale – who is 2-2 head-to-head against GVSU this year – held steady at No. 3, followed by No. 4 Chico State and No. 5 Western State.

Southwest Baptist rocketed from outside the top-25 to No. 6 with a Central Region win over now-No. 7 Minnesota Duluth.

GVSU enters the championships with momentum after back-to-back victories over 2014 national runner-up Hillsdale at the GLIAC Championships and most recently the Midwest Regional, where the Lakers topped the Chargers, 45-63. GVSU returns four All-Americans – including top-three finishers in defending national champion Kendra Foley and third-place Jessica Janecke – alongside another frontrunner in Gina Patterson.

Adams State throttled the South Central this past weekend with five runners inside the top-10, led by a group of four from third through sixth led by Noel Prandoni. The Grizzlies topped No. 5 Western State, 27-56. Prandoni joins a trio of All-Americans in Jenna Thurman, Maura O’Brien and Rachel Kresl.

Hillsdale matched and exceeded GVSU at the Midwest Regional through four runners, led by individual winner Emily Oren, but a 41st-place finish from their No. 5 relegated the Chargers to runner-up status. A Hillsdale squad with all five scorers on the same page also poses a threat to GVSU’s title chances.

No. 4 Chico State was dominant in a win in the West, prevailing 89-165 over No. 8 Western Washington, while No. 5 Western State impressed enough in the South Central to move up two spots.

No. 6 Southwest Baptist, led by Elizabeth Luckel and Katherine Sitzes, made the biggest impression of anyone in the field with a Central Region victory over three current top-15 teams in No. 7 Minnesota Duluth, No. 10 Augustana (S.D.) and No. 13 U-Mary. Never before had the Bearcats broken into the top-10, and they are making just their second NCAA Championships appearance in program history. They finished 12th in 2013.

No. 8 Western Washington moved up five spots from a week ago, as did No. 9 Lewis. It’s the highest rank for the former since 2010, and the best for the latter in the USTFCCCA poll archive dating back to 2000.

Augustana (S.D.) rounded out the top-10.

Throughout the rest of the poll, one team returned after having previously dropped out in No. 20 Seattle Pacific, while another made their season debut in No. 18 California (Pa.). The latter earned its best poll showing in program history, edging out a No. 19 rank from the 2013 season.

Most of those teams moved up in the polls, meaning just as many needed to slide down to take their place. No. 16 Cal Baptist dropped seven spots and No. 12 Alaska Anchorage fell six to headline the teams that suffered the biggest drops but remained in the poll.

The formerly ranked women of UC San Diego, Bellarmine, East Stroudsburg and Malone weren’t so fortunate – none survived the qualifying process during regionals weekend.

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