Movers And Shakers Highlight NCAA DIII XC Women’s Poll

An earlier version of this post had the incorrect rankings listed at the bottom. That has since been corrected.

NEW ORLEANS — Take a look at the top of the NCAA Division III Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll released Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) and you’ll see not much has changed.

NCAA Division III National Coaches Poll Top 5 – Women 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Williams SUNY Geneseo Johns Hopkins Washington (Mo.) MIT View Complete Women’s National Coaches Poll

Defending champion Williams is still the unanimous No. 1 (eight first-place votes) and is followed by second-ranked SUNY Geneseo, third-ranked Johns Hopkins and fourth-ranked Washington (Mo.).

Where it gets interesting is from No. 5 to No. 9 and elsewhere in the top-35.

MIT jumped two spots from No. 7 to No. 5, forcing Tufts and SUNY Oneonta down one slot each. The Engineers haven’t showed off their entire lineup, but should in two weeks’ time at the Purple Valley Classic at Williams College.

NATIONAL PDFs: Summary | Week-By-Week 2016 | Week-By-Week All-Time
Regional Rankings: Week 1 Summary | Week 1 Recap

MEN’S WEEK ONE NATIONAL COACHES’ POLL

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and RPI swapped spots with the Athenas going from No. 11 to No. 9 and the Engineers from No. 9 to No. 11. CMS last competed at the Biola Invite alongside DII Cal Baptist and Biola, the second-ranked NAIA team, and held its own.

Of all teams on the move in the poll, Calvin surged the most in any direction. And for the Knights, it’s the only direction that matters — up. Calvin went from No. 20 to No. 13 following a spirited effort at its home invitational. The Knights rolled to an easy win over the field, scoring just 32 points and putting five runners inside the top-10.

The only other team to move four or more spots in the positive direction was that of Emory. The Eagles last competed at the Furman Cross Country Classic this past weekend and finished second behind Montevallo in the Non-Division I section.

There were four new additions to the poll this week: No. 30 Whitworth, No. 31 Wartburg, No. 33 Stevens and No. 34 St. Olaf. Three of those teams (Whitworth, Stevens and St. Olaf) weren’t ranked in the preseason nor did they receive votes.

Looking ahead there are three important dates to remember: October 29, November 12 and November 19. Those are the dates for conference meets, regional meets and finally the 2016 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships. We’ll be sure to learn a lot more about all of these teams leading up to those showdowns.