Race For No. 1 In NCAA DIII Men’s XC Gets A Bit Tighter
NEW ORLEANS — One thing is abundantly clear through two weeks of the NCAA Division III Men’s Cross Country season: North Central (Ill.) and SUNY Geneseo are the favorites to stand out come November in Louisville, Kentucky.
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Anything else is up for debate.
According to the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) National Coaches’ Poll that was released Wednesday, the Cardinals and Knights were the only two teams to receive first-place votes. Last week there were three, as Williams had two, but the Ephs lost both to hand North Central (Ill.) a grand total of six, while SUNY Geneseo is the proud owner of two.
Just like the preseason, the top-4 consists of the Cardinals, Knights, Ephs and defending champion UW-Eau Claire, 24 points behind North Central (Ill.).
NATIONAL PDFs: Summary | Week-By-Week 2016 | Week-By-Week All-Time
Regional Rankings: Week 1 Summary | Week 1 Recap
WOMEN’S WEEK ONE NATIONAL COACHES’ POLL
The biggest move in the top-10 belonged to MIT as it went from No. 7 to No. 5. The Engineers, who tied their best ranking this early in the season, haven’t raced anyone other than their alumni this season and take to the course in two weeks at what should be a high-caliber invitational at Williams College.
Four teams leapt three or more spots in this week’s poll: Chicago (No. 18 to No. 15), Calvin (No. 21 to No. 17), Colby (No. 27 to No. 22) and Dickinson (No. 35 to No. 31).
The “Moves of the Week,” if you will, belonged to Augustana (Ill.) and Wartburg, as both teams went from “Also Receiving Votes” to the top-25. Both teams competed at the Les Duke Invitational this past weekend and fared quite well, hence their ascensions.
We’ll start with Wartburg, though, as it captured the meet crown. The Knights put three runners inside the top-10 — Jerry Frawley, Eli Kaczinski and Kailas Kokare — and won by a comfortable margin (53-78). This is the lowest Wartburg has been ranked this early in the National Coaches’ Poll since 2007 when it was 16th.
Augustana (Ill.) finished runner-up to the Knights and packed up well itself. The Vikings had finishers at 14th, 15th, 17th and 20th and were all separated by 16 seconds.
Most of these teams — or select athletes from these teams — will be in action at the 2016 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer Park come November 19.
USTFCCCA NCAA Division III |
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Men’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll |
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2016 Week #1 — September 14 |
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| next poll: September 21 | ||||||
| Rank | Institution (FPV) | Points | Region (CR) | Conference | Head Coach (Yr*) |
Last
Week |
| 1 | North Central (Ill.) (6) | 278 | Midwest (1) | CCIW | Al Carius (51st) |
1
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| 2 | SUNY Geneseo (2) | 274 | Atlantic (1) | SUNYAC | Dan Moore (2nd) |
2
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| 3 | Williams | 264 | New England (1) | NESCAC | Pete Farwell (38th) |
3
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| 4 | UW-Eau Claire | 250 | Midwest (2) | WIAC | Dan Schwamberger (10th) |
4
|
| 5 | MIT | 247 | New England (2) | NEWMAC | Halston Taylor (35th) |
7
|
| 6 | Pomona-Pitzer | 239 | West (1) | SCIAC | Tony Boston (9th) |
5
|
| 7 | St. Olaf | 237 | Central (1) | MIAC | Phil Lundin (9th) |
6
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| 8 | Claremont-Mudd-Scripps | 220 | West (2) | SCIAC | John Goldhammer (33rd) |
8
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| 8 | UW-La Crosse | 220 | Midwest (3) | WIAC | Derek Stanley (5th) |
9
|
| 10 | Amherst | 209 | New England (3) | NESCAC | Ned Nedeau (20th) |
10
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| 11 | Loras | 194 | Central (2) | IIAC | Bob Schultz (12th) |
12
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| 12 | Carnegie Mellon | 190 | Mideast (1) | UAA | Tim Connelly (2nd) |
11
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| 12 | Wabash | 190 | Great Lakes (1) | NCAC | Colin Young (2nd) |
13
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| 14 | St. Lawrence | 172 | Atlantic (2) | Liberty League | John Newman (16th) |
14
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| 15 | Chicago | 165 | Midwest (4) | UAA | Chris Hall (16th) |
18
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| 16 | Haverford | 162 | Mideast (2) | Centennial | Tom Donnelly (42nd) |
16
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| 17 | Calvin | 153 | Great Lakes (2) | MIAA | Brian Diemer (31st) |
21
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| 18 | Tufts | 150 | New England (4) | NESCAC | Joel Williams (1st) |
17
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| 19 | Johns Hopkins | 131 | Mideast (3) | Centennial | Bobby Van Allen (18th) |
20
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| 20 | UW-Platteville | 126 | Midwest (5) | WIAC | Tom Antczak (24th) |
15
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| 21 | Allegheny (Pa.) | 115 | Great Lakes (3) | NCAC | Ben Mourer (1st) |
19
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| 22 | Colby | 113 | New England (5) | NESCAC | Jared Beers (11th) |
27
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| 23 | Wartburg | 107 | Central (3) | IIAC | Ryan Chapman (1st) |
RV
|
| 24 | RPI | 97 | Atlantic (3) | Liberty League | John Lynch (6th) |
24
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| 25 | Augustana (Ill.) | 94 | Midwest (6) | CCIW | Paul Olsen (51st) |
RV
|
| 26 | Middlebury | 71 | New England (6) | NESCAC | Nicole Wilkerson (6th) |
21
|
| 27 | UW-Oshkosh | 68 | Midwest (7) | WIAC | Eamon McKenna (5th) |
23
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| 28 | Widener | 63 | Mideast (4) | Middle Atlantic | Vince Touey (30th) |
30
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| 29 | NYU | 52 | Atlantic (4) | UAA | Erison Hurtault (1st) |
29
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| 30 | Christopher Newport | 50 | South/Southeast (1) | CAC | Matthew Barreau (6th) |
28
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| 31 | Dickinson | 39 | Mideast (5) | Centennial | Don Nichter (27th) |
35
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| 32 | Ohio Northern | 34 | Great Lakes (4) | OAC | Jason Maus (11th) |
33
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| 33 | Emory | 25 | South/Southeast (2) | UAA | John Curtin (32nd) |
32
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| 33 | Central (Iowa) | 25 | Central (4) | IIAC | Joe Dunham (9th) |
25
|
| 35 | Willamette | 14 | West (3) | Northwest | Matt McGuirk (13th) |
31
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| Also Receiving Votes: Gustavus Adolphus 2 | ||||||
| Dropped Out: No. 26 UW-Stevens Point, No. 34 Washington (Mo.), No. 35 Hamilton, No. 35 Bates | ||||||
| (* year as head coach of that team in men’s cross country, officially NCAA-recognized coach listed) | ||||||
