Two Teams Share No. 1 Ranking In NCAA DIII XC Men’s Coaches’ Poll

NEW ORLEANS — North Central (Ill.) had a lot riding on this past weekend.

NCAA Division III National Coaches Poll Top 5 – Men 1) 1) 3) 4) 5) SUNY Geneseo North Central (Ill.) Williams UW-Eau Claire MIT View Complete Men’s National Coaches Poll

Just a few days earlier, the Cardinals fell from their perch atop the NCAA Division III Men’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll and in their place stood the Knights of SUNY Geneseo.

To not lose ground on SUNY Geneseo, North Central (Ill.) had to impress last Saturday at the Louisville Classic. The meet served as the defacto Pre-National Meet since the 2016 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships will be run on that same course come November 19.

Well, the Cardinals steamrolled the competition and the voting coaches took notice. That’s why in the most recent poll released Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), North Central (Ill.) and SUNY Geneseo split eight first-place votes down the middle.

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It’s a virtual tie as the Cardinals and Knights both own four first-place votes and a total score of 276 points. This is the first time in the history of the NCAA DIII Men’s Poll that two teams have shared the No. 1 spot. It happened once before in the Women’s Poll, back in 2009 when Calvin and Middlebury were Preseason No. 1s.

North Central (Ill.) dominated the proceedings in The Bluegrass State. The Cardinals, led by individual champion Zach Plank, put all seven runners in the top-15 (1-2-6-8-9-10-14). That’s no small feat considering the meet also included teams like Pomona-Pitzer (No. 5 at the time), Carnegie Mellon (No. 13) and Johns Hopkins (No. 18), among others.

Not to be outdone, SUNY Geneseo made quick work of the competition at its own Mike Woods Invitational. If it weren’t for a pesky alum, the Knights would have swept the race clean (15 points).

Look elsewhere in the poll and you’ll see only three teams remained in place from the previous week. Those teams would be SUNY Geneseo, third-ranked Williams and fourth-ranked UW-Eau Claire.

There were five teams that moved up eight or more spots and we’ll focus on them: St. Lawrence, NYU, Christopher Newport, Middlebury and SUNY Oneonta.

St. Lawrence went from No. 21 to No. 13 after a strong showing in the Men’s Gold Race at the Paul Short Run. The Saints finished 19th out of 37 teams and saw Thomas Caulfield nearly beat 2015 NCAA DI XC All-American Jonathan Green of Georgetown.

NYU jumped 12 spots (No. 29 to No. 17) behind a runner-up team finish in the Men’s Brown Race at the Paul Short Run. The Bobcats were eight points shy of knocking off a top-10 team in NCAA DII (Shippensburg) and received an amazing effort from former National Athlete of the Week Jorge Maldonado (2nd overall, 24:44.9).

Like St. Lawrence, Christopher Newport also competed in the Men’s Gold Race. The Captains didn’t have nearly the same kind of team finish as the Saints, but ended up beating six NCAA DI teams.

Both Middlebury and SUNY Oneonta took part in the Men’s Brown Race and finished fourth and fifth, respectively. The Panthers went from No. 33 to No. 21 this week and packed up well in the top one-third of the race (13-23-33-42). The Red Dragons saw Anthony Lupia finish fourth overall to help propel them up the poll from No. 35 to No. 26.

Three teams returned to the poll this week after a short absence: No. 25 Emory, No. 28 Ohio Northern and No. 34 Willamette.

As mentioned before, the 2016 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships will be held November 19 at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer Park in Louisville, Kentucky. The top-2 teams from each Regional Championship, as well as select at-large teams and individuals comprise the field from which an individual champion and team champion will be crowned.