2017 NCAA DI Cross Country Women’s National Coaches’ Poll – Week 2
NEW ORLEANS – Take a quick glance at the top of the second week of the NCAA Division I Women’s Cross Country Coaches’ Poll, as announced by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Tuesday, and you won’t see much change.
The top-eight teams from last week held onto their spots in the rankings. But if you look past those eight teams, you’ll notice that chaos ensued, as 16 teams in the top-30 moved up or down by two or more slots after the past weekend’s batch of races.
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Penn State saw itself move up two spots to eighth to crack the top-10 for the first time on the season. Joining the Nittany Lions in the top-10 for the first time this year was Arkansas, who tied with Notre Dame for 10th on the week. The Razorbacks had a strong showing at the UCR Invitational, winning the meet behind seven top-10 outings. Nikki Hiltz led the way in Riverside, California, placing fourth with a time of 20:15.9.
While Penn State and Arkansas made leaps into the top-10 on Tuesday, neither jump was the biggest on the week. That honor belonged to Indiana and Utah State, each of whom moved up eight spots in the polls. The Hoosiers moved up to 18th after a nice outing at the Indiana Intercollegiate Championships. The Aggies jump can be attributed to a very convincing victory at the BYU Autumn Classic that saw Alyssa Snyder win an individual title at 16:28.0. All seven Utah State runners finished in the top-14.
The ranking for Utah State marked a new program best, while Indiana tied its program-best ranking.
Villanova jumped up five spots to 13th after defeating Penn at the Main Line Invitational in Haverford, Pennsylvania last Friday. Boise State (15th) and Minnesota (19th) each improved four spots in the polls from last week.
Colorado remained the team to beat, and even gained a little ground by picking up an additional three first-place votes despite sitting idle last weekend. Like the Buffaloes, Oregon and New Mexico did not compete either, yet stayed at second and third, respectively, despite losing their first-place votes.
Michigan picked up a first-place vote after an idle weekend, while Stanford (fifth), NC State (sixth), Providence (seventh) and San Francisco (eighth) all held onto their spots from a week ago.
Ohio State and Vanderbilt made their season debuts in the top-30.
A lot will happen between now and the 2017 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships on Nov. 18 at Louisville’s E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park. Check back at www.ustfccca.org for updates throughout the season.
