2017 NCAA DI Men’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll – Week 6
NEW ORLEANS – Don’t look back, Northern Arizona.
BYU is quickly closing the gap between itself and the Lumberjacks in the NCAA Division I Men’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll.
NAU is still No. 1 – a spot it has occupied since the preseason – but the Cougars clawed away four first-place votes between Week 5 and Week 6. The Lumberjacks totaled 355 points in Week 6 compared to 352 for BYU.
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How did the Cougars make up that ground? Well, BYU dominated yet another meet. This past weekend the Cougars swept aside formerly third-ranked Portland at the West Coast Conference Championships. That lowered BYU’s average meet score to 23 points in 2017.
Those aforementioned Pilots dropped to sixth, which allowed Syracuse and Stanford to move up one and two spots to third and fourth, respectively. The Orange cruised to a team title at the ACC Championships behind Justyn Knight’s individual win, while the Cardinal did the same out west at the Pac-12 Championships – holding off Colorado in the process – and followed Grant Fisher’s lead.
Colorado State continues to nudge its way deeper into the top-10 as the Mountain West champs come in at No. 8 this week. The Rams put four runners in the top-10 and were paced by Jerrell Mock and Cole Rockhold, who finished 1-2.
Michigan won the Big Ten title and moved into a tie for 10th place with UCLA, which jumped four spots following a third-place finish at the Pac-12 Championships. The Wolverines and Bruins were two of three teams that vaulted into the top-10 (Virginia Tech is the other).
Iowa State ended Oklahoma State’s reign in the Big 12 and soared nine spots in the poll from 23rd to 14th. The Cyclones also put an end to the Cowboys’ 61-week streak of being ranked No. 1 in the Midwest Region.
Arkansas and Texas skipped 10 and seven spots, respectively, into a tie for 17th. The Razorbacks made quick work of the field at the SEC Championships, while the Longhorns finished a game runner-up to Iowa State at the Big 12 Championships.
Wisconsin, Boise State and Illinois all returned to the poll, but the Newcomer of the Week is Alabama. The Crimson Tide finished second at the SEC Championships thanks to a 1-2-3 effort by Vincent Kiprop, Gilbert Kigen and Alfred Chelanga and earned their first ranking since the 2010 season when it was as high as fifth.
This was the penultimate National Coaches’ Poll of the 2017 season, as the next one will come out November 13 following the NCAA Regional Championships the previous weekend.
Don’t forget that the 2017 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships will be held Saturday, November 18 at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer Park in Louisville, Kentucky.
