2019 NCAA DIII Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll – Week 6
NEW ORLEANS – An exciting weekend of racing really shook up the most recent NCAA Division III Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll, which was released on Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
Several major meets dotted the national landscape this past weekend and teams that stood out in Connecticut, New Jersey and Wisconsin, among others, were rewarded with improved spots.
NCAA Division III — Women's Cross Country
This Week's National Top Five
1
Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins
2
Washington (Mo.)
Washington (Mo.)
3
MIT
MIT
4
Williams
Williams
5
Dickinson
Dickinson
Cross Country Polls & Rankings
You can’t get much better than No. 1, which is where Johns Hopkins sits for the third week in a row. The Blue Jays demolished the competition at the Rowan Inter-Regional Border Battle to the tune of 26 points as they put their top-7 runners in the top-15. Not only that, but Johns Hopkins had a spread of just 15.9 seconds between its No. 1 and No. 5 runners.
Washington (Mo.) moved up one spot to No. 2 after an equally as impressive effort at the Kollege Town Sports Invitational. The Bears scored a meager 27 points as they had each and every single one of their top-7 runners in the top-15. While the spread between WashU’s No. 1 (Paige Lawler) and No. 2 runners (Sophie Watterson) was 31 seconds, the gap between No. 2 and the No. 5 runners was just 12 seconds.
MIT jumped four spots from No. 7 to No. 3, which is its 10th time ranked among the nation’s elite in the past three years. The Engineers continued their strong season as of late with a big effort at the Connecticut College Invitational. MIT won by 28 points against a field that was loaded with nationally-ranked programs, including new No. 4 Williams and new No. 6 Tufts.
Further down, Carleton makes its 14th appearance in the top-10 since 2017 after not making once it in the previous six years before that. The Knights, who charged three spots between Week 5 and Week 6, made the trip to Connecticut and finished fourth in the meet.
UW-Eau Claire improved its ranking four spots with its effort at the Kollege Town Invitational and now sits 11th in the poll. The Blugolds finished fourth this past weekend and were led by Lexie Tremble, who took fifth place individually.
There were two teams that jumped 13 spots between Week 5 and Week 6: Washington and Lee and Vassar. The Generals went from No. 33 to a program-record No. 20 following their fourth-place finish at the Oberlin-hosted Inter-Regional Rumble, while the Brewers sit at No. 21 – their best rank since 2014 – after finishing seventh at the Connecticut College Invitational.
Based on their performances this past weekend, six teams made their way into the National Coaches’ Poll in Week 6: No. 16 Bates, No. 23 UW-La Crosse, No. 26 Carnegie Mellon, No. 32 Gustavus Adolphus, No. 33 Calvin and No. 35 NYU.
Be sure to check back when the next NCAA Division III Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll is released on Wednesday, November 6, following Conference Championship Weekend.
