USTFCCCA News & Notes
Conferences Pack Teams Into NCAA DI Cross Country Championships
When 31 teams toe the starting line at the 2019 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships on Saturday at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Indiana, the Big Ten will have a 25.8-percent chance of winning the women’s national title and a 71.8-percent chance of making the podium, based on pure, unbiased probability.
That’s right.
An NCAA DI record-tying eight teams from the Big Ten qualified for NCAAs, headlined by regional champions Illinois, Michigan State and Penn State. The other five teams that will join that trio are Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio State and Wisconsin.
SEE MORE: Qualifiers Announced For NCAA DI Cross Country Championships
Two of those teams are currently ranked in the top-10 of the most recent National Coaches’ Poll – No. 5 Michigan State and No. 8 Michigan – while three sit between No. 10 and No. 20 – No. 11 Wisconsin, No. 16 Penn State and No. 17 Ohio State. Illinois came in at No. 21, with Indiana and Minnesota slotting in at No. 26 and No. 27, respectively.
SEE MORE: NCAA DI Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll – Week 7
You don’t have to go too far back to find out the last time one conference had eight teams in the field at the NCAA DI Cross Country Championships.
That would be 2014 when the ACC tied its own record from eight years earlier and plugged in eight of their own women’s programs, headlined by 13th-ranked Florida State. It proved to be a strong day for the ACC, as seven of the eight programs finished higher than their pre-meet projection according to the National Coaches’ Poll.
Back in 2006, the ACC became the first conference with more than seven qualified teams, topping the previous best established by the Big Ten in 2004 and 2002 with its men’s programs, as well as the Big 12 in 1998 with its women’s programs.
See below for a full list of those conferences with more than six programs at NCAAs in a given year.
Stacking The Cross Country Deck At NCAAs |
|||
| Sport |
Year
|
Conf.
|
Teams
|
| Women’s Cross Country |
2019
|
Big Ten
|
8
|
| Women’s Cross Country |
2014
|
ACC
|
8
|
| Women’s Cross Country |
2006
|
ACC
|
8
|
| Men’s Cross Country |
2015
|
Pac-12
|
7
|
| Women’s Cross Country |
2011
|
Pac-12
|
7
|
| Women’s Cross Country |
2009
|
Big Ten
|
7
|
| Men’s Cross Country |
2004
|
Big Ten
|
7
|
| Men’s Cross Country |
2002
|
Big Ten
|
7
|
| Women’s Cross Country |
1998
|
Big 12
|
7
|
The 2019 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships get underway on Saturday, November 23 at 11:15 am ET with the Women’s 6K. The Men’s 10K follows an hour later.