2021 NCAA DII Women’s Cross Country Regional Rankings – Week 6

NEW ORLEANS – We’ve got one more ranking for you!

Here is the Week 6 installment of the NCAA Division II Women’s Cross Country Regional Rankings, as released by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Tuesday afternoon. Conference Championships Weekend certainly impacted several regions and gave us a better idea of how the battle for our eight regional championships could play out!

This is also the final set of regional rankings for the season, as Regional Championships Friday is set for November 6.

Atlantic Region

There were major changes to the order of the top-5 teams in the Atlantic Region.

Charleston (W.VA.) continued to sit at No. 1after easily winning the Mountain East Conference with 20 points. The PSAC Championships determined the next four spots and these teams finished in this order: No. 2 Edinboro beat No. 3 Seton Hill, 61-73, to swap places from a week ago; No. 4 Lock Haven placed third to climb three spots; No. 5 Slippery Rock finished in fourth by four points ahead of No. 6 Bloomsburg.

Central Region

There were minor changes to the order of the top-5 teams in the Central Region.

Augustana (S.D.), U-Mary and Minnesota Duluth remain No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, followed by now No. 4 Neb.-Kearney and now No. 5 Minnesota State. The Vikings cruised to the NSIC title with 20 points, while the Marauders finished two points less than the Bulldogs for second place. The Lopers, who are the lone MIAA team in the top-5, won the conference title and improved their billing by three spots. The Mavericks, who came in fourth in the NSIC, dropped one spot.

East Region

There were no changes to the order of the top-5 teams in the East Region.

American International and Stonehill remain No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, followed by No. 3 Southern New Hampshire, No. 4 Roberts Wesleyan and No. 5 Daemen. The Yellow Jackets ran their top runners for the first time this season and captured the NE-10 title with 40 points, followed by the second-place Skyhawks (52 points) and third-place Penmen (64 points). Over in the East Coast Conference, the Eagles beat the Wildcats, 29-44, for the team crown.

Midwest Region

There were several changes to the order of the top-5 teams in the Midwest Region.

Grand Valley State and Southern Indiana remain No. 1 and No. 2, respectively. Cedarville and Lewis each gained one spot to come in at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, which dropped Southwest Baptist down two spots to No. 5. The Lakers continued to solidify their position, this time after winning the GLIAC title with the conference’s first perfect score since 1994. In the GLVC, the Screaming Eagles are back on to after winning the team title with 44 points, while runner-up Lewis beat former No. 3 (now No. 5) Southwest Baptist, 80-86. The Yellow Jackets flexed their depth en route to winning the GMAC with 45 points.

South Region

There were several changes to the order of the top-5 teams in the South Central Region.

Lee (Tenn.) remained No. 1 after winning the Gulf South Conference title and No. 2 Mississippi College jumped two spots after capturing runner-up honors. With the jump the Choctaws made, the Sunshine State champion Saint Leo and runner-up Tampa fell to No. 3 and No. 4, respectively. Alabama-Huntsville held steady at No. 5 and captured a third-place finish at the Gulf South Conference Championships.

South Central Region

There were no changes to the order of the top-5 teams in the South Central Region.

Adams State and Colorado School of Mines remain No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, followed by No. 3 UC-Colorado Springs, No. 4 CSU Pueblo and No. 5 Western Colorado. This is also how the RMAC Championships played out: the Grizzlies captured the team title with 40 points; the Orediggers recorded a runner-up finish with 71 points and the Mountain Lions were 19 points behind in third; the Thunder Wolves finished eight points ahead of the Mountaineers for fourth and fifth, respectively.

Southeast Region

There were a plethora of changes to the order of the top-5 teams in the Southeast Region.

Wingate is the new No. 1 and dropped Queens (N.C.) to No. 2 after the Bulldogs won the South Atlantic Conference title with 27 points over the Royals’ 43 points. No. 3 Flagler saw a two spot improvement following a win at the Peach Belt Championships over No. 6 North Georgia. The Saints’ jump saw now No. 4 Lenoir-Rhyne and now No. 4 Anderson (S.C.) fall one spot each. The Bears and Spartans finished third and fourth, respectively, at the SAC Championships.

West Region

There were a slew of changes to the order of the top-5 teams in the West Region.

Simon Fraser stayed at No. 1 after running away with the GNAC title by 45 points. CCAA champion Cal State Stanislaus leapfrogged runner-up Chico State for the No. 2 spot (the Wildcats are now No. 3). Academy of Art edged Biola (Calif.) by one point for the PacWest title, which gave the Urban Knights a two spot improvement to No. 4 and dropped the Eagles to No. 5.