2021 NCAA DIII Men’s Cross Country Regional Rankings – Week 6

NEW ORLEANS – We’re nearly three weeks away from Regional Championships Saturday!

Here is the newest edition of the NCAA Division III Men’s Cross Country Regional Rankings for Week 6 of the 2021 season, which was released on Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). Changes were plentiful with nine of the 10 regions seeing top-5 movement after an exciting weekend of cross country captivated the nation.

Remember that Regional Championships Saturday is set for November 13!

East Region

There was one small change to the order of the top-5 teams in the East Region.

MIT and Bates remained No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, followed by No. 3 Colby, but Tufts leapfrogged WPI into the No. 4 spot (WPI is now No. 5.). Four of those top-5 programs were at the Connecticut College Invitational this past weekend: MIT finished runner-up behind East No. 1 Williams; Bates ended up sixth; Tufts took eighth, two spots ahead of WPI. Colby finished a clear runner-up at the Suffolk Invitational this past weekend behind NCAA DI Dartmouth.

Great Lakes Region

There was one change to the order of the top-5 teams in the Great Lakes Region.

John Carroll and Otterbein remained No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, followed by No. 3 Case Western Reserve, No. 4 Calvin and new No. 5 Mount Union. John Carroll, Case Western Reserve and Mount Union all competed at the Oberlin Inter-Regional Rumble this past weekend with the Blue Streaks taking home the team title, while the Spartans took fifth and the Purple Raiders ended up sixth. Otterbein and Calvin competed at the Augustana Interregional Invitational this past weekend with the former taking fourth and the latter placing seventh.

Metro Region

There were a few changes to the order of the top-5 teams in the Metro Region.

Haverford remained No. 1, but is now followed by No. 2 Ramapo, No. 3 Rowan, No. 4 TCNJ and No. 5 Swarthmore. Each of those top-5 programs competed at the Rowan Inter-Regional Border Battle and finished in that exact order. The Fords and the Rowdies both finished among the top-10 programs with the former in fourth and the latter in ninth.

Mid-Atlantic Region

There were some big changes to the order of the top-5 teams in the Mid-Atlantic Region.

Carnegie Mellon leapfrogged Johns Hopkins into the No. 1 spot (The Blue Jays slid to No. 2), while No. 3 Dickinson, No. 4 Messiah and No. 5 Lebanon Valley all held steady. The Tartans and the Blue Jays both finished third at their respective meets this past weekend (CMU at the Oberlin Inter-Regional Rumble; Johns Hopkins at the Rowan Inter-Regional Border Battle), but the former’s result was deemed stronger based on the competition. The Red Devils posted the next best result of the bunch with a sixth-place finish at the Rowan Inter-Regional Border Battle.

Mideast Region

There were a few notable changes to the order of the top-5 teams in the Mideast Region.

Williams remained No. 1, but is now followed by No. 2 Middlebury, No. 3 RPI, No. 4 Connecticut College and No. 5 Vassar. That’s exactly how the teams finished at the Connecticut College Invitational this past weekend: the Ephs captured the team title; the Panthers finished third; the Engineers were fourth; the Camels took a clear fifth; the Brewers ended up seventh, four spots ahead of previous No. 4 Amherst.

Midwest Region

There were a few notable changes to the order of the top-5 teams in the Midwest Region.

Wartburg remained No. 1, but is now followed by No. 2 North Central (Ill.), No. 3 Washington (Mo.), No. 4 Loras and No. 5 UChicago. Four of those programs competed at the Augustana Interregional Invitational this weekend: the Knights captured the team title; the Cardinals took third; the Bears were fifth, right ahead of the Maroons. The Duhawks finished a strong fourth at the Lewis & Clark Invite, just six points behind North Region No. 3 Carleton.

Niagara Region

There were a few changes to the order of the top-5 teams in the Niagara Region.

SUNY Geneseo remained No. 1, but is now followed by No. 2 Ithaca, No. 3 Rochester (N.Y.), No. 4 NYU and No. 5 Hamilton. Each of the top-3 programs competed at the Rowan Inter-Regional Border Battle this past weekend: the Knights won the team title; the Bombers finished eighth, two spots ahead of the Yellow Jackets.

North Region

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

UW-Whitewater and UW-La Crosse remained No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, followed by No. 3 Carleton, No. 4 UW-Oshkosh and No. 5 St. Olaf. Each of those top-5 teams were spread out this past weekend: the Warhawks finished a close second at the Oberlin Inter-Regional Rumble; the Eagles won the Jim Drew Invitational; the Knights posted a head-to-head win over Midwest No. 4 Loras at the Lewis & Clark Invite; the Titans ended up two spots behind UW-Whitewater at the Oberlin Inter-Regional Rumble, and the Oles were fifth at the Rowan Inter-Region Border Battle.

South Region

There were a few changes to the order of the top-5 teams in the South Region.

Emory and Lynchburg remained No. 1 and No. 2, but Washington and Lee jumped two spots to No. 3, right ahead of No. 4 Berry and No. 5 Christopher Newport. Three of the top-5 teams were at the Rowan Inter-Regional Border Battle this past weekend: the Hornets finished runner-up behind Niagara No. 1 SUNY Geneseo thanks to three top-10 finishers, including individual champion Frank Csorba; the Generals were seventh in New Jersey; the Captains finished 11th.

West Region

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

Pomona-Pitzer and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps remained No.1 and No. 2, but are now followed by No. 3 George Fox, No. 4 UC Santa Cruz and No. 5 Colorado College. Both the Sagehens and the Tigers raced at the Augustana Interregional Invitational this past weekend with the former posting the more favorable result with a close runner-up finish to Midwest No. 1 Wartburg. The Bruins traveled across the country for the Connecticut College Invitational and placed seventh in front of several highly-ranked programs from the East and Mideast.