2023 NCAA DIII Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll – Week 5

NEW ORLEANS – How is it already mid-October?

Here is the newest edition of the NCAA DIII Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll, as released on Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). What happened at the Pre-Nationals Invitational truly left its mark on the top-35.

Remember that this poll is conducted by counting votes from ten member coaches – one from each of the division’s ten regions – who also do the Regional Rankings.

NCAA Division III — Women's Cross Country

This Week's National Top Five

1
Chicago

2
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

3
Wartburg

4
SUNY Geneseo

5
NYU

Cross Country Polls & Rankings

NATIONAL POLL

REGIONAL RANKINGS

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UChicago is still the unanimous favorite to win the national title come November 18, but a new challenger emerged following the Pre-Nationals Invitational, according to the electorate. That would be none other than Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. The now second-ranked Athenas traveled more than 2,000 miles across the country from California to Pennsylvania to compete on the same course that will host the upcoming NCAA Championships. CMS ended up flying back with the team trophy as it demolished the competition on a challenging course. The Athenas put their entire scoring lineup in the top-20 and won by 48 points over MIT.

NYU cracked the top-5 for the first time in program history. The now fifth-ranked Violets recently starred at the Paul Short Run two weeks ago where they won the Women’s College Brown Race in convincing fashion. NYU scored just 69 points to outdistance a primarily NCAA DI field by nearly 100 points (NCAA DI Duquesne finished runner-up with 161 points).

Hope soared ten spots from Week 4 to Week 5. The Flying Dutch are now ranked 19^th following its sixth-place finish at the Pre-Nationals Invitational. Hope was led by Rebecca Markham and Maddy Struck, who took 12^th and 15^th place individually, respectively.

WPI vaulted from the Land of Receiving Votes to No. 20. If you think that’s because something the Engineers did at the Pre-Nationals Invitational, you’d be right: WPI took seventh place in the team standings with a strong front-running effort by third-place individual Grace Hadley.

Get ready for some great racing at the Augustana Interregional Invitational on Saturday: No. 1 UChicago faces No. 3 Wartburg and No. 7 Washington (Mo.), among others.

Mark your calendars for Saturday, November 18, because that’s when the 2023 NCAA DIII Cross Country Championships will be hosted by Dickinson College at Big Spring High School in Newville, Pennsylvania.