2024 NCAA DIII Men’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll – Week 6
NEW ORLEANS – A big weekend meant big changes.
Here is the newest edition of the 2024 NCAA DIII Men’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll, which was released on Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA). What happened at the Augustana Interregional Invitational, the Connecticut College Invitational and the Mike Woods Invitational altered the rankings.
National Coaches’ Polls are presented by AthleticNET.
NCAA Division III — Men's Cross Country
This Week's National Top Five
1
UW-La Crosse
UW-La Crosse
2
Wartburg
Wartburg
3
Pomona-Pitzer
Pomona-Pitzer
4
North Central (Ill.)
North Central (Ill.)
5
SUNY Geneseo
SUNY Geneseo
Cross Country Polls & Rankings
A trio of champions headline the National Coaches’ Poll in Week 6: Jim Drews Invitational champion UW-La Crosse held steady at No. 1; Augustana Interregional Invitational champion Wartburg is entrenched at No. 2; and Pomona-Pitzer XC Invitational champion Pomona-Pitzer is No. 3. If anything, the Knights made a case for No. 1 after decimating a stacked field in Rock Island, Illinois. Wartburg won the Augustana Interregional Invitational by 103 points.
Augustana Interregional Invitational runner-up North Central (Ill.) improved one spot to No. 4 with Mike Woods Invitational champion SUNY Geneseo up three spots to No. 5 The Knights beat No. 7 RPI and former No. 9 (now No. 16) Carnegie Mellon after putting all five scoring athletes in the top-13, led by a 3-4 finish by Ryan Hagan and Alex Hillyard.
Connecticut College Invitational champion NYU jumped three spots from No. 11 to No. 8, while that meet’s runner-up St. Olaf cracked the top-10 for the first time this season at No. 9. This is the Oles’ best ranking since 2016 when they were billed No. 6 in the preseason edition.
Five programs climbed five or more spots between Week 5 and Week 6: Rowan Interregional Border Battle champion Lynchburg is up five spots to No. 11 with runner-up Washington and Lee right behind in a program-high 12th. Connecticut College Invitational third-place team Williams climbed seven spots from No. 21 to No. 14; and John Carroll went from No. 24 to No. 18 after a fourth-place finish at the Mike Woods Invitational.
This past weekend was just an appetizer for the 2024 NCAA DIII Cross Country Championships, which will be held on Saturday, November 23, at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Indiana.
