2024 NJCAA DI Men’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll – Week 2
NEW ORLEANS – Two teams continue to collect all of the first-place votes in the Week 2 edition of the 2024 NJCAA Division I Men’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll, which was released Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
National Coaches’ Polls are presented by AthleticNET.
NJCAA Division I — Men's Cross Country
This Week's National Top Five
1
Iowa Western CC
Iowa Western CC
2
Salt Lake (Utah) CC
Salt Lake (Utah) CC
3
El Paso (Texas) CC
El Paso (Texas) CC
4
Butler (Kan.) CC
Butler (Kan.) CC
5
Hutchinson (Kan.) CC
Hutchinson (Kan.) CC
Cross Country Polls & Rankings
Iowa Western CC remains No. 1, improving its collection of first-place votes from seven to eight since the last poll. The Reivers racked up two wins in seven days – the Woody Greeno/Jay Dirksen Invitational before the Gans Creek Classic Open division, both times led by Geofrey Ronoh in earning two more M-F Athletic National Athlete of the Week honors. Iowa Western’s next three of Barnabas Ndiwa, Mohammed Kowa and Mackdonald Songok usually follow closely in scoring.
Preseason No. 1 Salt Lake (Utah) CC repeats as No. 2 and received two first-place votes. The Bruins won the Cougar Challenge in California with 17 points as defending NJCAA DI Cross Country individual champion JaQuavious Harris led a 1-2-3-5-6 (plus 7-8-9) blanket finish for Salt Lake.
El Paso (Texas) CC climbed two spots to No. 3 (the only time they’ve ranked higher was a No. 2 in Week 3 of 2019). The Tejanos were second to NCAA DI power Northern Arizona at the Dave Murray Invitational, with Timothy Kiprotich leading a top-4 separated by 16.7 seconds.
No. 4 remains Butler (Kan.) CC. The Grizzlies won the Missouri Southern Stampede with four scores in the top-10, then took top JUCO honors a week later in the Chile Pepper Festival’s McDonnell Memorial race. Both times Emmanuel Otim led the way, including a victory at Missouri Southern.
Rising four positions to No. 5 is Hutchinson (Kan.) CC, its highest ranking since being No. 4 in Week 4 of 2020. The Blue Dragons are led by freshman Dennis Cheruiyot and finished just behind rival Butler and ahead of previous No. 4 Crowder (Mo.) in the McDonnell Memorial team standings at the Chile Pepper Festival.
Rounding out the top-10 are No. 6 New Mexico JC, No. 7 Iowa Central CC, No. 8 Crowder (Mo.), No. 9 Central Arizona and No. 10 Garden City (Kan.) CC.
The season culminates on Saturday, November 9, when the 2024 NJCAA Division I Cross Country Championships will be held at Pole Green Park near Richmond, Virginia.
