2024 NCAA DI Men’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll – Week 5
NEW ORLEANS – Conference Championships Weekend left its mark on the newest edition of the 2024 NCAA DI Men’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll, which was released on Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
There is a new No. 1 program and seven other squads moved into new spots in the top-15.
National Coaches’ Polls are presented by AthleticNET.
NCAA Division I — Men's Cross Country
This Week's National Top Five
1
BYU
BYU
2
Oklahoma State
Oklahoma State
3
Arkansas
Arkansas
4
Iowa State
Iowa State
5
Wake Forest
Wake Forest
Cross Country Polls & Rankings
To quote Ric Flair, “To be the man, you gotta beat the man” – and that’s exactly what BYU did at the Big 12 Championships this past weekend. The Cougars took down former No. 1 Oklahoma State, 41-52, as they put all five scorers in the top-12. In doing so, BYU ripped the unanimous tag from the Cowboys and pasted it onto itself. The Cougars hauled in all 11 first-place votes from the electorate, putting them in the driver’s seat with 18 days left to go in the season.
SEC champion Arkansas and Big 12 third-place finisher Iowa State remain entrenched at No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, behind Oklahoma State. The Razorbacks, led by Patrick Kiprop’s sub-22 minute clocking on Texas A&M’s Dale Watts ’71 Cross Country Course, beat Alabama by 14 points, while the Cyclones finished ten points back of the Cowboys in Waco, Texas.
ACC champion Wake Forest improved two spots to No. 5. The Demon Deacons edged Stanford, 60-69, as 17 teams toed the starting line at the new-look ACC Championships. Wake Forest didn’t have a top-5 runner, but went 7-8-14-15-16 for its 60-point total.
Four programs jumped three or more spots in the top-15: Big Ten runner-up Washington went from No. 18 to No. 12, right behind Alabama and North Carolina; ACC fourth-place Virginia went from No. 16 to No. 13; BIG EAST champion Villanova went from No. 17 to No. 14; and Big Ten third-place Oregon soared ten spots from No. 25 to No. 15.
Elsewhere, Ivy League champion Princeton climbed four spots to No. 18, while BIG EAST runner-up Butler matriculated from No. 27 to No. 21. Colorado State impressed at the Mountain West Championships and joined the National Coaches’ Poll after not being ranked in Week 4 and Texas Tech continues its ascent with a three-spot improvement to No. 27.
Mark you calendars for Saturday, November 23, because that’s when the 2024 NCAA DI Cross Country Championships will be held at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course in Madison, Wisconsin.
