2024 NCAA DIII Men’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll – Week 8
NEW ORLEANS – All eyes on Terre Haute, Indiana.
The 2024 NCAA DIII Cross Country Championships are on Saturday.
Let’s find out which men’s teams the coaches feel have the best shot at contending for a national title by checking out the final edition of the 2024 NCAA DIII Men’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll.
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
RPI
RPI
Cross Country Polls & Rankings
UW-La Crosse is the unanimous favorite to win its fourth national title in program history. The Eagles, who last topped the national podium in 2005, have decimated the competition this year. UW-La Crosse enters the NCAA Championships fresh off a routine victory at the North Region Championships where it put all five scorers in the top-15 to rout UW-Whitewater, 40-78. Just a few weeks earlier, the Eagles tallied a meager 24 points in a winning effort at the WIAC Championships with their entire lineup in the top-12.
Wartburg, ranked second, is expected to be UW-La Crosse’s toughest challenger. The Knights, who recently fended off a resilient North Central (Ill.) squad for the team title at the Midwest Region Championships, are led by Isaiah Hammerand. Earlier in the season, Wartburg rolled to the team title at the loaded Augustana (Ill.) Interregional Invitational with 21 points and was a strong runner-up to UW-La Crosse at the John McNichols Invitational. The Knights have yet to win a national title in program history, but did finish second to MIT in 2022.
Defending champion Pomona-Pitzer and North Central (Ill.) are separated by just one point in third and fourth, respectively, meaning it is expected to be a heated battle for the third spot on the podium come Saturday. The Sagehens, who won three of the past four NCAA titles, recently rolled to the team title at the West Region Championships with just 42 points. Quinn White and Cameron Halter went 1-2 for Pomona-Pitzer and will be looked upon to provide the California-based squad a boost on Saturday. The Cardinals, who hope to make the NCAA podium for a 43rd time (which includes 19 national titles), appear to be rounding into form at the right time, having just taken Wartburg to the brink at the Midwest Region Championships.
Mideast Region champion RPI and Niagara Region champion NYU sit a distant fifth and sixth, respectively. Right behind the Engineers and the Violets are seventh-ranked SUNY Geneseo, eighth-ranked UW-Whitewater, ninth-ranked Carnegie Mellon and tenth-ranked St. Olaf.
The 2024 NCAA DIII Cross Country Championships are set for Saturday at the LaVern Gibson Championships Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Indiana. You can watch the action LIVE on NCAA.com, starting at 12 pm ET.
