2025 NCAA DIII Men’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll – Week 5
NEW ORLEANS – Top-ranked teams are ready to eat, as the hosts of interregional meets set the table!
The newest edition of the 2025 NCAA DIII Men’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll was released Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), just ahead of a major weekend of competition. All USTFCCCA polls and rankings 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
Johns Hopkins
Johns Hopkins
4
NYU
NYU
5
Pomona-Pitzer
Pomona-Pitzer
Cross Country Polls & Rankings
As the season follows closer to nationals week by week, the hunger to prove your team deserves to toe the line only grows stronger.
This weekend features the nation’s best teams converging on two of Division III’s most competitive interregional meets: the Augustana Interregional Invitational in Rock Island, Illinois, and the Connecticut College Invitational in Waterford, Connecticut. If you thought that the weekend of Paul Short Run really blew things up, then this weekend is going to drop a nuke. Nearly every top-ranked team will toe the line at one of these two events, setting up what could be the most revealing weekend of the season.
Augustana Interregional Invitational: The Battle of Rock Island
No. 1 UW-La Crosse continues to have a target on its back. The defending top-ranked Eagles have looked unstoppable this season, coming off a strong showing at the Joe Piane Invitational where they finished just behind four DI programs and DII powerhouse Grand Valley State. Led by Grant Matthai, Jayden Zywicki, and Aidan Matthai, the Eagles will headline the field in Rock Island against 13 ranked teams. This will be the biggest test of UW-La Crosse’s power as they typically do not see most of these teams until the postseason, according to previous years.
The biggest challengers? No. 2 Wartburg and No. 5 Pomona-Pitzer.
Wartburg, the top team of the Midwest Region, returns to the Augustana course after winning last year’s meet by 103 points. This year’s showdown shows promise to be decided by a matter of inches rather than meters. The Knights bring a formidable trio in Isaiah Hammerand, Tyler Schermerhorn, and Lance Sobaski, looking to repeat their top-10 individual placing dominance from 2024.
Pomona-Pitzer, meanwhile, travels cross-country to make its mark, fueled by Jack Stein up front and a tightly packed crew of Jefferson Wright, Peter Neid, Amir Barkan, and Owen Irving. Pomona-Pitzer has kept its season relatively quiet and have only raced in California thus far.
No. 6 North Central (Ill.) adds even more intrigue as it joins the battle for Rock Island, setting the stage for a true interregional battle between Midwest powerhouses.
Connecticut College Invitational: The Straw that Broke The Camel’s Course Record
The Midwest isn’t having all the fun as the East Coast’s results will be heard around DIII. No. 3 Johns Hopkins and No. 4 NYU lead a loaded field that includes 11 other nationally ranked teams.
Johns Hopkins, the top team from the Mid-Atlantic region, will look to make a statement before championship season begins. The Blue Jays are led by Emmanuel Leblond, with Anthony Clark and Connor Oiler providing key depth in their push for another signature win against interregional rivals.
NYU will be right there with Johns Hopkins, hoping to prove that its dominant performance at the Paul Short Run – where the Violets beat 10 ranked teams and outscored No. 12 Amherst by 47 points – was not just by chance. NYU’s lethal pack-running could prove to be the difference again.
This field also features No. 7 SUNY Geneseo, No. 8 Williams, No. 9 Tufts, and No. 10 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, setting up a true cross-country test among top programs from the East, Niagara, and West regions.
Oh, and with such powerful keynote runners such as Leblond, the charging pack of NYU, as well as many others, the course record of 23:43 – set by Elias Lindgren in 2022 – is in serious danger.
Will we see new teams enter the fold of the national rankings? Will we see regional rivals take down their opposing teams to establish dominance before the postseason? Will we see new national title contenders? Will we even see a new national No. 1 ranked team?
All of these questions and more will bounce around until the dust settles in Rock Island, Illinois, and Waterford, Connecticut. After that? You better believe the National Coaches’ Poll will look totally different come next week. And in just five weeks, the 2025 NCAA DIII Cross Country Championships will be held on November 22 at the Roger Millikin Cross Country Course in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
