Women’s Top-5 Changes Mark Week 5 Division III XC National Polls

NEW ORLEANS—Who’s No. 2? With the Johns Hopkins women occupying the top spot for now 13 polls in a row, that’s been the question for the pollsters since August of last year. In Wednesday’s NCAA Division III National Coaches’ Poll, released by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), the new women’s No. 2 is St. Lawrence.

National Coaches Poll PDFs: Top 35 Summary | Week-by-Week 2014 | Week-by-Week All-Time
Regional Rankings PDF: Regional Summary

Division III XC Polls/Rankings Central

SLU is the fifth team to hold that slot in the No. 2 slot in that same 13-poll stretch. Two of the Saints’ predecessors directly followed them in the poll: No. 3 Middlebury moved up one spot after beating MIT – which dropped two spots to No. 4 – at the NEICAAA (open New England) meet.

NCAA Division III National Coaches Poll Top 5 – Men 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) North Central (Ill.) St. Olaf UW-Eau Claire Williams UW-Platteville View Complete Men’s National Coaches Poll NCAA Division III National Coaches Poll Top 5 – Women 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) Johns Hopkins St. Lawrence Middlebury MIT SUNY Geneseo View Complete Women’s National Coaches Poll

The other two crown princes of the last two years are No. 8 Williams and Wartburg (receiving votes).

The men’s top ten was unchanged, with most top squads sitting some or all of the their best runners in preparation for this upcoming weekend—the biggest of the regular season with significant meets at UW-Oshkosh, UW-La Crosse and Oberlin. (More on these meets later this week)

The two biggest storylines of this week’s poll sit just outside the top ten.

No. 11 Wabash rose to its highest rank since at least Association archives begin in 2006, up one spot from a week ago.

Directly behind the Little Giants was No. 12 Middlebury, which reprised its preseason rank after dropping into the 20s and then out of the poll entirely over the last month. The Panthers were, somewhat surprisingly, the first DIII team at open New Englands, over No. 14 MIT, No. 22 Amherst and others.

Most of the rest of the moves in the men’s poll were idle teams dropping a slot or two behind Wabash, Midd, and No. 14 Loras moving up. No. 35 SUNY Cortland re-entered the top 35 on the back of its strong race at Carnegie Mellon.

The Red Dragon women were similarly rewarded for a strong Schenley Park performance, as they moved up five slots to No. 25, their highest rank since 2011. The second best climb in the women’s poll came from North Central (Ill.), who at No. 21 sits at its highest ranking since 2006, though the Cardinals did finish 16th at nationals three years ago.

Men’s pollsters made bold statements about No. 20 Haverford and No. 25 NYU. Haverford has made nationals each of the last 21 seasons and never finished worse than 19th in that period, while 25th would be NYU’s worst finish since 2005.

This weekend’s DIII action kicks off at Oberlin at 11:00 AM eastern, followed by both of the Wisconsin invites at 10:30 central. Be sure to follow along live at the Results Wall here. Or better yet, go to your local meet.

The NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships will be held November 22 in Mason, Ohio.