NCAA DII Cross Country Regional Rankings Announced

NEW ORLEANS – This past weekend was by and large a quiet one in NCAA Division II cross country, a trend that manifested itself in the third regular-season Regional Rankings announced Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).

Of the eight men’s regions and eight women’s regions, only five total from both genders saw new teams move up into position for their regions’ respective allotted NCAA Championship bids. None crowned a new regional No. 1 team.

Regional Rankings Summary PDF | Division II XC Rankings Central
Week-by-Week All-Time Regional Rankings

QUICK LINKS: Men’s Regions | Women’s Regions

The women’s rankings underwent the most changes, with four of those aforementioned changed regions.

In the six-bid Midwest, Northern Michigan parlayed a strong runner-up finish at the Roy Griak Invite into a return to the No. 3 slot – just one week after dropping an equal amount. The Wildcats’ rise displaced the quartet of No. 4 Bellarmine, No. 5 Lewis, No. 6 Southern Indiana and No. 7 Malone down one spot each.

NMU finished runner-up to Central Region No. 1 Minnesota Duluth, the team atop another region that saw another team move into qualifying position. At that same Griak Invitational, MSU Moorhead finished sixth overall to move up three positions to No. 4 in the five-bid central.

Former Central No. 4 U-Mary followed National Athlete of the Week Alexis Zeis to a fifth-place finish and a subsequent one-spot move up to No. 3. The Marauders’ new rank was vacated by Winona State, which dropped to No. 7 in the region.

A pair of new teams moved into qualifying position in the three-bid Southeast in No. 2 Wingate and No. 3 Anderson (S.C.) – both of which moved up two spots after finishing first and second at the Wingate Bulldog Stampede. Those finishes came at the expense of Queens (N.C.) and North Georgia, which dropped one and three spots, respectively.

In the three-bid East, American International climbed two spots with a victory at the Northeast-10 Preview at St, Michael’s College.

The lone new men’s team to climb into qualifying territory just barely did so. Led by National Athlete of the Week Alec Baldwin to a Roy Griak victory, Black Hills State moved up into the sixth spot in the six-bid South Central Region.

New to the men’s rankings this week were West Virginia Wesleyan (Atlantic), Wingate (Southeast) and Azusa Pacific (West). Joining the women’s rankings were Daemen (East), Coker (Southeast), and Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State Stanislaus (West).

NCAA Division II Regional Championships will be held around the country on Saturday, November 7 with the NCAA Championships happening two weeks later in Joplin, Missouri.

USTFCCCA Regional Cross Country Rankings are determined subjectively by a single member coach in each respective region. The regional representative is tasked with weighing returning teams’ strength with current season results in determining predicted team finishes at the NCAA Regional Championships.