2018 NCAA DIII Cross Country Regional Rankings – Week 5

NEW ORLEANS – For the second time this season, it was a quiet week in the NCAA Division III Cross Country Regional Rankings.

The most recent Regional Rankings, released Tuesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), saw very few changes from the previous week – but there is a new No. 1 women’s team in the West Region.

Expect a few more changes next week following the conclusion of the Kollege Town Sports Cross Country Invitational this upcoming weekend, hosted by UW-Oshkosh, which is the de facto Pre-National Invitational for NCAA DIII. The women’s Pre-National Invitational begins at 9:40 am, with the men’s race starting 40 minutes later.

Week-by-Week Ranking Charts

REGIONAL RANKINGS
MEN: 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | All Years
WOMEN: 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | All Years

Jump to Regional Coaches’ Rankings
MEN: Atlantic | Central | Great Lakes | Mideast | Midwest | New England | South/Southeast | West
WOMEN: Atlantic | Central | Great Lakes | Mideast | Midwest | New England | South/Southeast | West

The 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 (if applicable) in determining predicted team finishes at the NCAA Regional Championships, which will take place November 10, one week ahead of the NCAA Championships in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Atlantic Region

There were no changes to the top-5 this week in the men’s rankings: RPI is still No. 1, followed by No. 2 SUNY Geneseo, No. 3 St. Lawrence, No. 4 RIT (led by Otto Kingstedt, the National Athlete of the Week) and No. 5 Rowan.

There were no changes to the top-5 this week in the women’s rankings: SUNY Geneseo is still No. 1 after winning the Houghton Highlander Invitational this past weekend and is followed by No. 2 St. Lawrence, No. 3 RPI, No. 4 Rochester (N.Y.) and No. 5 Vassar.

Central Region

There were no changes to the top-5 this week in the men’s rankings: Wartburg is still No. 1, followed by No. 2 St. Olaf, No. 3 Carleton, No. 4 St. Thomas (Minn.) and No. 5 Loras.

There were no changes to the top-5 this week in the women’s rankings: Carleton is still No. 1, followed by No. 2 Nebraska Wesleyan, No. 3 Wartburg, No. 4 St. Olaf and No. 5 St. Thomas (Minn.).

Great Lakes Region

There were no changes to the top-5 this week in the men’s rankings: Calvin is still No. 1, followed by No. 2 Otterbein, No. 3 Case Western Reserve, No. 4 Trine and No. 5 John Carroll.

There were no changes to the top-5 this week in the women’s rankings: Hope is still No. 1, followed by No. 2 Calvin, No. 3 Otterbein, No. 4 Allegheny (Pa.) and No. 5 Case Western Reserve.

Mideast Region

There were no changes to the top-5 this week in the men’s rankings: Haverford is still No. 1, followed by No. 2 Carnegie Mellon, No. 3 Johns Hopkins, No. 4 Dickinson (which won the DeSales Invitational) and No. 5 Stevenson.

There was a small change to the top-5 this week in the women’s rankings: The top-4 teams are still the same in No. 1 Johns Hopkins, No. 2 Dickinson, No. 3 Carnegie Mellon and No. 4 Swarthmore. Misericordia swapped spots with Haverford and comes in at No. 5.

Midwest Region

There were no changes to the top-5 this week in the men’s rankings: North Central (Ill.) is still No. 1, followed by No. 2 UW-La Crosse, No. 3 Washington (Mo.), No. 4 U of Chicago and No. 5 UW-Stout.

There was a small change to the top-5 this week in the women’s rankings: Washington (Mo.) is still No. 1, followed by No. 2 UW-Eau Claire and No. 3 Wheaton (Ill.). U of Chicago moved into a tie at No. 4 after beating North Central (Ill.) this past weekend at the Eagle Invitational hosted by Benedictine (Ill.).

New England Region

There was a minor change to the top-5 of the men’s rankings this week: No. 4 MIT and No. 3 Amherst swapped spots after the former’s strong effort at the All-New England Championships this past weekend. The Engineers narrowed their 1-5 spread to 37 seconds. Other than that, not much is different: Williams is No. 1, followed by No. 2 Middlebury, while Bowdoin is slotted in at No. 5.

There were no changes to the top-5 of the women’s rankings this week: MIT is still No. 1, followed by No. 2 Williams, No. 3 Tufts (led by Natalie Bettez, the National Athlete of the Week), No. 4 Middlebury and No. 5 Brandeis.

South/Southeast Region

There were no changes to the top-5 of the men’s rankings: Rhodes is still No. 1, followed by No. 2 Berea (Ky.), No. 3 Emory, No. 4 Washington and Lee and No. 5 Christopher Newport.

There were no changes to the top-5 of the women’s rankings: Emory is still No. 1, followed by No. 2 Lynchburg (Va.), No. 3 Centre, No.4 Washington and Lee and No. 5 Trinity (Texas).

West Region

There were no changes to the top-5 of the men’s rankings: Pomona-Pitzer is still No. 1, followed by No. 2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, No. 3 UC Santa Cruz, No. 4 Occidental and No. 5 George Fox.

Pomona-Pitzer took over the top spot in the women’s rankings this week after getting Lauren Hamilton back into the mix. Hamilton is a former All-American, who should bolster the Sagehen corps. Former No. 1 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps fell to No. 2 and is followed by UC Santa Cruz at No. 3, Occidental at No. 4 and Colorado College at No. 5.