NCAA XC Rankings: BYU Men Upset Oklahoma State, New No. 1 In XC Rankings
NCAA XC Rankings: BYU Men Upset Oklahoma State, New No. 1 In XC Rankings
After knocking off the defending national champions, Oklahoma State, the BYU men took over top spot of the FloTrack XC College Rankings Presented by HOKA.
Would it really be conference championship weekend without a little bit of chaos?
It seems that wherever you looked last weekend, there was something going on at one of the dozens of cross country conference championships in Division I.
Here's how the FloTrack College XC Rankings Presented by HOKA look after one of the final three weekends of the collegiate season.
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The Front-Runners Stay Up Front
After winning his sixth Mountain West title, New Mexico's Habtom Samuel stayed put at the top of the most recent set of rankings, with Graham Blanks close behind at No. 2. Blanks won another Ivy League title to pick up his first win of the year, running 22:14.6 for a new 8k PB.
Oklahoma State's Brian Musau and Texas Tech's Solomon Kipchoge both cracked the top five this time around after their 1-2 finish at the Big 12 Championships. North Carolina's Parker Wolfe fell back to No. 5 after a third-place finish at the ACC Championships.
Arkansas' Patrick Kiprop notched his first-ever SEC title over the weekend, just enough to move up to No. 6, with Oklahoma State's Denis Kipngetich coming in at No. 7.
BYU's Casey Clinger, Texas Tech's Ernest Cheruiyot, and Iowa State's Robin Kwemoi Bera round out the top ten after strong races at the Big 12 Championships.
Upsets Helped Others Move Up
In an upset-filled weekend, there were plenty of movers throughout the poll, including BYU's James Corrigan and Joey Nokes, as well as Virginia's Gary Martin.
Corrigan and Nokes both moved up over 20 spots to No. 15 and No. 17 after the duo finished seventh and eighth at Big 12's.
Martin on the other hand made a huge leap up to No. 19 after upsetting UNC's Parker Wolfe at the ACC Championships.
However, the biggest result of the weekend was far and away BYU's upset win over the defending NCAA champions, Oklahoma State. Up until this weekend, the Cowboys had simply looked untouchable, especially with all four returning All-Americans continually running well.
Down in Waco, Texas, BYU put six runners inside the top 15 finishers and all six ahead of Oklahoma State's fourth runner. After a jaw-dropping showing, BYU moved up to the top spot, after being ranked No. 3 two weeks ago.
Oklahoma State fell to No. 2, while Iowa State made the jump past Arkansas for No. 3, making way for an all-Big 12 top three.
The Razorbacks fell to No. 4, while Stanford stayed put at No. 5 after a runner-up finish at ACC's.
New Mexico, Wake Forest, North Carolina, Northern Arizona, and Alabama fill out the remainder of the top 10.
The men of Oregon were the biggest jumpers in the top 20, using their third-place finish at the Big 10 Championships to propel them from No. 30 to No. 19.
The Women's Rankings Stood Strong
While there was a lot of shuffling around on the men's side, there was much less change to the women's set of FloTrack College XC Rankings.
After their statement wins at the SEC Championship and Mountain West Championship, Alabama's Doris Lemngole and New Mexico's Pamela Kosgei came in at No. 1 and No. 2 again, while Florida's Hilda Olemomoi stayed put at No. 3.
Georgetown's Chloe Scrimgeour and Texas Tech's Juliet Cherubet round out the top five after a pair of top three finishes at their respective championships.
Gonzaga's Rosina Machu cruised her way to a WCC title, enough to keep her steady at No. 6.
Connecticut's Chloe Thomas made light work of the Big East field on Friday, pulling away from Providence's Alex Millard to win by 14 seconds.
After finishing 1-2 in Virginia, the pair sits No. 7 and No. 8 in the rankings, with West Virginia's Ceili McCabe at No. 9 following her Big 12 title.
Villanova's Sadie Sigfstead went from being just outside the top 25 to No. 10 thanks to her fourth place finish at the Big East Championships.
Clemson's speedy pair of Silvia Jelego and Judy Kosgei finished second and fourth at ACC's, enough to launch Jelego from No. 54 to No. 14, and Kosgei from No. 60 to No. 19.
The BYU Women Stay At The No. 1 Spot
After winning their second-straight Big 12 title, the BYU women maintained their No. 1 ranking, and still seem to be in a world of their own. Northern Arizona took care of business at the Big Sky Championships, just enough keep them ahead of a surging Oregon squad.
The Ducks finally showed their cards in Silan Ayyildiz's season debut, which went pretty well considering she led teammate Maddy Elmore to a 1-2 Duck finish. Oregon's domination of a lethal Washington squad was more than enough to move them all the way up to No. 3, while Georgetown and West Virginia round out the top five after finishing first and second at their conference championships, respectively.
No. 6 Washington, No. 7 Providence, No. 8 New Mexico, No. 9 Utah and No. 10 Alabama round out the top 10 after all five teams notched top three finishes at their respective conference championships.
The Oklahoma State Cowgirls were one of the biggest movers of the weekend, coming in at No. 13 after jumping 11 spots, joined by No. 14 Virginia and No. 15 Stanford who each improved by seven spots after a fourth and second place finish at ACC's.