Significant Shuffling in First Regular-Season Division II National Coaches Poll
Significant Shuffling in First Regular-Season Division II National Coaches Poll
Significant Shuffling in First Regular-Season Division II National Coaches Poll
By Kyle Terwillegar, USTFCCCA
September 18, 2013
NATIONAL PDFs: National Summary | Week-by-Week | Week-by-Week All-Time
REGIONAL PDFs: Regional Summary | Week-by-Week | Division II XC Rankings Central
With two weekends of racing in the books, the polls underwent a distinct makeover from the preseason lists released in late August. Only five men’s teams and two women’s teams stood pat between polls with teams climbing as many as 14 spots (No. 9 Metro State women), falling as many as 18 (No. 24 Shippensburg women) and appearing for the first time as high as No. 11 (New Mexico Highlands men).
Men
Adams State and RMAC rival No. 2 Western State held steady atop the men’s polls, while Grand Valley jumped up two slots to No. 3 following a strong showing at the Michigan State Spartan Invitational — where if an official score had been kept, the Lakers would have knocked off the contingent of No. 30 MSU of Division I.
Chico State remained at No. 4 after running well at the Washington Sundodger Invitational, and Colorado Mines joined the top five after moving up one spot from the preseason. No. 6 Augustana (S.D.) was the odd one out of the first five this week, dropping three places from its No. 3 preseason rank.
The inclusion of Colorado Mines in the top five gives the South Central region three of the top five squads in the country. The Midwest, West and Atlantic each claimed two teams in the top 10.
National Athlete of the Week Johnnie Guy led his Screaming Eagles to a two-position increase this week as Southern Indiana came in at No. 8 after swapping places with now-No. 10 Edinboro. No. 7 Missouri Southern and No. 9 Alaska Anchorage kept their respective preseason rankings to round out the top 10.
New Mexico Highlands was the big gainer; after not receiving any votes in the preseason it jumped all the way to an all-time program-best No. 11. It was joined in the polls by fellow newcomers No. 18 Central Missouri, No. 21 Shippensburg, two teams tied at No. 22 in Stonehill and West Texas A&M, and No. 25 Cal Poly Pomona.
Women
As in the men’s polls, the top two women’s teams stayed the same in No. 1 Grand Valley State and No. 2 Adams State, but the next 23 teams in line all came in this week in a different spot from which they started the preseason.
No. 3 Augustana (S.D.) moved up one spot after solid early showings and a performance from senior Runa Falch that earned her National Athlete of the Week honors. The Vikings took the place of Western State, which dropped to No. 4.
Rounding out the top five was Alaska Anchorage, which took advantage of two perfect-score wins on the Hawaiian Islands to jump past Chico State in the West Region rankings yesterday and the National Polls today.
Chico State fell to No. 7 after another West Region team passed them in No. 6 Simon Fraser, which was up seven spots from the preseason. This national ranking is the highest in program history for the Canadian squad, which defeated a Chico State line-up at this past weekend’s Washington Sundodger Invitational.
A pair of teams rocketed into the top ten with double-digit improvements in ranking, with Southern Indiana screaming into the No. 8 spot after a 12-place improvement and No. 9 Metro State advancing 14 positions from its preseason mark. Both are the bests in their respective programs’ histories, and Metro State is in the top ten for the first time in program history.
The No. 10 spot is a tale of two teams as UC-Colorado Springs fell two spots and Indiana (Pa.) gained eight to finish tied for the position. Indiana (Pa.) is a top-10 squad for the first time.
Of the top ten teams, the South Central is the best-represented region with four squads, followed by the West with three and the Midwest with two.
Elsewhere in the rankings, UW-Parkside went from no votes in the preseason to No. 14 in the country this week, accompanied by No. 19 Malone and No. 20 California (Pa.) as ranked teams for the first time in 2013.
The NCAA Division II Championships will be held in Spokane, Wash., on November 23.
USTFCCCA NCAA DIVISION II |
||||||
MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY NATIONAL RANKINGS |
||||||
2013 Week #1 — September 18 |
||||||
next release: September 25 | ||||||
Rank | Institution (FPV) | Points | Region | Conference | Head Coach (Yr*) |
Last
Week |
1 | Adams State (8) | 200 | South Central | RMAC | Damon Martin (19th) |
1
|
2 | Western State | 191 | South Central | RMAC | Jennifer Michel (7th) |
2
|
3 | Grand Valley State | 177 | Midwest | GLIAC | Jerry Baltes (15th) |
5
|
4 | Chico State | 173 | West | CCAA | Gary Towne (18th) |
4
|
5 | Colorado Mines | 166 | South Central | RMAC | Chris Siemers (2nd) |
6
|
6 | Augustana (S.D.) | 153 | Central | NSIC | Tracy Hellman (13th) |
3
|
7 | Missouri Southern | 139 | Central | MIAA | Bryan Schiding (1st) |
7
|
8 | Southern Indiana | 137 | Midwest | GLVC | Mike Hillyard (16th) |
10
|
9 | Alaska Anchorage | 136 | West | GNAC | Michael Friess (24th) |
9
|
10 | Edinboro | 131 | Atlantic | PSAC | Rick Hammer (1st) |
8
|
11 | New Mexico Highlands | 114 | South Central | RMAC | Bob DeVries (22nd) |
NR
|
12 | American International | 106 | East | Northeast-10 | Leo Mayo (8th) |
13
|
13 | Mount Olive | 86 | Southeast | Conf. Carolinas | Matt van Lierop (5th) |
21
|
14 | Lock Haven | 85 | Atlantic | PSAC | Aaron Russell (16th) |
17
|
14 | Cedarville | 85 | Midwest | G-MAC | Paul Orchard (11th) |
15
|
16 | UC-Colorado Springs | 75 | South Central | RMAC | Mark Misch (7th) |
12
|
17 | Humboldt State | 73 | West | CCAA | Scott Pesch (4th) |
18
|
18 | Central Missouri | 69 | Central | MIAA | Kirk Pedersen (27th) |
NR
|
19 | Southwest Baptist | 58 | Central | MIAA | Corey McElhaney (6th) |
14
|
20 | Malone | 55 | Midwest | GLIAC | Jack Hazen (47th) |
19
|
21 | Shippensburg | 34 | Atlantic | PSAC | Steve Spence (16th) |
NR
|
22 | Stonehill | 22 | East | Northeast-10 | Karen Boen (16th) |
RV
|
22 | West Texas A&M | 22 | South Central | Lone Star | Darren Flowers (5th) |
RV
|
22 | Ashland | 22 | Midwest | GLIAC | Trent Mack (4th) |
11
|
25 | Cal Poly Pomona | 21 | West | CCAA | Octavious Gillespie-Bennett (2nd) |
NR
|
Also Receiving Votes: Sioux Falls 16, Georgia Regents 14, UC San Diego 10, Adelphi 9, Slippery Rock 6, Alabama-Huntsville 5, Lewis 4, King 3, Florida Southern 2, Hillsdale 1 | ||||||
(* year as head coach of that team in men’s cross country, officially NCAA-recognized coach listed) |
USTFCCCA NCAA DIVISION II |
||||||
WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY NATIONAL RANKINGS |
||||||
2013 Week #1 — September 18 |
||||||
next release: September 25 | ||||||
Rank | Institution (FPV) | Points | Region | Conference | Head Coach (Yr*) |
Last
Week |
1 | Grand Valley State (8) | 200 | Midwest | GLIAC | Jerry Baltes (15th) |
1
|
2 | Adams State | 192 | South Central | RMAC | Damon Martin (26th) |
2
|
3 | Augustana (S.D.) | 179 | Central | NSIC | Tracy Hellman (13th) |
4
|
4 | Western State | 178 | South Central | RMAC | Jennifer Michel (7th) |
3
|
5 | Alaska Anchorage | 167 | West | GNAC | Michael Friess (24th) |
7
|
6 | Simon Fraser | 149 | West | GNAC | Brit Townsend (14th) |
13
|
7 | Chico State | 141 | West | CCAA | Gary Towne (18th) |
5
|
8 | Southern Indiana | 131 | Midwest | GLVC | Mike Hillyard (17th) |
20
|
9 | Metro State | 123 | South Central | RMAC | Nick Maas (1st) |
23
|
10 | UC-Colorado Springs | 111 | South Central | RMAC | David Harmer (2nd) |
8
|
10 | Indiana (Pa.) | 111 | Atlantic | PSAC | Joey Zins (5th) |
18
|
12 | West Texas A&M | 94 | South Central | Lone Star | Kimberly Dudley (16th) |
10
|
13 | Edinboro | 82 | Atlantic | PSAC | Rick Hammer (1st) |
24
|
14 | UW-Parkside | 76 | Midwest | GLVC | Micah VanDenend (4th) |
NR
|
15 | Tampa | 73 | South | Sunshine | Jarrett Slaven (15th) |
21
|
16 | Minnesota Duluth | 70 | Central | NSIC | Joanna Warmington (3rd) |
14
|
17 | Hillsdale | 59 | Midwest | GLIAC | Andrew Towne (3rd) |
11
|
18 | Midwestern State | 56 | South Central | Lone Star | Koby Styles (7th) |
16
|
19 | Malone | 51 | Midwest | GLIAC | Jack Hazen (23rd) |
NR
|
20 | California (Pa.) | 48 | Atlantic | PSAC | Daniel Caulfield (8th) |
NR
|
21 | Stonehill | 47 | East | Northeast-10 | Karen Boen (16th) |
19
|
22 | Winona State | 41 | Central | NSIC | Brett Ayers (1st) |
9
|
23 | Southwest Baptist | 38 | Central | MIAA | Corey McElhaney (6th) |
22
|
24 | Shippensburg | 36 | Atlantic | PSAC | Steve Spence (16th) |
6
|
25 | Ferris State | 31 | Midwest | GLIAC | Steve Picucci (6th) |
15
|
Also Receiving Votes: Cal State Stanislaus 29, Humboldt State 20, Mansfield 14, UC San Diego 13, Columbus State 12, Western Washington 8, Missouri Southern 6, Alabama-Huntsville 5, Wingate 4, Saginaw Valley State 4, Fort Lewis 1 | ||||||
(* year as head coach of that team in women’s cross country, officially NCAA-recognized coach listed) |
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