Adams State Men Reclaim Top Spot in DII Heading into NCAA Championships
Adams State Men Reclaim Top Spot in DII Heading into NCAA Championships
Adams State Men Reclaim Top Spot in Division II Heading into NCAA Championships
By Kyle Terwillegar, USTFCCCA
November 13, 2013
NEW ORLEANS – Adams State’s men will enter the NCAA Division II Championships as defending champions and the No. 1 team in the nation, having reclaimed the top spot in the final U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II National Coaches Poll released Wednesday.
NATIONAL PDFs: National Summary | Week-by-Week | Week-by-Week All-Time
REGIONAL PDFs: FINAL Regional Summary | Week-by-Week
Division II XC Rankings Central | National Championships Central | Championships Field
The Grizzlies claimed the South Central Region over former No. 1 Western State to even the season series between the two — WSCU won the RMAC — with the final match-up set for next weekend — November 23, to be specific — at NCAAs in Spokane, Wash., with national title honors on the line.
Adams State’s No. 2 women also made headway toward the top spot by claiming one of the first-place votes from No. 1 defending champion Grand Valley State. The Lakers retained the other seven votes.
These two developments at the top of the polls are just the tip of the iceberg on post-regionals changes, with six positions in the men’s top 10 and four in the women’s occupied by different teams in this final poll before NCAAs.
The National Championships can be steamed live online at NCAA.com, and more information about the meet can be found at National Championships Central and in The Warm-Up Lap next week.
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No. 2 Western State may have won the individual battle in the South Central Region with winner Vegard Olstad, but it was Adams State that emerged with the team title defense over the Mountaineers, 31-38, behind four top-10 finishers in arguably the deepest region in the nation. As a result, Adams State took over the top spot from Western State and will go for its fourth title in the past five years as the No. 1 team.
Events are playing out nearly exactly the same as in 2011, when No. 2 Western State won the RMAC over No. 1 Adams State, which came back to win the region title and reclaim the top spot in the nation. Ultimately, Western State claimed the national title over defending champ Adams State.
No. 3 GVSU held serve in the Midwest for its 12th consecutive region title, where it held off No. 7 Southern Indiana — which also remained stationary in the poll — 53-64.
No. 4 Chico State was dominant in a 33-81 victory over Alaska Anchorage, which fell one spot to No. 10, behind similarly dominant individual winner Isaac Chavez.
Augustana (S.D.) claimed a second straight Central Region title to move into the top five at No. 5. No other team was even close as the Vikings took five of the top 12 individual spots behind winner Paul Yak to defeat No. 12 Central Missouri and No. 13 Missouri Southern, 37-115-116.
Colorado Mines dropped back one spot to No. 6 with a third-place finish at the South Central meet.
Behind the only active three-time region champ in the NCAA in Alex Monroe, No. 8 Lock Haven remained steady in the poll with a 44-63 victory over Edinboro — which jumped five spots to No. 9.
Just outside the top 10, No. 11 Mount Olive moved up one spot with a Southeast Region title to its highest rank since USTFCCCA records began in 2009.
No. 14 Metro State was the biggest gainer outside the top 10 with a four-spot jump from the last poll with a fourth-place team finish in the South Central in a tie-breaker with No. 15 West Texas A&M. The Roadrunners were last ranked No. 14 in the middle of 2011, when they went on to finish ninth at NCAAs.
No. 22 Neb.-Kearney joined the poll for the first time this season with a fourth-place finish in the Central Region. No. 23 Ferris State rejoined for the first time since the preseason with a fourth-place finish to clinch the final NCAA bid in the region.
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Seas were calm for the Lakers of Grand Valley at the Midwest Region as they claimed their Division-best 13th straight region title over No. 11 Saginaw Valley State — up two spots to its highest rank since USTFCCCA records began in 2009 — by a score of 42-103. GVSU, which will go for its third national title in four years next weekend, put seven runners in the top 25; no other team in the meet had more than three.
More than halfway across the country at the South Central Regional, No. 2 Adams State took some of the wind out of the Lakers’ sails — in the form of one of their first-place votes — with a decisive win behind winner Lauren Martin and the next two finishers en route to a 28-62 win over No. 3 Western State. The Grizzlies are going for their first title since 2009, the last in a streak of seven straight before GVSU snapped that in 2010.
Western State finished runner-up in two of the past three years and will be going for its first national crown since the last in a streak of three in 2002.
No. 4 Alaska Anchorage reclaimed the West Region title from No. 5 Chico State, which snapped a three-year winning streak for UAA last season, but just barely with a narrow 76-79 win. Last year’s national runner-up Susan Tanui claimed her second straight region title.
No. 6 Simon Fraser finished third in the West and remained stationary in the poll.
The movement in the women’s poll began at No. 7, occupied this week by Central Region champion Minnesota Duluth after a one-position increase. The Bulldogs took down No. 13 Southwest Baptist and 2012 champ Augustana (S.D.), which has fallen from No. 3 earlier this season to No. 14 after back-to-back defeats at the NSIC and Central Region Championships.
A trip to Spokane could be just what Augustana (S.D.) needs, as the Vikings claimed their 2011 National Championship there.
Edinboro moved up six spots back into the top 10 at No. 8 — its highest rank since USTFCCCA records began in 2009 — with an Atlantic Region title in a tight battle with No. 10 Mansfield, 81-89. That finish also propelled Mansfield to its first top-10 rank since the beginning of USTFCCCA records, up one spot from last time.
The biggest upward move in either the men’s or women’s polls came courtesy of No. 9 West Texas A&M, which jumped eight spots following a third-place finish in the South Central ahead of then top-10 teams in No. 12 Metro State and No. 16 UC-Colorado Springs.
Other significant moves outside the top 10 include four-spot increases for both No. 13 Southwest Baptist and No. 15 Hillsdale. Southwest Baptists’ rank is its highest since the beginning of USTFCCCA records.
Four teams joined the poll for the first time this season. No. 19 Seattle-Pacific, No. 21 Wingate, No. 24 Lewis and No. 25 Western Washington.
Wingate and Lewis are nationally ranked for the first time since the beginning of USTFCCCA records.
USTFCCCA NCAA DIVISION II |
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MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY NATIONAL RANKINGS |
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2013 Week #7 — November 13 |
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| next release: none (final — NCAA DII Championships, November 23) | ||||||
| Rank | Institution (FPV) | Points | Region | Conference | Head Coach (Yr*) |
Last
Week |
| 1 | Adams State (7) | 199 | South Central | RMAC | Damon Martin (19th) |
2
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| 2 | Western State (1) | 193 | South Central | RMAC | Jennifer Michel (7th) |
1
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| 3 | Grand Valley State | 176 | Midwest | GLIAC | Jerry Baltes (15th) |
3
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| 4 | Chico State | 175 | West | CCAA | Gary Towne (18th) |
4
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| 5 | Augustana (S.D.) | 170 | Central | NSIC | Tracy Hellman (13th) |
6
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| 6 | Colorado Mines | 164 | South Central | RMAC | Chris Siemers (2nd) |
5
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| 7 | Southern Indiana | 154 | Midwest | GLVC | Mike Hillyard (16th) |
7
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| 8 | Lock Haven | 145 | Atlantic | PSAC | Aaron Russell (16th) |
8
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| 9 | Edinboro | 120 | Atlantic | PSAC | Rick Hammer (1st) |
14
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| 10 | Alaska Anchorage | 119 | West | GNAC | Michael Friess (24th) |
9
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| 11 | Mount Olive | 114 | Southeast | Conf. Carolinas | Matt van Lierop (5th) |
12
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| 12 | Central Missouri | 109 | Central | MIAA | Kirk Pedersen (27th) |
11
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| 13 | Missouri Southern | 94 | Central | MIAA | Bryan Schiding (1st) |
13
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| 14 | Metro State | 91 | South Central | RMAC | Nick Maas (1st) |
18
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| 15 | West Texas A&M | 82 | South Central | Lone Star | Darren Flowers (5th) |
10
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| 16 | Shippensburg | 75 | Atlantic | PSAC | Steve Spence (16th) |
19
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| 17 | Cedarville | 68 | Midwest | G-MAC | Paul Orchard (11th) |
20
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| 18 | Cal Poly Pomona | 66 | West | CCAA | Octavious Gillespie-Bennett (2nd) |
21
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| 19 | Western Washington | 52 | West | GNAC | Pee Wee Halsell (27th) |
16
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| 20 | Stonehill | 48 | East | Northeast-10 | Karen Boen (16th) |
22
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| 21 | New Mexico Highlands | 37 | South Central | RMAC | Bob DeVries (22nd) |
17
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| 22 | Neb.-Kearney | 34 | Central | MIAA | Brady Bonsall (7th) |
RV
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| 23 | Ferris State | 30 | Midwest | GLIAC | Steve Picucci (6th) |
NR
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| 24 | Franklin Pierce | 27 | East | Northeast-10 | Zach Emerson (2nd) |
25
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| 25 | Sioux Falls | 14 | Central | NSIC | Grant Watley (2nd) |
23
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| Also Receiving Votes: King 13, Cal Baptist 8, GRU Augusta 8, Ashland 7, Wilmington (Del.) 6, Florida Southern 1, Malone 1 | ||||||
| Dropped Out: No. 15 Malone, No. 24 Ashland | ||||||
| (* year as head coach of that team in men’s cross country, officially NCAA-recognized coach listed) | ||||||
USTFCCCA NCAA DIVISION II |
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WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY NATIONAL RANKINGS |
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2013 Week #7 — November 13 |
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| next release: none (final — NCAA DII Championships, November 23) | ||||||
| Rank | Institution (FPV) | Points | Region | Conference | Head Coach (Yr*) |
Last
Week |
| 1 | Grand Valley State (7) | 199 | Midwest | GLIAC | Jerry Baltes (15th) |
1
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| 2 | Adams State (1) | 193 | South Central | RMAC | Damon Martin (26th) |
2
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| 3 | Western State | 184 | South Central | RMAC | Jennifer Michel (7th) |
3
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| 4 | Alaska Anchorage | 176 | West | GNAC | Michael Friess (24th) |
4
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| 5 | Chico State | 168 | West | CCAA | Gary Towne (18th) |
5
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| 6 | Simon Fraser | 154 | West | GNAC | Brit Townsend (14th) |
6
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| 7 | Minnesota Duluth | 145 | Central | NSIC | Joanna Warmington (3rd) |
8
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| 8 | Edinboro | 136 | Atlantic | PSAC | Rick Hammer (1st) |
14
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| 9 | West Texas A&M | 130 | South Central | Lone Star | Kimberly Dudley (16th) |
17
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| 10 | Mansfield | 122 | Atlantic | PSAC | Mike Rohl (11th) |
11
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| 11 | Saginaw Valley State | 117 | Midwest | GLIAC | Rod Cowan (4th) |
13
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| 12 | Metro State | 108 | South Central | RMAC | Nick Maas (1st) |
7
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| 13 | Southwest Baptist | 104 | Central | MIAA | Corey McElhaney (6th) |
17
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| 14 | Augustana (S.D.) | 89 | Central | NSIC | Tracy Hellman (13th) |
12
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| 15 | Hillsdale | 81 | Midwest | GLIAC | Andrew Towne (3rd) |
19
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| 16 | UC-Colorado Springs | 75 | South Central | RMAC | David Harmer (2nd) |
9
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| 17 | Indiana (Pa.) | 65 | Atlantic | PSAC | Joey Zins (5th) |
20
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| 18 | Shippensburg | 55 | Atlantic | PSAC | Steve Spence (16th) |
16
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| 19 | Seattle Pacific | 46 | West | GNAC | Karl Lerum (1st) |
NR
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| 20 | Stonehill | 45 | East | Northeast-10 | Karen Boen (16th) |
22
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| 21 | Wingate | 41 | Southeast | SAC | Joe Soehnlen (2nd) |
RV
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| 21 | Winona State | 41 | Central | NSIC | Brett Ayers (1st) |
20
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| 23 | Tampa | 39 | South | Sunshine | Jarrett Slaven (15th) |
23
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| 24 | Lewis | 33 | Midwest | GLVC | Dana Schwarting (8th) |
RV
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| 25 | Western Washington | 17 | West | GNAC | Pee Wee Halsell (27th) |
NR
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| Also Receiving Votes: Alabama-Huntsville 12, Tarleton State 9, Bentley 5, Colorado Mines 5, Seton Hill 3, Flagler 3 | ||||||
| Dropped Out: No. 10 Southern Indiana, No. 15 Malone, No. 24 Cal State Stanislaus, No. 25 UW-Parkside | ||||||
| (* year as head coach of that team in women’s cross country, officially NCAA-recognized coach listed) | ||||||