Significant Shuffling in First Regular-Season Division II National Coaches Poll

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Significant Shuffling in First Regular-Season Division II National Coaches Poll
September 18, 2013

NEW ORLEANS – The defending champion men of No. 1 Adams State and women of No. 1 Grand Valley State remain entrenched atop the first U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Division II Cross Country National Coaches Polls of the regular season released Wednesday, but the teams behind them are already jostling for position.

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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Contact: Kyle Terwillegar
Communications Assistant
kyle@ustfccca.org
(504) 599-8905