Thursday, October 09, 2014

Showdowns at Paul Short, Eau Claire, Geneseo Shake Up DIII National Polls

By Dennis Young, USTFCCCA
October 8, 2014

NEW ORLEANS—For the second week in a row, Johns Hopkins, MIT, and St. Lawrence held down the top three spots in the NCAA Division III National Coaches’ Poll. The poll, released Wednesday morning by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) reflected the most intense weekend of the cross country season so far.
National Coaches Poll PDFs: Top 35 Summary | Week-by-Week 2014 | Week-by-Week All-Time
Regional Rankings PDF: Regional Summary
Division III XC Polls/Rankings Central
NCAA DIVISION III NATIONAL COACHES POLL TOP 5 – MEN
1) 2) 3) 4) 5)
North Central (Ill.) St. Olaf
UW-Eau Claire
Williams UW-Platteville
View Complete Men’s National Coaches Poll
NCAA DIVISION III NATIONAL COACHES POLL TOP 5 – WOMEN
1) 2) 3) 4) 5)
Johns Hopkins MIT St. Lawrence Middlebury SUNY Geneseo
View Complete Women’s National Coaches Poll
In enormous and high-caliber fields, it can be difficult to suss (realize; grasp)
out the performance of teams that aren’t facing off against their typical competition. But there is no doubting the quality of Hopkins’s race against No. 3 St. Lawrence at Paul Short.
Led by 18th-place individual finisher and National Athlete of the Week Sophia Meehan, the Blue Jays finished 10th out of 138 teams with 315 points, well ahead of St. Lawrence in 14th with 494 points. JHU also took down Division II’s No. 2 Adams State (12th) and seven regionally ranked Division I teams.
The next top-three women’s showdown will be October 18 at UW-Oshkosh, where Hopkins and No. 2 MIT face off.
Speaking of the state of Wisconsin, this week’s poll highlighted a new era in what has long been the best men’s conference in DIII: the WIAC.
No. 3 UW-Eau Claire and defending national champion No. 2 St. Olaf flip-flopped in the poll after Olaf beat the Blugolds at Friday’s UWEC Blugold Invitational, 48-52, avenging an earlier season loss. (The two teams have now both lost to each other on their own home courses). National Athlete of the Week Grant Wintheiser led the way for the Oles with the individual win.
Eau Claire last won the WIAC in 1980; since then, all 33 titles have been won by UW-La Crosse, UW-Oshkosh, and UW-Stevens Point.
This year, the coaches have UWEC tapped as the favorite, and they’re trailed by two more historic underdogs: No. 5 UW-Platteville and No. 17 UW-Stout both rose to their highest ranking on record*; Platteville did finish fourth at nationals in 2010, while Stout last qualified for NCAAs in 1981. Those upstarts sandwiched more traditional powerhouse No. 10 UW-La Crosse.
*Weekly reminder: the DIII polling archives currently date back to 2006.
Wisconsin will give us a much clearer view of the men’s national picture in ten days. Ten of the top fourteen teams in the national poll are racing at either Oshkosh or La Crosse.
Stout’s nine-spot jump after a strong race at Eau Claire was the biggest move in the men’s poll this week. The second biggest was made by No. 4 Williams, up six spots after posting very fast times at Paul Short.
Overall, four of the top five men’s teams changed places. While five of the top six women’s teams stayed stagnant, every single one of the next 29 spots in that poll was reshuffled. The biggest change came from the meet hosted by No. 5 SUNY-Geneseo, where the hosts’ decisive win knocked No. 28 Dickinson down 19 spots in the poll. (It was a tough week for the Centennial Conference past No. 1, as No. 25 Haverford fell 12 spots)
21 of the 29 women’s teams swapping ranks this week were in one of five locations over the weekend. Here they are:
All-Ohio: No. 7 Oberlin, No. 11 Mt. Union, No. 32 Ohio Wesleyan
UW-Eau Claire: No. 12 Carleton, No. 19 St. Olaf, No. 34 St. Benedict
Paul Short: No. 8 Williams, No. 22 Amherst, No. 25 Haverford, No. 30 SUNY Cortland, No. 35 TCNJ.
Geneseo : No. 5 SUNY Geneseo, No. 12 SUNY Oneonta, No. 20 RIT, No. 21 Elizabethtown, No. 28 Dickinson
Idle: No. 9 Tufts, No. 15 UW-La Crosse, No. 17 NYU, No. 26 Vassar, No. 29 Chicago, No. 33 Carnegie Mellon
11th is the best ranking ever for Mt. Union, who was never ranked better than 32nd before last week. Also hitting their best-ever ranks were No. t12 SUNY Oneonta and No. 20 RIT.
No. 30 SUNY Cortland joined the poll for the first time this year.
On the men’s side, No. 28 Widener is nationally ranked for the first time. In the 40-year history of DIII cross country, the Pride have never qualified for NCAAs. As mentioned above, Platteville and Stout are at their best ranks ever; that’s also true for No. 12 Wabash (tying their top ranking), and No. 26 SUNY Oneonta. Like Widener, Oneonta has never made nationals.
The NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships will be held November 22 in Mason, Ohio.
USTFCCCA NCAA DIVISION III
MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY NATIONAL COACHES’ POLL

2014 Week #4 — October 8

next poll: October 15
Rank Institution (FPV) Points Region Conference Head Coach (Yr*)
Last
Week
1 North Central (Ill.) (8) 280 Midwest CCIW Al Carius (49th)
1
2 St. Olaf 272 Central MIAC Phil Lundin (7th)
3
3 UW-Eau Claire 264 Midwest WIAC Dan Schwamberger (8th)
2
4 Williams 256 New England NESCAC Pete Farwell (36th)
10
5 UW-Platteville 238 Midwest WIAC Tom Antczak (22nd)
7
6 Colby 236 New England NESCAC Jared Beers (9th)
6
7 SUNY Geneseo 231 Atlantic SUNYAC Mike Woods (23rd)
9
8 Central (Iowa) 224 Central IIAC Joe Dunham (7th)
5
9 St. Lawrence 211 Atlantic Liberty League John Newman (14th)
4
10 UW-La Crosse 205 Midwest WIAC Derek Stanley (3rd)
15
11 MIT 200 New England NEWMAC Halston Taylor (33rd)
13
12 Wabash 194 Great Lakes NCAC Roger Busch (9th)
16
13 Johns Hopkins 188 Mideast Centennial Bobby Van Allen (16th)
8
14 Washington (Mo.) 179 Midwest UAA Jeff Stiles (14th)
11
15 Loras 160 Central IIAC Bob Schultz (10th)
18
16 Dickinson 147 Mideast Centennial Don Nichter (25th)
12
17 UW-Stout 140 Midwest WIAC Matt Schauf (8th)
26
18 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 138 West SCIAC John Goldhammer (31st)
18

19 Haverford 132 Mideast Centennial Tom Donnelly (40th)
14
20 Amherst 126 New England NESCAC Ned Nedeau (18th)
20
21 UW-Oshkosh 124 Midwest WIAC Eamon McKenna (3rd)
28
22 NYU 113 Atlantic UAA Will Boylan-Pett (1st)
22
22 Calvin 113 Great Lakes Michigan Intercollegiate Brian Diemer (29th)
25
24 Pomona-Pitzer 111 West SCIAC Tony Boston (7th)
21

25 Chicago 96 Midwest UAA Chris Hall (14th)
17
26 SUNY Oneonta 76 Atlantic SUNYAC Angelo Posillico (5th)
30
27 Bates 70 New England NESCAC Al Fereshetian (20th)
23
28 Widener 68 Mideast Middle Atlantic Vince Touey (28th)
NR
29 Carnegie Mellon 49 Mideast UAA Dario Donatelli (22nd)
24
30 Tufts 41 New England NESCAC Ethan Barron (10th)
27
31 Wartburg 35 Central IIAC Steve Johnson (26th)
32
32 Occidental 31 West SCIAC Robert Bartlett (10th)
31

33 Swarthmore 24 Mideast Centennial Peter Carroll (15th)
33
34 Mount Union 19 Great Lakes OAC Kevin Lucas (4th)
34
35 Bowdoin 13 New England NESCAC Peter Slovenski (29th)
35
Others Receiving Votes: Carleton 11, SUNY Cortland 11, Willamette 8, John Carroll 3, Christopher Newport 3
Dropped Out: No. 29 Susquehanna
(* year as head coach of that team in men’s cross country, officially NCAA-recognized coach listed)

USTFCCCA NCAA DIVISION III
WOMEN’S CROSS COUNTRY NATIONAL COACHES’ POLL

2014 Week #4 — October 8

next poll: October 15
Rank Institution (FPV) Points Region Conference Head Coach (Yr*)
Last
Week
1 Johns Hopkins (8) 280 Mideast Centennial Bobby Van Allen (16th)
1
2 MIT 269 New England NEWMAC Halston Taylor (8th)
2
3 St. Lawrence 267 Atlantic Liberty League Mike Howard (16th)
3
4 Middlebury 250 New England NESCAC Nicole Wilkerson (4th)
4
5 SUNY Geneseo 247 Atlantic SUNYAC Mike Woods (23rd)
7
6 Washington (Mo.) 241 Midwest UAA Jeff Stiles (14th)
6
7 Oberlin 237 Great Lakes NCAC Ray Appenheimer (9th)
5
8 Williams 224 New England NESCAC Pete Farwell (15th)
10
9 Tufts 207 New England NESCAC Kristen Morwick (15th)
8
10 Willamette 206 West Northwest Matt McGuirk (11th)
12
11 Mount Union 192 Great Lakes OAC Kevin Lucas (4th)
17
12 Carleton 191 Central MIAC Donna Ricks (22nd)
16
12 SUNY Oneonta 191 Atlantic SUNYAC Angelo Posillico (5th)
15
14 Calvin 179 Great Lakes Michigan Intercollegiate Brian Diemer (9th)
11
15 UW-La Crosse 169 Midwest WIAC Derek Stanley (3rd)
14
16 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps 165 West SCIAC John Goldhammer (31st)
18

17 St. Thomas (Minn.) 139 Central MIAC Joe Sweeney (35th)
19
17 NYU 139 Atlantic UAA Will Boylan-Pett (1st)
21
19 St. Olaf 128 Central MIAC Chris Daymont (34th)
20
20 RIT 123 Atlantic Liberty League David Stevens (7th)
32
21 Elizabethtown 122 Mideast Landmark Brian Falk (7th)
24
22 Amherst 115 New England NESCAC Cassie Funke-Harris (3rd)
28
23 Hope 113 Great Lakes MIAA Mark Northuis (27th)
22
24 North Central (Ill.) 96 Midwest CCIW Mahesh Narayanan (14th)
23
25 Haverford 73 Mideast Centennial Fran Rizzo (24th)
13
26 Vassar 64 Atlantic Liberty League James McCowan (10th)
30
27 Emory 62 South/Southeast UAA John Curtin (30th)
29
28 Dickinson 61 Mideast Centennial Don Nichter (25th)
9
29 Chicago 55 Midwest UAA Chris Hall (14th)
25
30 SUNY Cortland 53 Atlantic SUNYAC Steve Patrick (7th)
NR
31 Whitworth 39 West Northwest Toby Schwarz (19th)
RV
32 Ohio Wesleyan 37 Great Lakes NCAC Matt Wackerly (5th)
NR
33 Carnegie Mellon 30 Mideast UAA Dario Donatelli (22nd)
27
34 St. Benedict 27 Central MIAC Robin Balder-Lanoue (19th)
35
35 TCNJ 13 Atlantic NJAC Justin Lindsey (2nd)
NR
Others Receiving Votes: Case Western Reserve 12, Wartburg 9, Puget Sound 7, Aurora 4, Whitman 2, Allegheny (Pa.) 2
Dropped Out: No. 25 Case Western Reserve, No. 31 Bates, No. 33 Whitman, No. 34 Wartburg
(* year as head coach of that team in women’s cross country, officially NCAA-recognized coach listed)


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