Hillsdale Women Take over NCAA DII National Coaches’ Poll

By Kyle Terwillegar, USTFCCCA

September 23, 2015

NEW ORLEANS – The list of NCAA Division II women’s cross country teams to have been ranked No. 1 in the country isn’t a long one. Dating back to the beginning of the USTFCCCA archives in 2000, only five programs have topped DII: Adams State, Augustana (S.D.), Chico State, Grand Valley State, and Western State.
As of September 23, make that six.
Hillsdale has ascended to the top of the National Coaches’ Poll unveiled Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), surging past three-time defending national champion Grand Valley State just as the Chargers did in the Regional Rankings on Tuesday and in competition at the Michigan State Spartan Invitational on Friday.
National PDFs: Top 25 Summary | Week-by-Week 2015 | Week-by-Week All-Time
Regional Rankings PDFs: Regional Rankings Summary | Rankings Recap
Men’s National Coaches’ Poll Release
Division II XC Polls/Rankings Central

NCAA Division II National Coaches’ Poll Top 5 – Women
1)	2)	3)	4)	5)
Hillsdale	GVSU	Adams State	Minnesota Duluth	Chico State
View Complete Women’s National Coaches’ Poll

Led by the formidable frontrunning duo of Emily Oren and Kristina Galat, the Chargers garnered six of the eight total first-place votes in the poll after their 77-136 victory over their GLIAC rival Lakers in East Lansing.
No. 2 GVSU – which, in fairness, ran without defending NCAA champion Kendra Foley in what was their season opener – retained a single first-place nod, with the remaining top vote cast for No. 3 Adams State.
The two squads will have plenty of opportunities to settle this rivalry on the course. They square off in two weekends’ time at the Great Louisville Classic on October 3 before the postseason gauntlet of the GLIAC Championships (Oct. 24), the Midwest Regional (November 7) and, finally, the NCAA Championships in Joplin, Missouri, on Nov. 21.
In Missouri, Hillsdale will try to become just the seventh different program since the beginning of NCAA women’s competition in 1981 to win a Division II Cross Country team title.
Behind the intra-Michigan squabble at Nos. 1 and 2, Adams State checked in at No. 3, Minnesota Duluth at No. 4, and Chico State at No. 5. The Wildcats swapped spots with No. 6 Augustana (S.D.).
Western State remained constant at No. 7, but 13 of the poll’s final 18 teams moved around from a week ago.
No. 8 Alaska Anchorage moved up one spot to fill the void created by a 12-spot drop to No. 20 by Northern Michigan to No. 20, followed by the first-ever top-10 appearance by Bellarmine at No. 9. The Knights moved up five spots from last week as the victors in the non-Division I college standings at the National Catholic Championships at Notre Dame.
Rounding out the top-10 with an even more impressive leap from unranked to No. 10 was Western Washington. The Vikings won the open division at the Washington Sundodger Invitational to notch their first top-10 appearance since the 2010 season.
Among those teams they defeated were No. 11 Cal Baptist (which moved up two spots, itself), fellow top-25 newcomer No. 18 Seattle Pacific, and former No. 10 Simon Fraser, which dropped out of the National Coaches’ Polls completely after an eighth-place showing.
Moving up six spots to No. 14 was UC-Colorado Springs for the biggest upward move of any team already ranked within the top 25.
In addition to WWU and SPU, two more of last week’s unranked teams joined the top 25: No. 22 Dallas Baptist and No. 25 Cal State San Bernardino.
Led by National Athlete of the Week Kelsey Bruce, Dallas Baptist is up to its highest rank since a No. 22 showing this same week in 2010. This is the first-ever appearance for Cal State San Bernardino.
The NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships will be held November 21 in Joplin, Missouri.

USTFCCCA NCAA Division II
Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll
2015 Week #2 — September 23
next release: September 30

Rank	Institution (FPV)	Points	Region	Conference	*Head Coach (Yr)**	Last Week
1	Hillsdale (6)	198	Midwest	GLIAC	Andrew Towne (5th)	2
2	Grand Valley State (1)	191	Midwest	GLIAC	Jerry Baltes (17th)	1
3	Adams State (1)	187	South Central	RMAC	Damon Martin (28th)	3
4	Minnesota Duluth	173	Central	NSIC	Joanna Warmington (5th)	4
5	Chico State	166	West	CCAA	Gary Towne (20th)	6
6	Augustana (S.D.)	163	Central	NSIC	Tracy Hellman (15th)	5
7	Western State	150	South Central	RMAC	Jennifer Michel (9th)	7
8	Alaska Anchorage	145	West	GNAC	Michael Friess (26th)	9
9	Bellarmine	131	Midwest	GLVC	Kris Horton (11th)	14
10	Western Washington	124	West	GNAC	Pee Wee Halsell (29th)	NR
11	Cal Baptist	115	West	PacWest	Ben Gall (4th)	13
12	Lewis	110	Midwest	GLVC	James Kearney (2nd)	15
13	Southern Indiana	92	Midwest	GLVC	Mike Hillyard (19th)	12
14	UC-Colorado Springs	90	South Central	RMAC	Corey Kubatzky (1st)	20
15	Malone	86	Midwest	GLIAC	Jack Hazen (25th)	17
16	Stonehill	77	East	Northeast-10	Karen Boen (18th)	17
16	Edinboro	77	Atlantic	PSAC	Rick Hammer (3rd)	16
18	Seattle Pacific	59	West	GNAC	Karl Lerum (3rd)	NR
19	Winona State	48	Central	NSIC	Brett Ayers (3rd)	19
20	Northern Michigan	41	Midwest	GLIAC	Jenny Ryan (9th)	8
21	Bloomsburg	38	Atlantic	PSAC	Bernie Empie (7th)	21
22	Dallas Baptist	30	South Central	Heartland Conference	Jacob Phillips (11th)	NR
23	Roberts Wesleyan	21	East	East Coast	Andrew/Jennifer Dorr (5th)	23
24	UW-Parkside	19	Midwest	GLVC	Micah VanDenend (6th)	24
25	Cal State San Bernardino	18	West	CCAA	Tom Burleson (24th)	NR
Also Receiving Votes: UC San Diego 13, Southwest Baptist 10, U-Mary 8, Azusa Pacific 7, Colorado Mines 5, CSU-Pueblo 4, Central Washington 3, Tampa 1
Dropped Out: No. 10 Simon Fraser, No. 11 Colorado Mesa, No. 22 Central Washington, No. 25 Southwest Baptist
(* year as head coach of that team in women’s cross country, officially NCAA-recognized coach listed)