Wednesday, September 02, 2015

North Central (Ill.) Picked as Preseason Favorite in DIII Men’s Cross Country

 


By Tyler Mayforth, USTFCCCA
September 2, 2015   



NEW ORLEANS – The road to a men’s title in NCAA Division III Cross Country goes through North Central (Ill.), according to the national rankings released by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) on Wednesday.
Each of the eight voters selected the Cardinals as the team to beat. It would be tough to disagree with them since North Central (Ill.) won four of the past six team titles in Division III, including back-to-back crowns in 2011-12 and most recently in 2014. The Cardinals bring back three of its top five scoring runners from last year’s national meet, including All-American Aron Sebhat.
National PDFs: Preseason Top 30 Summary | Week-by-Week 2015 | Week-by-Week All Time
Regional Rankings: Preseason Summary | Preseason Recap

NCAA Division III National Coaches Poll Top 5 – Men

1)North Central (Ill.)2)St. Olaf3)UW-Eau Claire4)UW-La Crosse5)Colby
North Central (Ill.)St. OlafUW-Eau ClaireAmherstWashington (Mo.)
View Complete Men’s National Coaches Poll
Next in line, according to the poll, are St. Olaf and Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Two All-Americans return for St. Olaf (Jake Campbell and Paul Escher), but they’ll need to replace three graduated seniors. UW-Eau Claire finished seventh at last year’s national meet and all five runners who scored for the Blugold are back.
Rounding out the top 5 are Amherst out of the New England Region and Washington (Mo.) from the Midwest Region. Amherst was ninth at NCAAs last November, while Washington (Mo.) earned a spot on the podium (fourth) and returns five of its seven runners from that squad.
There was a little bit of movement elsewhere in the top 10 as St. Lawrence (10th to sixth), MIT (eighth to seventh), Wisconsin-La Crosse (third to eighth) and Williams (sixth to ninth) all shifted around in the poll. Perhaps the biggest jump was from Tufts, rounding out the top 10 after finishing 22nd at the national meet last year.
Another team with an impressive surge in the poll was that of Carnegie Mellon. The team finished 24th at last year’s meet, but start the preseason ranked No. 12. Carnegie Mellon sits behind Wabash (11th) and in a tie for 12th with Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.
Other teams making an appearance in the first poll of the season include Calvin and Middlebury (both tied for 16th), Johns Hopkins (20th) and Emory (30th). This is Middlebury’s first time ranked in the preseason poll in school history. Emory makes its first appearance in the preseason poll since 2010.
The Division III Cross Country Championships will be held Saturday, November 21 at the Lake Breeze Golf Course in Winneconne, Wisconsin.

USTFCCCA NCAA Division III

Men’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll

2015 Preseason — September 2

next poll: September 16
RankInstitution (FPV)PointsRegionConferenceHead Coach (Yr*)
2014 FINAL
1North Central (Ill.) (8)280MidwestCCIWAl Carius (50th)
1
2St. Olaf270CentralMIACPhil Lundin (8th)
2
3UW-Eau Claire262MidwestWIACDan Schwamberger (9th)
7
4Amherst251New EnglandNESCACNed Nedeau (19th)
9
5Washington (Mo.)245MidwestUAAJeff Stiles (15th)
4
6St. Lawrence244AtlanticLiberty LeagueJohn Newman (15th)
10
7MIT232New EnglandNEWMACHalston Taylor (34th)
8
8UW-La Crosse231MidwestWIACDerek Stanley (4th)
3
9Williams217New EnglandNESCACPete Farwell (37th)
6
10Tufts194New EnglandNESCACMichael Schmidt (1st)
22
11Wabash193Great LakesNCACRoger Busch (10th)
16
12Claremont-Mudd-Scripps188WestSCIACJohn Goldhammer (32nd)
15
12Carnegie Mellon188MideastUAATim Connelly (1st)
24
14Carleton172CentralMIACDave Ricks (9th)
18
15Pomona-Pitzer169WestSCIACTony Boston (8th)
17
16Middlebury159New EnglandNESCACNicole Wilkerson (5th)
13
16Calvin159Great LakesMichigan IntercollegiateBrian Diemer (30th)
21
18SUNY Geneseo151AtlanticSUNYACDan Moore (1st)
27
19Widener137MideastMiddle AtlanticVince Touey (29th)
20
20Johns Hopkins123MideastCentennialBobby Van Allen (17th)
26
21Colby117New EnglandNESCACJared Beers (10th)
5
22UW-Oshkosh113MidwestWIACEamon McKenna (4th)
NR
23Haverford108MideastCentennialTom Donnelly (41st)
14
24Central (Iowa)96CentralIIACJoe Dunham (8th)
11
25Dickinson81MideastCentennialDon Nichter (26th)
12
26Rose-Hulman79Great LakesHCACGeoff Wayton (3rd)
30
27UW-Platteville71MidwestWIACTom Antczak (23rd)
NR
28Loras63CentralIIACBob Schultz (11th)
25
29RPI58AtlanticLiberty LeagueJohn Lynch (5th)
NR
30Emory45South/SoutheastUAAJohn Curtin (31st)
29
31John Carroll34Great LakesOACKyle Basista (2nd)
NR
32Chicago25MidwestUAAChris Hall (15th)
NR
33Messiah22MideastMiddle AtlanticDale Fogelsanger (22nd)
NR
34Luther16CentralIIACSteve Pasche (11th)
NR
35SUNY Oneonta14AtlanticSUNYACAngelo Posillico (6th)
NR
Also Receiving Votes: Brandeis 10, Willamette 7, UW-Stevens Point 6, Bridgewater (Va.) 4, Hope 3, Bates 2, SUNY Cortland 1
(* year as head coach of that team in men’s cross country, officially NCAA-recognized coach listed)


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