Busy Weekend Leads to Some Huge Changes in DI Women’s Poll

By Tyler Mayforth, USTFCCCA courtesy

October 20, 2015

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NEW ORLEANS – Busy doesn’t even begin to describe this past weekend in NCAA Division I Women’s Cross Country. Every team that was ranked in the previous National Coaches’ Poll was in action, including those teams who also received votes, but didn’t earn enough points to be in the top-30.
What did that mean for this week’s poll when it was released Tuesday afternoon by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA)?
Hint: Lots and lots of movement.
National PDFs: Top 30 Summary | Week-by-Week 2015 | Week-by-Week All Time
Regional Rankings: Summary | Men’s Recap | Women’s Recap
MORE: NCAA DI Polls & Rankings Home | Men’s National Coaches’ Poll

NCAA Division I National Coaches Poll Top 5 – Women
1)	2)	3)	4)	5)
New Mexico	Michigan	Colorado	Arkansas	Oregon
View Complete Women’s National Coaches Poll

Before there are any heart attacks, New Mexico is still the unanimous No. 1. How could the Lobos not be after steamrolling the field at the prestigious Wisconsin adidas Invitational this past Friday? New Mexico scored 32 points – nearly six times fewer than the second-place team – as its top-5 runners went 4-5-6-7-10.
While Michigan wasn’t as dominant at the Pre-National Invitational as the Lobos were in Madison, Wisconsin, the now-No. 2 Wolverines looked strong in their own right. Michigan won their third consecutive team title and knocked off four top-10 teams in the process – former No. 2 Colorado (now No. 3), former No. 4 Oregon (now No. 5), former No. 7 Georgetown (now No. 18) and former No. 9 Stanford (now No. 10).
So what about those other 19 ranked teams that ran into the buzz saw known as the Lobos at the adidas Invitational? Let’s not forget about that septet that competed alongside Michigan in Louisville, Kentucky either.
Going by last week’s rankings, there were three teams that put themselves in the national conversation last Friday in Madison, Wisconsin – Arkansas, Virginia and North Carolina State.
The young Razorbacks, led by senior Dominique Scott’s third-place showing and a breakthrough performance by freshman Devin Scott (18th), finished second behind New Mexico. Arkansas jumped from No. 11 to No. 4 in this week’s poll.
Behind the Razorbacks were the Cavaliers, who put three runners in the top-30 (Cleo Boyd, Iona Lake, Megan Rebholz), one of just two teams to do that (Bet you can guess the other). Virginia surged 10 spots in this week’s poll, going from No. 17 to No. 7. This is the Cavaliers’ first time ranked in the top-8 in program history.
And the Wolfpack finished fourth despite a less-than-stellar race by two-time National Athlete of the Week Ryen Frazier (38th). Samantha George (13th) was the low stick for NC State. The Wolfpack are now ranked No. 8, which marks their first time in the top-10 since 2006.
Just like that trio, Mississippi State pulled off a bit of an upset of its own this past weekend – but at the Pre-National Invitational. The Bulldogs finished fifth and were just three points behind the Cardinal in fourth. Mississippi State rocketed from receiving votes to No. 13, the first time it has ever been ranked in program history.
The Bulldogs are one of five teams jumping into the poll after dancing on the outside for a while. Mississippi State is joined on the dance floor by No. 19 Utah, No. 25 Columbia, No. 27 Weber State and No. 30 Purdue. This is the first time that the Utes and Boilermakers have been ranked in the National Coaches’ Poll.
After the busy weekend, most – if not, all – of these teams will take off in preparation for their conference championship meet in two weeks. Then two weeks after that, they’ll all converge for regionals and soon after, the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer Park.

USTFCCCA NCAA Division I
Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll
2015 Week #5 — October 20
next poll: November 3

Rank	Institution (FPV)	Points	Record	Region	Conference	*Cross Country Coach (Yr)**	Last Week
1	New Mexico (12)	360	55-0	Mountain	Mountain West	Joe Franklin (9th)	1
2	Michigan	338	64-0	Great Lakes	Big Ten	Mike McGuire (24th)	5
3	Colorado	328	45-1	Mountain	Pac-12	Mark Wetmore (21st)	2
4	Arkansas	324	49-1	South Central	SEC	Lance Harter (26th)	11
5	Oregon	307	53-2	West	Pac-12	Robert Johnson (4th)	4
6	Providence	295	54-4	Northeast	Big East	Ray Treacy (32nd)	3
7	Virginia	290	47-2	Southeast	ACC	Todd Morgan (4th)	17
8	NC State	274	51-4	Southeast	ACC	Laurie Henes (10th)	12
9	Boise State	266	54-5	West	Mountain West	Corey Ihmels (3rd)	6
10	Stanford	250	60-5	West	Pac-12	Chris Miltenberg (4th)	9
11	Iowa State	249	55-24	Midwest	Big 12	Andrea Grove-McDonough (3rd)	8
12	Washington	231	38-8	West	Pac-12	Greg Metcalf (14th)	10
13	Mississippi State	203	53-5	South	SEC	Houston Franks (7th)	RV
14	BYU	198	35-11	Mountain	West Coast	Patrick Shane (34th)	22
15	Penn State	193	44-11	Mid-Atlantic	Big Ten	John Gondak (2nd)	16
16	Syracuse	180	47-11	Northeast	ACC	Chris Fox (11th)	15
17	Notre Dame	162	42-13	Great Lakes	ACC	Matt Sparks (2nd)	18
18	Georgetown	151	59-8	Mid-Atlantic	Big East	Michael Smith (4th)	7
19	Utah	138	55-9	Mountain	Pac-12	Kyle Kepler (11th)	RV
20	Princeton	133	34-12	Mid-Atlantic	Ivy	Pete Farrell (38th)	25
21	Michigan State	126	45-14	Great Lakes	Big Ten	Walt Drenth (12th)	13
22	Minnesota	98	60-19	Midwest	Big Ten	Sarah Hopkins (3rd)	23
23	Oklahoma State	95	29-0	Midwest	Big 12	Dave Smith (7th)	28
24	William and Mary	87	26-20	Southeast	Colonial	Natalie Hall (2nd)	23
25	Columbia	63	37-20	Northeast	Ivy	Dan Ireland (2nd)	RV
26	Vanderbilt	53	35-20	South	SEC	Steve Keith (10th)	21
27	Weber State	51	58-10	Mountain	Big Sky	Paul Pilkington (9th)	RV
28	Villanova	30	43-12	Mid-Atlantic	Big East	Gina Procaccio (16th)	26
29	North Carolina	27	27-19	Southeast	ACC	Mark VanAlstyne (4th)	19
30	Purdue	22	71-16	Great Lakes	Big Ten	Rolando Greene (4th)	RV
Others Receiving Votes: California 21, Dartmouth 12, Alabama 9, Lipscomb 8, Wisconsin 3, Baylor 2, Harvard 2, Penn 1
Dropped Out: No. 14 Wisconsin, No. 20 West Virginia, No. 27 Texas, No. 29 Cornell, No. 30 Alabama
Win-loss record reflective of results in varsity competition versus DI opponents starting September 25
( year as effective coach of that team in women’s cross country)*