GVSU Men & Women Top Latest NCAA DII National Coaches’ Polls

By Kyle Terwillegar, USTFCCCA

October 28, 2015

NEW ORLEANS – With only Regional Championships remaining between now and the NCAA Division II Championships on November 21, both the Grand Valley State men and women have dropped anchor atop the National Coaches’ Polls.
The GVSU men solidified their at the pinnacle of the poll released Wednesday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), while their three-time defending national champion women teammates reclaimed the top spot with a GLIAC victory over formerly top-ranked Hillsdale.
National PDFs: Top 25 Summary | Week-by-Week 2015 | Week-by-Week All-Time
Regional Rankings PDFs: Regional Rankings Summary | Rankings Recap
Division II XC Polls/Rankings Central

NCAA Division II National Coaches’ Poll Top 5 – Men
1)	2)	3)	4)	5)
GVSU	Chico State	Adams State	Colorado Mines	Alaska Anchorage
View Complete Men’s National Coaches’ Poll

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

This marks just the second time in school history both GVSU teams have simultaneously held the No. 1 position, having also achieved the feat in last year’s pre-NCAA Championship polls. The women ultimately won, while the men were runners-up.
Running for the first time this year with defending national individual champion Kendra Foley, GVSU won a tight GLIAC team race against now No. 3 Hillsdale, 30-38. Both squads appear to be relatively evenly matched up front – the scores through four runners were 18 for GVSU and 20 for Hillsdale with individual winner Emily Oren – but the Lakers were the deeper team on this day. GVSU put seven runners across the line before the Chargers’ No. 5 came through in 18th.
With the result, GVSU earned four first-place votes. The remaining four went to RMAC Champion No. 2 Adams State, which scored a decisive 20-48 win over No. 7 Western State with Noel Prandoni taking an equally decisive individual win to lead six top-10 Grizzly finishers.
Hillsdale checked in at No. 3, followed by CCAA champion No. 4 Chico State, NSIC champion No. 5 Minnesota Duluth, and GNAC champion No. 6 Alaska Anchorage.
Grand Valley’s men scored a GLIAC title that was every bit as convincing as the women’s race was closely fought. With three of the top four finishers and eight of the top 13, the Lakers rolled to an easy 24-100 win over Malone. They now hold all but one first-place vote in the poll.
No. 2 Chico State continues to hold on to a first-place nod after scoring an impressive 24-46 victory over No. 6 Cal Poly Pomona – which actually moved up two spots in the poll with the result. Led by winner William Reyes and runner-up Steven Martinez, the Wildcats claimed six of the top 11 individual finishes.
After dropping to a historically low No. 4 in the previous poll, Adams State responded well with an RMAC title over now-No. 4 Colorado Mines (down one spot), 36-52. Jackson Sayler was runner-up for the Grizzlies to lead four top-20 finishers.
In at No. 5 was GNAC champion Alaska Anchorage, which posted a strong 21-54 win over now-No. 21 Simon Fraser behind a 1-2-3 sweep from Henry Cheseto, Dominik Notz and Edwin Kangogo.
In either gender’s poll, no team used conference championships weekend as a coming out party as well as the No. 10 U-Mary women. With an NSIC runner-up finish over former top-10 squad Augustana (S.D.), National Athlete of the Week Alexis Zeis and her Marauders jumped 11 positions to their highest rank since midway through 2012.
U-Mary wasn’t the only squad to take advantage of the conference championships spotlight. The No. 14 Nebraska-Kearney men improved five spots with an MIAA title, the No. 17 SF State men jumped up eight positions, and the Edinboro women leapt up eight spots to No. 18 with a PSAC title.
New to the men’s poll this week were No. 18 Southwest Baptist, No. 20 Colorado Mesa, No. 23 Malone, and No. 25 UC-Colorado Springs. SBU joined the top-25 for the first time since the 2014 preseason, while the latter three all return.
Joining the women’s poll were No. 19 UC San Diego, No. 20 UW-Parkside, No. 22 Harding, No. 24 East Stroudsburg and No. 25 Malone.
Harding and East Stroudsburg both joined the top-25 for the first time this season – both for the first time since 2011.
The NCAA Division II Cross Country Championships will be held November 21 in Joplin, Missouri.

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USTFCCCA NCAA Division II
Men’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll
2015 Week #6 — October 28 (pre-regionals)
next release: November 11 (pre-NCAA Championships)

Rank	Institution (FPV)	Points	Region	Conference	*Head Coach (Yr)**	Last Week
1	Grand Valley State (7)	198	Midwest	GLIAC	Jerry Baltes (17th)	1
2	Chico State (1)	191	West	CCAA	Gary Towne (20th)	2
3	Adams State	187	South Central	RMAC	Damon Martin (21st)	4
4	Colorado Mines	176	South Central	RMAC	Chris Siemers (4th)	3
5	Alaska Anchorage	166	West	GNAC	Michael Friess (26th)	5
6	Cal Poly Pomona	149	West	CCAA	Octavious Gillespie-Bennett (4th)	8
7	Southern Indiana	144	Midwest	GLVC	Mike Hillyard (18th)	6
7	Augustana (S.D.)	144	Central	NSIC	Tracy Hellman (15th)	7
9	Western State	143	South Central	RMAC	Jennifer Michel (9th)	10
10	Lock Haven	138	Atlantic	PSAC	Aaron Russell (18th)	9
11	Shippensburg	106	Atlantic	PSAC	Steve Spence (18th)	11
12	West Texas A&M	92	South Central	Lone Star	Darren Flowers (7th)	13
13	UW-Parkside	90	Midwest	GLVC	Micah VanDenend (6th)	15
14	Neb.-Kearney	89	Central	MIAA	Brady Bonsall (9th)	19
14	Cal Baptist	89	West	PacWest	Ben Gall (4th)	18
16	Mount Olive	88	Southeast	Conf. Carolinas	Matt Van Lierop (7th)	14
17	SF State	59	West	CCAA	Tom Lyons (11th)	25
18	Southwest Baptist	57	Central	MIAA	Corey McElhaney (8th)	NR
19	American International	55	East	Northeast-10	Leo Mayo (10th)	24
20	Colorado Mesa	46	South Central	RMAC	Matt Canterbury (4th)	NR
21	Simon Fraser	43	West	GNAC	Brit Townsend (16th)	12
22	Pittsburg State	41	Central	MIAA	Russ Jewett (27th)	16
23	Malone	39	Midwest	GLIAC	Jack Hazen (49th)	RV
24	Stonehill	22	East	Northeast-10	Karen Boen (18th)	20
25	UC-Colorado Springs	14	South Central	RMAC	Mark Misch (9th)	NR
Also Receiving Votes: Western Washington 11, Saginaw Valley State 8, Indiana (Pa.) 4, Franklin Pierce 4, East Central (Okla.) 4, Saint Leo 2, Black Hills State 1
Dropped Out: No. 17 Black Hills State, No. 21 Western Washington, No. 22 Saginaw Valley State, No. 23 New Mexico Highlands
(* 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 Coaches’ Poll
2015 Week #6 — October 28 (pre-regionals)
next release: November 11 (pre-NCAA Championships)

Rank	Institution (FPV)	Points	Region	Conference	*Head Coach (Yr)**	Last Week
1	Grand Valley State (4)	196	Midwest	GLIAC	Jerry Baltes (17th)	3
2	Adams State (4)	194	South Central	RMAC	Damon Martin (28th)	2
3	Hillsdale	186	Midwest	GLIAC	Andrew Towne (5th)	1
4	Chico State	171	West	CCAA	Gary Towne (20th)	5
5	Minnesota Duluth	170	Central	NSIC	Joanna Warmington (5th)	4
6	Alaska Anchorage	157	West	GNAC	Michael Friess (26th)	7
7	Western State	156	South Central	RMAC	Jennifer Michel (9th)	6
8	Northern Michigan	141	Midwest	GLIAC	Jenny Ryan (9th)	9
9	Cal Baptist	131	West	PacWest	Ben Gall (4th)	10
10	U-Mary	125	Central	NSIC	Dennis Newell (10th)	21
11	Southern Indiana	123	Midwest	GLVC	Mike Hillyard (19th)	11
12	Augustana (S.D.)	112	Central	NSIC	Tracy Hellman (15th)	8
13	Western Washington	98	West	GNAC	Pee Wee Halsell (29th)	12
14	Lewis	96	Midwest	GLVC	James Kearney (2nd)	15
15	Colorado Mines	87	South Central	RMAC	Chris Siemers (4th)	17
16	Stonehill	82	East	Northeast-10	Karen Boen (18th)	16
17	Montevallo	56	Southeast	Peach Belt	Julia Marquardt (3rd)	19
18	Edinboro	54	Atlantic	PSAC	Rick Hammer (3rd)	25
19	UC San Diego	50	West	CCAA	Nate Garcia (9th)	RV
20	UW-Parkside	46	Midwest	GLVC	Micah VanDenend (6th)	RV
20	Dallas Baptist	46	South Central	Heartland Conference	Jacob Phillips (11th)	20
22	Harding	36	Central	Great American	Steve Guymon (13th)	RV
23	Bellarmine	24	Midwest	GLVC	Kris Horton (11th)	13
24	East Stroudsburg	22	Atlantic	PSAC	Joe Koch (29th)	NR
25	Shippensburg	7	Atlantic	PSAC	Steve Spence (18th)	22
25	Malone	7	Midwest	GLIAC	Jack Hazen (25th)	RV
Also Receiving Votes: Cal State San Bernardino 6, Southwest Baptist 6, Central Washington 5, Tampa 3, Azusa Pacific 3, Ashland 2, Fort Lewis 2
Dropped Out: No. 13 Bloomsburg, No. 18 Seattle Pacific, No. 23 Ashland, No. 24 Cal Poly Pomona, No. 25 UC-Colorado Springs
(* year as head coach of that team in women’s cross country, officially NCAA-recognized coach listed)