Wild Regional Weekend Jumbles Final DIII National Polls

By Tyler Mayforth, USTFCCCA

November 16, 2015

NEW ORLEANS – An absolutely wild weekend full of regional action shook up the final NCAA Division III Cross Country National Coaches’ Polls of the season.
In the polls, which were released Monday by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA), only 12 of the 64 teams ranked last week (32 men’s, 32 women’s) remained in place. There were 11 teams that jumped five or more spots and six that fell six or more spots from the previous week.
National PDFs: Week 8 Top 35 Summary | Week-by-Week 2015 | Week-by-Week All Time
Regional Madness: Results/Recap
Division III Rankings/Polls Homepage: Link

NCAA Division III National Coaches Poll Top 5 – Men
1)	2)	3)	4)	5)
UW-Eau Claire	Williams	North Central (Ill.)	Amherst	St. Olaf
View Complete Men’s National Coaches Poll

NCAA Division III National Coaches Poll Top 5 – Women
1)	2)	3)	4)	5)
Johns Hopkins	Williams	Washington (Mo.)	Tufts	Middlebury
View Complete Women’s National Coaches Poll

Three teams that didn’t move were the top-3 in the men’s poll. No. 1 UW-Eau Claire captured the Midwest Region title over No. 3 North Central (Ill.) and No. 2 Williams edged No. 4 Amherst by one point for the New England crown. The Lord Jeffs, who had thought they won the region title, traded spots with No. 5 St. Olaf.
Likewise, the top-2 teams in the women’s poll were unaffected. No. 1 Johns Hopkins, the three-time defending national champion, is still unanimous and should be after it dismantled the field in the Mideast Region. No. 2 Williams made it look easy in the New England Region and appears to be a threat to a four-peat by the Blue Jays.
There were three teams that soared more than 10 spots from the previous week and they were the Elizabethtown men (No. 27 to No. 15), the Wesleyan (Conn.) men (No. 32 to No. 17) and the Wellesley women (No. 32 to No. 16). All three of those teams had surprising finishes in their respective regions as both Elizabethtown took second in the Mideast, Wesleyan (Conn.) finished fourth in the New England and Wellesley topped a few others to finish fifth in the New England women’s race.
Four teams fell eight or more spots – the MIT men (No. 8 to No. 21), the Washington (Mo.) men (No. 16 to No. 28), the Williamette men (No. 21 to No. 29) and the Rochester (N.Y.) women (No. 17 to No. 26).
Five teams returned to the poll, led by the UW-Platteville men. After receiving votes last week, UW-Platteville surged to tie for 17th after finishing fifth in the Midwest Region. The Wartburg men (No. 30), the Emory men (No. 31), the Allegheny (Pa.) women (No. 30) and the St. Olaf women (No. 31) are the others.
Most – if not, all – of these teams will be competing at the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships this weekend. The meet will be held Saturday at the Lake Breeze Golf Club in Winneconne, Wisconsin.

USTFCCCA NCAA Division III
Men’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll
2015 Week #8 — November 16 (pre-championships)
next poll: none, NCAA Championships, November 21 (Winneconne, Wis.)

Rank	Institution (FPV)	Points	Region	Conference	*Head Coach (Yr)**	Last Week
1	UW-Eau Claire (6)	254	Midwest	WIAC	Dan Schwamberger (9th)	1
2	Williams (2)	247	New England	NESCAC	Pete Farwell (37th)	2
3	North Central (Ill.)	239	Midwest	CCIW	Al Carius (50th)	3
4	Amherst	231	New England	NESCAC	Ned Nedeau (19th)	5
5	St. Olaf	229	Central	MIAC	Phil Lundin (8th)	4
6	SUNY Geneseo	215	Atlantic	SUNYAC	Dan Moore (1st)	6
7	Haverford	207	Mideast	Centennial	Tom Donnelly (41st)	7
8	St. Lawrence	196	Atlantic	Liberty League	John Newman (15th)	9
9	Claremont-Mudd-Scripps	188	West	SCIAC	John Goldhammer (32nd)	10
10	Wabash	182	Great Lakes	NCAC	Colin Young (1st)	12
11	UW-La Crosse	175	Midwest	WIAC	Derek Stanley (4th)	13
12	Tufts	165	New England	NESCAC	Michael Schmidt (1st)	17
13	Allegheny (Pa.)	153	Great Lakes	NCAC	Brent Wilkerson (6th)	11
14	UW-Oshkosh	148	Midwest	WIAC	Eamon McKenna (4th)	15
15	Elizabethtown	143	Mideast	Landmark	Brian Falk (5th)	27
16	Pomona-Pitzer	123	West	SCIAC	Tony Boston (8th)	25
17	Wesleyan (Conn.)	117	New England	NESCAC	John Crooke (16th)	32
17	UW-Platteville	117	Midwest	WIAC	Tom Antczak (23rd)	RV
19	Central (Iowa)	114	Central	IIAC	Joe Dunham (8th)	20
20	Carnegie Mellon	106	Mideast	UAA	Tim Connelly (1st)	14
21	MIT	93	New England	NEWMAC	Halston Taylor (34th)	8
22	Loras	90	Central	IIAC	Bob Schultz (11th)	19
23	Augustana (Ill.)	89	Midwest	CCIW	Paul Olsen (50th)	23
24	Calvin	78	Great Lakes	MIAA	Brian Diemer (30th)	24
25	Hamilton	63	Atlantic	NESCAC	Brett Hull (25th)	28
26	Chicago	59	Midwest	UAA	Chris Hall (15th)	29
27	Middlebury	45	New England	NESCAC	Nicole Wilkerson (5th)	30
28	Washington (Mo.)	44	Midwest	UAA	Jeff Stiles (15th)	16
29	Willamette	42	West	Northwest	Matt McGuirk (12th)	21
30	Wartburg	36	Central	IIAC	Steve Johnson (27th)	NR
31	Emory	23	South/Southeast	UAA	John Curtin (31st)	NR
32	Christopher Newport	13	South/Southeast	CAC	Matthew Barreau (5th)	NR
Also Receiving Votes: (none, only those in the NCAA Championship field were eligible for votes this week)
Dropped Out: No. 18 TCNJ, No. 22 Johns Hopkins, No. 26 Ramapo, No. 31 Ohio Northern, No. 33 Saint John’s (Minn.), No. 34 NYU, No. 35 Bates
(* 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
2015 Week #8 — November 16 (pre-championships)
next poll: none, NCAA Championships, November 21 (Winneconne, Wis.)

Rank	Institution (FPV)	Points	Region	Conference	*Head Coach (Yr)**	Last Week
1	Johns Hopkins (8)	256	Mideast	Centennial	Bobby Van Allen (17th)	1
2	Williams	248	New England	NESCAC	Pete Farwell (16th)	2
3	Washington (Mo.)	237	Midwest	UAA	Jeff Stiles (15th)	4
4	Tufts	234	New England	NESCAC	Kristen Morwick (16th)	5
5	Middlebury	217	New England	NESCAC	Nicole Wilkerson (5th)	8
6	SUNY Geneseo	215	Atlantic	SUNYAC	Dan Moore (1st)	6
7	Willamette	208	West	Northwest	Matt McGuirk (12th)	11
8	MIT	202	New England	NEWMAC	Halston Taylor (9th)	3
9	SUNY Oneonta	187	Atlantic	SUNYAC	Angelo Posillico (6th)	15
10	Claremont-Mudd-Scripps	185	West	SCIAC	John Goldhammer (32nd)	7
11	UW-Oshkosh	165	Midwest	WIAC	Eamon McKenna (1st)	19
12	Hope	155	Great Lakes	MIAA	Mark Northuis (28th)	12
13	RPI	147	Atlantic	Liberty League	John Lynch (5th)	10
14	Whitworth	143	West	Northwest	Toby Schwarz (20th)	9
15	Chicago	132	Midwest	UAA	Chris Hall (15th)	16
16	Wellesley	127	New England	NEWMAC	Phil Jennings (3rd)	32
17	St. Thomas (Minn.)	125	Central	MIAC	Joe Sweeney (36th)	24
18	St. Lawrence	119	Atlantic	Liberty League	Mike Howard (17th)	13
19	Dickinson	109	Mideast	Centennial	Don Nichter (26th)	21
20	Carleton	98	Central	MIAC	Donna Ricks (23rd)	14
21	Emory	94	South/Southeast	UAA	John Curtin (31st)	27
22	Haverford	88	Mideast	Centennial	Fran Rizzo (25th)	20
23	Keene State	86	New England	Little East	Tom Pickering (1st)	18
24	UW-La Crosse	81	Midwest	WIAC	Derek Stanley (4th)	23
25	Calvin	77	Great Lakes	MIAA	Brian Diemer (10th)	25
26	Rochester (N.Y.)	72	Atlantic	UAA	Eddie Novara (1st)	17
27	Elizabethtown	54	Mideast	Landmark	Brian Falk (8th)	31
28	RIT	51	Atlantic	Liberty League	David Stevens (8th)	25
29	UW-Eau Claire	48	Midwest	WIAC	Dan Schwamberger (9th)	34
30	Allegheny (Pa.)	33	Great Lakes	NCAC	Brent Wilkerson (6th)	NR
31	St. Olaf	23	Central	MIAC	Chris Daymont (35th)	NR
32	Rhodes	8	South/Southeast	SAA	Robert Shankman (25th)	NR
Also Receiving Votes: (none, only those in the NCAA Championship field were eligible for votes this week)
Dropped Out: No. 21 Amherst, No. 28 Brandeis, No. 29 SUNY Cortland, No. 30 Otterbein, No. 32 Cornell College, No. 35 Swarthmore
(* year as head coach of that team in women’s cross country, officially NCAA-recognized coach listed)