First Regular-Season Regional Rankings Announced for NCAA DI Men’s XC

By Kyle Terwillegar, USTFCCCA

September 12, 2016

NEW ORLEANS – With two weekends of NCAA Division I Cross Country action in the books – including one that already counts for at-large qualifying purposes – the first regular-season edition of the Men’s Regional Rankings were announced Monday morning by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA).
Early-season action didn’t have much of an impact on the top of the rankings in most regions, with the Great Lakes standing as the lone exception.
Regional Rankings Summary PDF | Rankings Central | Women’s Rankings
The Great Lakes Region was the site of the week’s lone new No. 1 squad for either gender, as Indiana inched past preseason favorite Wisconsin.
Led by winner Jason Crist, the Hoosiers ran a tightly packed top-six to a perfect score of 15 to win its home opener two weekends ago against Miami (Ohio). The Badgers were in action this past weekend, as Morgan McDonald outdueled teammate Malachy Schrobilgen to the line to take the Minnesota Oz Memorial crown. Those two propelled Wisconsin to a 25-51 victory over the host Golden Gophers as the Badgers’ younger runners ran a solid season debut behind McDonald and Schrobilgen.
Beyond the Great Lakes, however, very little changed at the highest levels of the regional rankings. All 18 teams projected in the preseason to claim one of their regions’ two automatic qualifying berths to the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships remained in position to do so after two weeks of action.
Coming the closest to breaking into automatic-qualifying territory were No. 3 NC State from the Southeast and No. 3 Middle Tennessee from the South.
The Wolfpack moved up two spots from last time, and will make their season debut this coming weekend. The Blue Raiders scored a convincing, 19-42, win at the UTC PowerAde Invitational over regional foe Alabama to move up one spot from the preseason. Despite the loss, Alabama moved up three positions to No. 4.
Also moving up onto the bubble at No. 4 in their respective regions were Villanova in the Mid-Atlantic and UT-Arlington in the South Central.
NCAA Division I Regional Championships will be held around the country on Friday, November 11 with the return of the NCAA Championships to Terre Haute, Indiana, eight days later..
USTFCCCA Regional Cross Country Rankings are determined subjectively by a single member coach in each respective region. The regional representative is tasked with weighing returning teams strength with current season results (if applicable) in determining predicted team finishes at the NCAA Regional Championships.

USTFCCCA NCAA Division I
Men’s Cross Country Regional Team Rankings
2016 Week #1 — September 12
national poll release: September 13
next regional release: September 19
RAOR = Record against own region (since September 9, reported to TFRRS)
GREAT LAKES Region
Rank	School	Overall (RAOR)	Conference	Last Week
1	Indiana	—	Big Ten	2
2	Wisconsin	3-0 (-)	Big Ten	1
3	Michigan	2-1 (1-0)	Big Ten	3
4	Michigan State	—	Big Ten	4
5	Eastern Michigan	1-1 (1-0)	Mid-American	5
6	Notre Dame	—	ACC	6
7	IUPUI	—	Summit League	7
8	Purdue	3-0 (-)	Big Ten	9
9	Ohio State	3-0 (3-0)	Big Ten	10
10	Oakland	—	Horizon	11
11	Akron	—	Mid-American	8
12	Miami (Ohio)	—	Mid-American	12
13	Butler	—	Big East	13
14	Ohio	2-0 (1-0)	Mid-American	15
15	Indiana State	0-3 (0-1)	Missouri Valley	14
Regional Championship History — Last Five Champions: 2015: Michigan, 2014: Wisconsin, 2013: Michigan, 2012: Wisconsin, 2011: Wisconsin


MID-ATLANTIC Region
Rank	School	Overall (RAOR)	Conference	Last Week
1	Georgetown	—	Big East	1
2	Penn	4-0 (4-0)	Ivy	2
3	Princeton	—	Ivy	3
4	Villanova	3-1 (3-1)	Big East	5
5	Navy	3-0 (3-0)	Patriot	6
6	Lehigh	—	Patriot	11
7	Penn State	—	Big Ten	4
8	Saint Joseph’s	1-3 (1-3)	Atlantic 10	7
9	La Salle	0-4 (0-4)	Atlantic 10	8
10	Bucknell	2-0 (-)	Patriot	10
11	Duquesne	6-0 (4-0)	Atlantic 10	12
12	Rutgers	—	Big Ten	13
13	Pittsburgh	3-4 (0-4)	ACC	14
14	Temple	6-4 (4-4)	American	15
15	George Washington	14-1 (14-1)	Atlantic 10	NR
Regional Championship History — Last Five Champions: 2015: Georgetown, 2014: Villanova, 2013: Villanova, 2012: Georgetown, 2011: Georgetown


MIDWEST Region
Rank	School	Overall (RAOR)	Conference	Last Week
1	Oklahoma State	—	Big 12	1
2	Oklahoma	—	Big 12	2
3	Tulsa	—	American	3
4	Illinois	7-3 (6-2)	Big Ten	4
5	Iowa State	8-0 (8-0)	Big 12	5
6	Minnesota	2-1 (2-0)	Big Ten	6
7	Bradley	1-7 (1-7)	Missouri Valley	7
8	South Dakota State	3-2 (3-1)	Summit League	8
9	Kansas	4-0 (4-0)	Big 12	9
10	Wichita State	—	Missouri Valley	10
11	Missouri	2-6 (2-6)	SEC	11
12	Nebraska	2-0 (2-0)	Big Ten	12
13	Iowa	14-1 (14-1)	Big Ten	NR
14	UMKC	2-2 (2-2)	WAC	14
15	Eastern Illinois	9-1 (8-1)	Ohio Valley	13
Regional Championship History — Last Five Champions: 2015: Oklahoma State, 2014: Oklahoma State, 2013: Oklahoma State, 2012: Oklahoma/Oklahoma State, 2011: Oklahoma State


MOUNTAIN Region
Rank	School	Overall (RAOR)	Conference	Last Week
1	Northern Arizona	5-0 (-)	Big Sky	1
2	Colorado	4-0 (4-0)	Pac-12	2
3	UTEP	3-0 (3-0)	Conference USA	3
4	BYU	—	West Coast	4
5	Southern Utah	4-0 (3-0)	Big Sky	5
6	Colorado State	2-2 (2-2)	Mountain West	6
7	Air Force	3-1 (3-1)	Mountain West	7
8	New Mexico	1-1 (1-1)	Mountain West	8
9	Wyoming	1-3 (1-3)	Mountain West	9
10	Weber State	—	Big Sky	10
11	Utah Valley	0-3 (0-2)	WAC	11
12	Texas Tech	—	Big 12	12
13	Idaho State	—	Big Sky	13
14	Montana State	—	Big Sky	14
15	New Mexico State	0-4 (0-4)	WAC	15
Regional Championship History — Last Five Champions: 2015: Colorado, 2014: Colorado, 2013: Northern Arizona, 2012: Northern Arizona, 2011: BYU


NORTHEAST Region
Rank	School	Overall (RAOR)	Conference	Last Week
1	Syracuse	4-0 (4-0)	ACC	1
2	Providence	2-0 (2-0)	Big East	2
3	Iona	1-1 (1-1)	Metro Atlantic	3
4	Columbia	—	Ivy	4
5	Yale	5-0 (3-0)	Ivy	5
6	Cornell	—	Ivy	6
7	Dartmouth	—	Ivy	7
8	Brown	—	Ivy	8
9	Harvard	—	Ivy	9
10	Stony Brook	—	America East	10
11	Army West Point	—	Patriot	11
12	Binghamton	2-2 (2-2)	America East	15
13	Maine	4-1 (4-1)	America East	13
14	Connecticut	3-1 (3-1)	American	NR
15	Buffalo	1-3 (1-3)	Mid-American	12
Regional Championship History — Last Five Champions: 2015: Syracuse, 2014: Syracuse, 2013: Syracuse, 2012: Iona, 2011: Syracuse,


SOUTH Region
Rank	School	Overall (RAOR)	Conference	Last Week
1	Mississippi	9-2 (4-2)	SEC	1
2	Florida State	4-1 (1-1)	ACC	2
3	Middle Tennessee	14-0 (10-0)	Conference USA	4
4	Alabama	12-2 (8-2)	SEC	7
5	Auburn	8-1 (5-0)	SEC	3
6	Florida	5-0 (2-0)	SEC	5
7	Georgia	2-0 (2-0)	SEC	6
8	Georgia Tech	1-1 (1-1)	ACC	8
9	Tennessee	—	SEC	9
10	Lipscomb	5-1 (4-1)	Atlantic Sun	10
11	Belmont	6-0 (5-0)	Ohio Valley	11
12	North Florida	—	Atlantic Sun	12
13	Mississippi State	6-3 (2-3)	SEC	13
14	Tennessee Tech	2-1 (1-0)	Ohio Valley	NR
15	ETSU	2-3 (0-2)	Southern	15
Regional Championship History — Last Five Champions: 2015: Florida State, 2014: Mississippi, 2013: Georgia, 2012: Florida State, 2011: Florida State


SOUTH CENTRAL Region
Rank	School	Overall (RAOR)	Conference	Last Week
1	Arkansas	—	SEC	1
2	Texas	4-0 (4-0)	Big 12	2
3	Texas A&M	3-0 (3-0)	SEC	3
4	UT Arlington	—	Sun Belt	6
5	Stephen F. Austin	8-7 (8-7)	Southland	4
6	North Texas	—	Conference USA	9
7	Baylor	—	Big 12	7
8	Texas State	11-1 (11-1)	Sun Belt	NR
9	Texas A&M-Corpus Christi	11-1 (11-1)	Southland	13
10	Sam Houston State	2-2 (2-2)	Southland	15
11	McNeese State	12-2 (12-2)	Southland	8
12	Lamar	10-4 (10-4)	Southland	5
13	Rice	7-4 (7-4)	Conference USA	11
14	UTSA	1-2 (1-2)	Conference USA	12
15	Louisiana-Lafayette	7-7 (7-7)	Sun Belt	NR
Regional Championship History — Last Five Champions: 2015: Arkansas, 2014: Arkansas, 2013: Arkansas, 2012: Texas, 2011: Texas


SOUTHEAST Region
Rank	School	Overall (RAOR)	Conference	Last Week
1	Eastern Kentucky	4-0 (2-0)	Ohio Valley	1
2	Virginia	2-0 (2-0)	ACC	2
3	NC State	—	ACC	5
4	Furman	8-0 (6-0)	Southern	4
5	Louisville	0-2 (-)	ACC	3
6	Virginia Tech	2-0 (2-0)	ACC	6
7	North Carolina	4-0 (4-0)	ACC	7
8	Campbell	—	Big South	9
9	Kentucky	1-2 (0-1)	SEC	10
10	Duke	1-2 (-)	ACC	8
11	William and Mary	4-0 (4-0)	Colonial	11
12	Appalachian State	3-2 (2-0)	Sun Belt	15
13	Davidson	3-1 (3-1)	Atlantic 10	13
14	George Mason	1-3 (1-3)	Atlantic 10	14
15	Liberty	1-1 (1-1)	Big South	12
Regional Championship History — Last Five Champions: 2015: Louisville, 2014: Virginia, 2013: Eastern Kentucky, 2012: Virginia, 2011: NC State


WEST Region
Rank	School	Overall (RAOR)	Conference	Last Week
1	Oregon	—	Pac-12	1
2	Stanford	3-3 (3-3)	Pac-12	2
3	Washington	—	Pac-12	3
4	Boise State	2-1 (-)	Mountain West	4
5	Portland	—	West Coast	5
6	Washington State	—	Pac-12	6
7	UCLA	4-0 (4-0)	Pac-12	7
8	California	6-0 (6-0)	Pac-12	8
9	San Francisco	5-1 (5-1)	West Coast	9
10	Cal Poly	—	Big West	10
11	Arizona State	1-1 (1-0)	Pac-12	11
12	UC Santa Barbara	—	Big West	12
13	Gonzaga	6-0 (4-0)	West Coast	13
14	St. Mary’s (Calif.)	2-4 (2-4)	West Coast	14
15	San Jose State	4-2 (4-2)	Mountain West	15
Regional Championship History — Last Five Champions: 2015: Washington, 2014: Oregon, 2013: Stanford, 2012: Stanford, 2011: Stanford