Five Teams Earn First-Place Votes in New DI Men’s National Poll

By Kyle Terwillegar, USTFCCCA

September 27, 2016

NEW ORLEANS – Anytime a unanimous No.1 defending national champion team is upset –as Syracuse was this weekend at Virginia by BYU – there’s sure to be some rearranging in the following National Coaches’ Poll.
That turned out to be an understatement in Tuesday’s week three NCAA Division I Men’s National Coaches’ Poll, which featured a new top-ranked squad, the most-ever teams receiving first-place votes at one time and six teams in the top five.
National PDFs: Summary | Week-by-Week 2016 | Week-by-Week All Time
Regional Rankings: Summary | Recap
WOMEN’S NATIONAL POLL

NCAA Division I National Coaches Poll Top 5 – Men
1)	2)	3)	4)	5)
Northern Arizona	Syracuse	Oregon	BYU	Colorado/ Arkansas
View Complete Men’s National Coaches Poll

Northern Arizona assumed control of the poll after Syracuse’s misstep at the Panorama Farms Invitational, garnering seven first-place votes for its second-ever No. 1 rank in program history. The Lumberjacks – who will not run their full lineup until at least mid-October at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational – also checked in atop the poll prior to the 2013 NCAA Championships.
It’s far from a unanimous coronation, however. NAU was just one of five teams that earned first-place votes this week; never before Tuesday had more than four men’s teams earned first-place nods in any single poll. Week 10 of the 2010 season was the most recent of the four all-time instances of this dating back to the 1997 season (the beginning of the USTFCCCA archives).
The Orangemen, despite the upset, managed to retain one of their first-place votes as they dropped to No. 2 in the poll. No. 3 Oregon earned two first-place votes, while No. 4 BYU – the usurpers at Panorama Farms – and No. 5 Colorado also tallied a first-place nod each.
Joining Colorado in a tie at No. 5 was Arkansas.
Three of those teams will get to make their case for additional first-place consideration this weekend. Oregon will be in action at the Washington Invitational (which will be covered live on the USTFCCCA National Results Wall on Saturday), Colorado will host its annual Rocky Mountain Shootout and Arkansas will host its annual Chile Pepper Festival.
As a result of the 39-44 upset over Syracuse at Virginia, BYU moved up eight spots from a week ago to its highest rank since late last season when the Cougars checked in at No. 3 in week six. The Cougars’ solid pack-running and late-race endurance that served them so well against Cuse this weekend will be tested next at Wisconsin, which will feature not only a rematch with the Orange but also a showdown with NAU.
The Cougars weren’t the only team making a big leap into the top 10, or even the only team from the West Coast Conference to do so, for that matter. Coming off a decisive win at the Roy Griak Invitational, Portland soared up 12 spots to No. 7 for its first top-10 appearance since 2014.
That season ended with a program-best third-place national finish for the Pilots, who ended up missing the NCAA Championships a year later in 2015 as the team was reloading. The process appears to be back on the right track so far in 2016, as Portland topped Iowa State (more on the Cyclones in a moment) at Griak, 69-97.
Rounding out the top-10 were No. 8 Georgetown, No. 9 Eastern Kentucky and No. 10 Oklahoma State – all of whom dropped one spot.
Falling out of the top-10 were No. 11 Stanford (down seven from last time) and No. 12 Wisconsin (down two). As has become the norm the past few seasons, the jury is still out on Stanford as the Cardinal have not yet fielded their full lineup with top-20 national finishers Sean McGorty and Grant Fisher. Stanford was just fifth at Virginia with at least three runners who have been and are expected to be major postseason contributors.
Aforementioned Griak runners-up Iowa State was the most notable addition to the top-30, as the Cyclones catapulted from “receiving votes” to No. 15. In a textbook display of pack running, Iowa State’s five scorers all finished within six seconds of one another at Griak as the Cyclones moved up to their highest rank since the 2008 season.
That race’s fifth-place team finisher, Michigan State, also got a big bump. The Spartans rose eight spots to No. 22 with the result.
Joining Iowa State as newcomers to the top-30 were No. 27 UCLA and both Florida State and Texas in a tie at No. 30.
See the full men’s poll below.
The USTFCCCA National Coaches’ Poll for DI ranks the top 30 teams in the country. Voting panel of 12 consists of nine regional representatives, plus three other members of the DI Executive Committee.
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USTFCCCA NCAA Division I
Men’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll
2016 Week #3 — September 27
next poll: October 4

Rank	Institution (FPV)	Points	Record^	Region (CR)	Conference	*Cross Country Coach (Yr)**	Last Week
1	Northern Arizona (7)	351	3-0 (1-0)	Mountain (1)	Big Sky	Eric Heins (10th)	2
2	Syracuse (1)	331	19-1 (3-1)	Northeast (1)	ACC	Chris Fox (12th)	1
3	Oregon (2)	326	6-0 (2-0)	West (2)	Pac-12	Robert Johnson (5th)	3
4	BYU (1)	320	13-0 (3-0)	Mountain (2)	West Coast	Ed Eyestone (17th)	12
5	Colorado (1)	299	— (—)	Mountain (3)	Pac-12	Mark Wetmore (22nd)	5
5	Arkansas	299	11-2 (—)	South Central (1)	SEC	Chris Bucknam (9th)	6
7	Portland	296	32-2 (7-2)	West (1)	West Coast	Rob Conner (27th)	19
8	Georgetown	264	5-2 (0-1)	Mid-Atlantic (1)	Big East	Brandon Bonsey (1st)	7
9	Eastern Kentucky	249	2-0 (—)	Southeast (1)	Ohio Valley	Rick Erdmann (38th)	8
10	Oklahoma State	240	5-0 (1-0)	Midwest (1)	Big 12	Dave Smith (11th)	9
11	Stanford	237	9-4 (0-3)	West (4)	Pac-12	Chris Miltenberg (5th)	4
12	Wisconsin	201	— (—)	Great Lakes (2)	Big Ten	Mick Byrne (9th)	10
13	Virginia	196	11-2 (1-2)	Southeast (2)	ACC	Peter Watson (5th)	11
14	Indiana	193	4-0 (—)	Great Lakes (1)	Big Ten	Ron Helmer (10th)	13
15	Iowa State	183	27-1 (7-1)	Midwest (2)	Big 12	Martin Smith (4th)	RV
16	Iona	181	3-5 (0-1)	Northeast (3)	Metro Atlantic	Ricardo Santos (9th)	15
17	Boise State	180	26-2 (6-1)	West (3)	Mountain West	Corey Ihmels (4th)	14
18	UTEP	167	— (—)	Mountain (4)	Conference USA	Paul Ereng (14th)	15
19	Michigan	147	27-4 (5-3)	Great Lakes (3)	Big Ten	Kevin Sullivan (3rd)	17
20	Mississippi	127	— (—)	South (1)	SEC	Ryan Vanhoy (4th)	18
21	Washington	108	3-1 (0-1)	West (6)	Pac-12	Greg Metcalf (15th)	21
22	Michigan State	101	28-4 (4-3)	Great Lakes (4)	Big Ten	Walt Drenth (13th)	30
23	NC State	94	— (—)	Southeast (3)	ACC	Rollie Geiger (39th)	23
24	Washington State	89	4-0 (1-0)	West (5)	Pac-12	Wayne Phipps (3rd)	27
25	Columbia	56	5-4 (1-0)	Northeast (2)	Ivy	Dan Ireland (3rd)	25
26	Penn	55	— (—)	Mid-Atlantic (2)	Ivy	Steve Dolan (5th)	29
27	UCLA	54	23-5 (4-4)	West (7)	Pac-12	Mike Maynard (8th)	RV
28	Tulsa	50	4-1 (0-1)	Midwest (3)	American	Steve Gulley (15th)	28
29	Colorado State	43	22-6 (3-4)	Mountain (5)	Mountain West	Art Siemers (5th)	24
30	Florida State	22	— (—)	South (2)	ACC	Bob Braman (17th)	RV
30	Texas	22	— (—)	South Central (2)	Big 12	Mario Sategna (4th)	RV
Others Receiving Votes: Dartmouth 17, Providence 13, Virginia Tech 10, Louisville 10, Middle Tennessee 8, Princeton 8, Southern Utah 6, Villanova 6, Campbell 5, Oklahoma 3, Texas A&M 3, Minnesota 2, Illinois 2
Dropped out: No. 19 Oklahoma, No. 22 Furman, No. 26 Southern Utah
^ Win-loss record reflective of results in varsity competition of races 7500 meters or longer versus DI opponents starting September 9; records in () are results against ranked teams.
( year as effective coach of that team in men’s cross country), CR – Coaches’ Regional Ranking*